EXCLUSIVE: What is the Mystery "Patriot Party" Doing in a New York House Race? All But Certainly Helping Democrats Win the House

If it walks like a fake candidate, and if it talks like a fake candidate, it’s probably a fake candidate!

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn’t the only third party candidate throwing a wrench into this November’s election–there’s one in New York that has all the hallmarks of Democratic meddling, and with the balance of power in the House hanging by a thread, it could tip the scale to the Democrats next year.

After failing to defeat now-Republican Congressman Marc Molinaro in the 2022 red wave that actually did hit New York, Democrats are now seeming to try a new approach. If at first you don’t succeed, create a conservative-sounding third party to siphon of a couple hundred votes and swing the election towards Democrat Josh Riley. 

While there are currently no links to Riley in this saga, it’s undeniable that this chaos will exclusively benefit his candidacy–and some who know him aren’t shocked to see this happen in his race. “Josh Riley is a low-life piece of shit,” one New York operative who isn’t working on this race told me.

Thanks to New York’s quirky electoral system, candidates can run on one or multiple different ballot line across multiple different political parties, all while having the votes count just the same. In Molinaro’s case, for example, he will be on the ballot in November as both the Republican Party and as the Conservative Party’s candidate.

Here’s where things get really weird. There’s now a new kid and an entire political party up from the Bronx come into play. Joy DaCosta Fasciglione, a former Democrat, is now gathering signatures via paid gatherers for a brand new party, dubbed the Patriot Party.

As if the name of the political party isn’t enough to potentially attract Republican voters, it turns out that Fasciglione has been portraying herself as Ultra MAGA, which would probably come as news to the former president’s political operation. 

Surely Fasciglione is just a regular Joe, eager to partake in the political process, right? Not so fast. One Republican working on the race noted to me that “Joy [still] lives in the Bronx and at one point was registered as a Dem, now registered as other.” The Bronx is over 100 miles from the heart of Molinaro’s district. 

So what’s going on here? Remember, Democrats regularly resort to all sorts of chicanery to win their elections. Earlier this cycle, I reported on how Senator Chuck Schumer was pouring millions of dollars via shady groups to try and tank Republican Tim Sheehy in Montana’s GOP primary, all to see the effort go up in flames when Matt Rosendale, Sheehy’s main threat, dropped out anyway.

And in an even more apples to apples comparison, remember that in Illinois in 2018, the Democrats stood up a brand new political party, hilariously dubbed the Conservative Party, and convinced a Republican state senator who hated Governor Bruce Rauner to run on that ticket to siphon off votes and give the keys of the Governor’s Mansion over to Democrat JB Pritzker.

Next week, Fasciglione can turn in her petitions to get on the ballot, but it’s looking like she may be in some legal problems if she decides to do so. You’ll notice on one of her petitions, for example, that a man named Verne Davis appears–this, as it turns out, was news to Mr. Davis.

I received an affidavit that Mr. Davis signed yesterday in which he made it clear that he had nothing to do with Fasciglione’s campaign. 

“I was unaware of this petitioning activity before it began, and did not consent to the use of my name as a vacancy committee member in connection with it,” he wrote. “I do not support Joy Dacosta Fisciglione’s [sic] candidacy for Congress, do not wish for her name to appear on the ballot, and do not wish to be associated with this effort.”

As is usually the case with these sorts of operations, their ties to Democrats only fully materialize well after it is too late to matter. But how many times do Republicans need to get bamboozled to call a spade a spade?

If it walks like a fake candidate designed to siphon off votes from Republicans, and if it talks like a fake candidate designed to siphon off votes from Republicans, it’s probably a fake candidate designed to siphon off votes from Republicans!

The onus is on Joy DaCosta Fasciglione to prove that she’s anything other than a liar and a Democratic plant. Good luck doing that.