Joe Sempolinski is a Republican who represents the 148th Assembly District, covering all of Allegany and Cattaraugus counties and part of Steuben County. A former aide to Rep. Tom Reed, he served four months in Congress in 2022. He is on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot, and no Democrat is listed against him.
So who is Joe Sempolinski, what has he done, and what do his critics say? The record runs through nearly a decade on Reed’s staff, a county party chairmanship, a special election he won by about 4,000 votes, a lopsided 2024 Assembly win, and a first term with at least three bills signed into law.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Republican (also on the Conservative line)
- Hometown
- Canisteo, N.Y.; born in Elmira
- Date of Birth
- Not confirmed in official sources reviewed
- Current Position
- Member of Assembly, 148th District
- Background
- Congressional aide; U.S. representative, NY-23, 2022 to 2023; Assembly chief of staff
- In Office Since
- January 2025
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Sempolinski was born in Elmira and raised in the Painted Post area, according to Roll Call. He graduated from what was then Corning-Painted Post West High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2005, and holds master’s degrees from Yale University. PagPol could not confirm his date of birth or his parents’ names.
He and his wife, Angie, a public school teacher in Hinsdale, have two daughters, Joselyn and Madelyn, according to WLEA. The girls were 6 and 5 when he joined the Assembly. PagPol found no record of military service. He lists Canisteo in Steuben County as his home.
The village of Canisteo in Steuben County, which Sempolinski lists as his home. (Photo: J. Passepartout, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WORKING FOR TOM REED, 2009 TO 2022
Sempolinski managed Reed’s 2009 congressional campaign and then served five years as his district director. “I was willing to work very cheap. I could live on my parents’ couch,” he told Roll Call. He alternated between congressional and campaign jobs for five more years and left Reed’s staff in 2018.
He later became director of development at Archbishop Walsh Academy in Olean and chairman of the Steuben County Republican Committee. PagPol could not confirm the year he became chairman, and found no record that he served in the Steuben County Legislature. On July 1, 2021, he declared a run for Congress, according to WLEA.
“The far left in this country has gone crazy,” he said in that announcement. “I was born here. I was raised here. I am raising my family here.” In early 2022 he became chief of staff to Assemblyman Joseph Giglio. That May, Reed resigned to take a lobbying job, which set up a special election.
THE 2022 SPECIAL ELECTION
In June 2022 the Republican and Conservative parties named Sempolinski their nominee to finish Reed’s term, according to WLEA. He did not seek the full term, because a court-ordered redistricting plan shifted the district toward the Buffalo suburbs, Roll Call reported. His Democratic opponent was Max Della Pia, a retired Air Force colonel.
Della Pia chaired the Tioga County Democratic Committee. “Humbly, there’s no one who knows the old version of the 23rd better than I do,” Sempolinski told Spectrum News, arguing he could get constituent services running faster than anyone else during the short term.
Joe Sempolinski’s official portrait from his four months as a U.S. representative in the 117th Congress. (Photo: U.S. House of Representatives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
At a League of Women Voters debate in Fredonia, Sempolinski attacked the Inflation Reduction Act and new IRS hiring, saying the agents would end up investigating regular people. Della Pia called that claim “just not true,” according to the Post-Journal. Sempolinski called the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach a riot.
He said people who broke the law that day should be held accountable. On Aug. 23, 2022, he won 39,129 votes, or 52.6 percent, to Della Pia’s 35,078, according to certified results reported by Ballotpedia. The margin was 4,051 votes. That same day Nick Langworthy beat Carl Paladino in the primary for the full term.
FOUR MONTHS IN CONGRESS, 2022
Sempolinski was sworn in on Sept. 13, 2022, and served on the House Education and Labor Committee. On Sept. 30 he voted against a stopgap spending bill that included aid to Ukraine, which passed 230 to 201, according to the House Clerk. In October he announced an 11-county town meeting tour.
On Dec. 3 he told the Post-Journal he would oppose the Respect for Marriage Act. “The legislation does go beyond merely codifying same gender marriage. It does other things,” he said, according to the Post-Journal. He said a proposed amendment protecting religious groups had been rejected.
On Dec. 8 he voted against the act, which passed 258 to 169, according to the House Clerk. The same day he voted for the annual defense authorization bill, which passed 350 to 80. He also said he would vote against the $1.7 trillion spending package that month. His term ended in January 2023.
THE 2024 RACE
On Feb. 16, 2024, after Giglio said he would not run again, Sempolinski entered the race for the 148th District. “There is no one who can serve this area like I can,” he said. State Sens. Tom O’Mara and George Borrello endorsed him two days later, according to WLEA.
Great Valley Supervisor Dan Brown said on Feb. 23 he would not run, according to the Olean Times Herald, but he later became the Democratic nominee. On Nov. 5, Sempolinski won 38,536 votes to Brown’s 15,893, according to certified results, carrying every county in the district.
He won Allegany County 14,281 to 4,987, Cattaraugus 21,541 to 10,337 and the Steuben portion 2,714 to 569. “I will always make sure that the voice of the Southern Tier is heard loud and clear at the state capitol,” he said on election night, according to the Post-Journal.
2024 vote share in contested Southern Tier and Finger Lakes Assembly races
SempolinskiOther Republican members with Democratic opponents
Share of the vote each Republican won in November 2024 against a Democratic opponent. Sempolinski beat Dan Brown 38,536 to 15,893. Source: New York State Board of Elections results, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
He praised Giglio for doing the job “with diligence and honor” and thanked his wife and children. His 70.8 percent share was the largest among the three Southern Tier and Finger Lakes Republicans PagPol compared who faced Democrats that year.
