Biography & Campaign Analysis
2026 race
Kailee Buller, a former chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the Republican nominee in the 2026 election for New York's 22nd congressional district, which covers Syracuse, Utica, and surrounding parts of Central New York and the Mohawk Valley.
The seat is held by Democrat John Mannion, who flipped the district in 2024 with 54.6% of the vote. Several other Republican candidates withdrew from the race, including state assemblyman John Lemondes Jr. and former state assemblyman John Salka.
Buller also appears on the Conservative Party line and faces Mannion, who holds the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, on November 3, 2026.