5 things to know about Peter Oberacker

New York’s 19th Congressional District has a race on its hands now that Republican state Sen. Pete Oberacker is challenging Rep. Josh Riley for his seat in Congress. There had been whispers for some time that Oberacker might take a look at the seat, but the papers have been filed and promotional ads circulated. Though he has the full weight of his party behind him, Oberacker is a bit more low-profile than past candidates by virtue of his current position and the realities of representing a rural senate district. That track record may actually do him favors in the sprawling territory Riley represents, but many are still getting to know the three-term lawmaker. 

Next November is still far on the horizon, but here are some things to know about Oberacker as the race gets underway. 

He’s an upstate New Yorker (though he wasn’t born there). 

Oberacker was born in Merrick on Long Island, but he’s spent the bulk of his childhood and adult life based around Schenevus in Otsego County. Democrats seized on Oberacker’s first campaign ad, which (falsely) stated that he was born and raised in upstate New York.  But Oberacker’s family has an eponymous family meat market in Schenevus, which could quell any rumors that he’s carpetbagging in the district.

He is an expert on food.

The son of a German butcher, Oberacker graduated from SUNY Delhi in 1983 and became a research chef and food scientist specializing in beef, pork and poultry products. He formed a firm called Form Tech Solutions in 2007, now called Agradigm, that sources industrial food ingredients. 

He isn’t a career politician, but he’s been around.

Compared to the Republican who last held the seat, Oberacker has been in politics for a short time. Before joining the state Senate’s Republican Conference in 2021, he was an Otsego County legislator, Maryland town supervisor and a town board member as well. In the statehouse, with Republicans largely shut out of the budget process, he hasn’t had much opportunity to pass big-ticket legislation, but he has joined his colleagues in criticizing Democratic policy on topics like energy and public safety. He also joined an unlikely bipartisan push to regulate and disclose food additives in New York during the most recent legislative session. Oberacker serves as the Republican ranking member on the Alcoholism and Substance Use Disorders and Transportation Committees.

Wall Street and unions help fill his coffers.

Oberacker’s campaigns have historically relied on donations from local businesses in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Trade unions and public sector groups like the New York State Correction Officers Police Benevolent Union have also chipped in for his runs. Various political action committees organized by Republican politicians, like his predecessor James Seward, have also contributed to him in the past, and more well-known Republican financiers like Kenneth Pasternack have also shown up in his campaign filings. He has already drawn criticism from Riley for receiving donations from the New York State Electric & Gas Corporation’s parent company, Avangrid, amid his calls for an investigation into the company. 

He’s well-known in the GOP and keeps interesting company.

Oberacker can be seen at fundraisers and events with GOP bigwigs like Elise Stefanik, who’s expected to be the Republican nominee for governor, and in October, State Republican Committee Chair Ed Cox affirmed that the party planned to back him for the nomination to avoid a primary. He’s also shown support for the youth wing of the Republican Party, but that nearly backfired when two members of the New York State Young Republicans – former NYSYR Chair Peter Guinta and Bobby Walker – were found to have used racist and homophobic slurs in a members-only group chat. He previously endorsed Guinta to be  Northeast Regional Vice Chair of the Young Republican National Federation in 2023, and he nearly gave Walker a top position on his congressional campaign – though that offer was quickly rescinded when Politico reported on the existence of the offensive text messages.