Former MSNBC host, author and businessman Dylan Ratigan tells WAMC News this afternoon he is "seriously considering" a run for Congress in northern New York’s 21st House district. The 45-year-old Saranac Lake native says the decision is not final, because he is waiting to engage with district commissioners, talk with family, and make sure things are set with his business, Helical Holdings. If he runs, Ratigan would join a crowded Democratic primary field hoping to unseat two-term Republican Elise Stefanik, who also faces a potential Republican primary.Word of Ratigan's run began surfacing on this Watertown-area blog. Ratigan is a 1994 graduate of Union College in Schenectady.
Rep. Stefanik is considered a rising Republican star, and started 2018 with $1.2 million in her campaign war chest. The 33-year-old has won easily in her first two races, which both featured a Green Party candidate, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. The sprawling 21st district has more than 177,000 registered Republicans to the Democrats' 127,000.
