Political ads · 2026 · NY

New York House District 7 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them

Claire Valdez won · 83.3% to 15.0%, with an estimated 88% of the vote counted · Called by AP on Nov 3

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Claire Valdez (Democrat) and Melvin Rivera (Republican) are the nominees for New York's 7th congressional district in the November 3, 2026 general election. By their latest FEC reports, Claire Valdez's campaign had raised $1.9 million (through October 14, 2026). Outside groups have reported $1.2 million for Claire Valdez and $0 against.

Claire Valdez (DEM), Melvin Rivera (REP). 5 others filed with the FEC; any ads they ran are below. 0 ads analyzed, 0 with at least one technique in the copy. Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing.

How to vote in New York

From New York's official election office. Each line links to the official page it came from.

Registration	Register by Sat, Oct 24 (Application must be received by the board of elections (mail or in person).) (passed)Source: elections.ny.gov ↗
Early voting in person	Sat, Oct 24 to Sun, Nov 1 (Hours vary by county.) (passed)Source: elections.ny.gov ↗
By mail	Anyone can vote by mail; request a ballot by Sat, Oct 24 (Received by county board, 10 days before; in-person application until Nov 2.); return it by Tue, Nov 3 (Postmarked by Nov 3 and received by Nov 10; or delivered to county board by 9 p.m. Nov 3.) (passed)Source: elections.ny.gov ↗
Election Day	Tue, Nov 3. Polls: 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. (passed)Source: elections.ny.gov ↗

Check your registration and polling place ↗ New York's official election site ↗

Checked October 8, 2026. Rules can change; confirm with the official site before you go.

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Money in this race

From FEC filings for 2025–26. Outside spending is money a group spends on its own about a candidate — TV and online ads, mail, canvassing. It is not a donation to the campaign, and the candidate does not control it. Supporting means it was spent to help that candidate win; Opposing means it was spent to defeat them, usually on attack ads. Groups report it within 24 or 48 hours as the election nears. Raised is the campaign's own fundraising, as of its latest quarterly report. Largest donors come from each outside spender's own FEC receipts, with each donor's share of its itemized receipts; donors under $100,000 are not named. People are shown with the employer and occupation they reported. A donor that is itself a political committee is shown with its own largest donors. Companies and nonprofits don't report their funders to the FEC, so the trail ends there, and the page says so.

Claire Valdez (DEM)

Raised: $1.9M through 2026-10-14 individuals $1.7M · PACs $116K · from the candidate's other committees $82K · cash on hand $110K
Outside spending: $1.2M supporting Valdez · latest reported 2026-10-23
Largest outside spenders: AMERICAN PRIORITIES (AP) — $428K supporting Valdez Largest donors: Mohammad Waqas $1.1M (14%), Showcase Commerce Inc., CEO; Omer Hasan $1.0M (13%), Retired; Hussain Mahrouq $925K (12%), MEI Group, CEO; FIG AND OLIVE ACTION $620K (8%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Afaq Ahmed $500K (7%), Self-Employed, Investor NEW YORKERS FOR LOWER COSTS — $357K supporting Valdez Largest donors: UAW NATIONAL VCAP $100K (15%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); UAW REGION 9A VCAP $100K (15%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); FIG AND OLIVE ACTION, INC. $100K (15%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Faheem Zaman $100K (15%), Block, Project Manager; Steven Pajcic $100K (15%), Pajcic & Pajcic, Attorney JUSTICE DEMOCRATS PAC — $278K supporting Valdez Largest donors: Saikat Chakrabarti $2.0M (34%), NEW Consensus, President; D BAILEY, JAMES $840K (14%); THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST UNDERSTANDING (IMEU) POLICY PROJECT $785K (13%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Allen Liu $650K (11%), NOT Employed, Retired; RASHIDA TLAIB FOR CONGRESS $550K (9%) LEADERS WE DESERVE — $175K supporting Valdez Largest donors: HOULIHAN, RITA $3.2M (47%); Barbara Weitz $350K (5%), NOT-Employed, NOT-Employed; Amos Hostetter $225K (3%), Pilot House Associates LLC, Chair; Clay Kirk $210K (3%), Self-Employed, Investor; Dagmar Dolby $200K (3%), NOT-Employed, Retired CHRISTOPHER STREET PROJECT PAC (CSP PAC) — $3,300 supporting Valdez Largest donors: PINAIRE, BEVERLY $177K (80%) and 3 more

Bundled through PACs: $1,100 through 1 PAC · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01 A NEW POLICY PAC — $1,100 from 1 gift

11 PACs gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election

AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR MIDDLE EAST RIGHTS - MIDDLE EAST RIGHTS & INTEGRITY PAC (ACMER MERIT PAC) $1,750
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVT. EMPL. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $2,500
ASSOCIATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES, IFPTE, AFL-CIO POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $500
CHRISTOPHER STREET PROJECT PAC (CSP PAC) $5,000
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF BRICKLAYERS AND ALLIED CRAFTSMAN POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $5,000
JUSTICE DEMOCRATS PAC $5,000
LEADERS WE DESERVE $5,000
NYC-DSA FEDERAL PAC $1,500
PEACE, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND LEADERSHIP PAC $3,500
PROGRESSIVE VOTERS OF AMERICA $10K
UAW - V - CAP (UAW VOLUNTARY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM) 'INT'L UNION UNITED AUTOMOBILE AEROSPACE & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA UAW $5,000

All filings at the FEC ↗

No 2025–26 FEC reports or outside spending found for Melvin Rivera.

No campaign ads analyzed for this race yet.

What this page is

An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it comes from a national Senate group and ran mostly in NY; or it ran mostly in NY and names a candidate — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific rhetorical move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. Running a check and seeing its verdicts are part of Semblen Pro, because each check costs money to run; anyone can see which claims an ad makes. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.