For the last six months, it has been a fairly uneventful race for the 23rd Congressional District. That speaks to a couple of prominent reasons. First, and most importantly, incumbent U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy’s campaign is flush with cash. His challenger in Thomas Carle is nowhere near as prosperous.

Secondly, the Republicans have a stranglehold on the 11 counties the seat serves. That’s evident in the last election in this district in 2022 when Langworthy won the contest with 65% of the vote against a respected candidate in Democrat Max Della Pia.

Challenger Carle is no slouch — and can point to numerous achievements during his time in the private sector. While consistent in his support for unions, he turned around struggling companies — in the United States and Canada. In his campaign literature, he notes during his last 20 years in business, he balanced budgets in excess of $150 million per year and achieved record or sustainable profits at each location.

That, without question, is a much better record than the type of spending by both parties in Washington.

Langworthy, however, has our endorsement in this contest as he has been a fairly pleasant surprise in his first term in Congress. He’s given the region a voice while consistently making time to meet with constituents from here and across the lengthy district.

In August, the congressman spoke out quickly against the wrongs at the Buffalo Veterans Administration Medical Center. In addition, he has worked in a bipartisan spirit on the FAA amendment to maintain the 1,500-hour in-flight training rule for pilots.

In all, Langworthy has faced little to no pushback during his two years of representing the region. That result is worth another term.