THE FIRST TERM, 2025 TO 2026
Justice Raymond W. Walter swore him in at the Capitol in January 2025 as his wife held the Bible, according to the Post-Journal. He kept Giglio’s Olean office and two of his aides. In March he introduced A6924, an organ donation fairness bill for people with disabilities. It never left the Mental Health Committee.
In April 2025 he voted against the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which passed 81 to 67, and in May he voted against both main budget bills. His bill letting the Rushford town justice live outside the town, A7250, passed the Assembly that May but died in the Senate when the session ended.
Rushford Lake in the Allegany County town of Rushford, whose town justice residency bill Sempolinski carried twice. (Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
In March 2026 his organ donation bill was stricken. On May 19 the Senate passed his West Almond town justice bill 58 to 1, according to state records. He voted no on the budget bills, which passed 93 to 47 on May 21 and 91 to 52 on May 27.
On May 28 the Senate passed his Ellicottville hotel and motel tax bill 47 to 13, and on June 2 it passed the revived Rushford bill 60 to 1. The Assembly approved both on June 5, with his Olean property exemption and Allegany police exam bills. No primary was held for his seat.
On Aug. 21 the governor signed the Ellicottville bill as Chapter 255, according to the Senate record, and the Olean bill as Chapter 261. The Allegany police bill became Chapter 305 on Sept. 25. On Oct. 16 the Rushford and West Almond bills were delivered to the governor.
Ellicottville Town Hall. Sempolinski’s bill extending Ellicottville’s hotel and motel tax became law in August 2026. (Photo: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
THE DISTRICT AND THE PARTY MATH
Republicans hold a wide edge. Allegany County had 14,010 active Republicans and 5,076 Democrats in February 2026, and Cattaraugus had 20,617 Republicans and 12,039 Democrats, according to state enrollment figures in PagPol’s Data Spine. Only part of Steuben County, with its 30,590 Republicans and 13,491 Democrats, lies in the district.
The district is rural and has five colleges, Sempolinski has noted. In the Assembly he sits in the Republican minority facing a Democratic supermajority. Other upstate Republicans include Paul Bologna, a fellow first-term member, and the retiring Ken Blankenbush of the North Country.
The Allegany County Courthouse in Belmont. All of Allegany County is in the 148th District. (Photo: Hayesteve, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Sempolinski is the ranking Republican on the Mental Health Committee and sits on the Education, Environmental Conservation, Higher Education, Labor, and People with Disabilities committees, according to the Wellsville Sun. In 2025 he was an alternate on the mental hygiene budget conference committee.
“I am humbled to be named the lead Republican Assembly member working on issues in this area,” he said of the mental health post. Explaining his seat on the disabilities panel, he told the Wellsville Sun, “I am the proud father of a daughter with Down Syndrome.” He said the committee fit his background as a parent.
Bills prime-sponsored in 2025 and 2026, selected upstate Assembly Republicans
SempolinskiOther upstate Republican members
Bills each member introduced as prime sponsor in the 2025 and 2026 sessions. Source: New York State Assembly data, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
Among the seven upstate Republicans in the chart, his 47 prime-sponsored bills rank fourth. He also signed on to 137 other bills, according to the Data Spine. He has cited his time on the House Education and Labor Committee for his Assembly posts. See also PagPol’s Blankenbush profile.
WHY HE RAN AND WHAT HE BELIEVES
Sempolinski pitched himself as ready on day one. “I can hit the ground running in Albany as no other candidate can,” he said in 2024. “The ultra radical liberal wing of the Democrat Party runs Albany,” he added in the same announcement, calling for a conservative to stand up against what he described as madness.
His sponsored bills include proposals to make menacing and stalking bail eligible, to tighten pretrial detention for repeat offenders, to bar unfunded Medicaid mandates, and to waive sporting license fees for disabled veterans, according to his Assembly page. On taking office he said his priorities included cutting wasteful government spending.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
PagPol found no public matching fund payments to Sempolinski in the 10 state Public Campaign Finance Board distribution reports for 2026 that it reviewed. Candidates in the neighboring 149th District did appear in them. PagPol could not obtain his 2026 fundraising totals, cash on hand, or top donors from state Board of Elections filings.
His 2022 congressional committee raised $257,333 for the special and general elections and spent $122,105, according to Ballotpedia, which draws on federal filings. The primary account, from a race he left, raised $287,345. His 2024 Assembly committee reported $243,897 in contributions, the site said.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
PagPol found no ethics complaints, lawsuits, or personal scandals involving Sempolinski. The criticism on record is mostly political. In 2022 Della Pia said the new IRS funding targeted people earning $400,000 or more. “If you are in that category and you cheat on your taxes, you should be concerned,” Della Pia said, according to the Post-Journal.
His vote against the Respect for Marriage Act drew notice in 2022. “It could have had protections in there but it didn’t,” Sempolinski said, arguing the bill should have shielded religious groups. PagPol found no named critic quoted against him during his Assembly term, so the critic quotes here date from 2022.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Sempolinski promised to “hit the ground running.” In his first two years he introduced 47 bills, and at least three, all local measures, became law. Two local justice residency bills await the governor. His organ donation bill, tied to his disability advocacy, was stricken in committee in March 2026.
He pledged to cut wasteful spending and voted against every main state budget bill in 2025 and 2026, all of which passed. His bail bills reflect his public safety message, but both were held for consideration in the Codes Committee in April 2026, as was his veterans license bill in its committee.
STATE COMPTROLLER AUDITS IN THE DISTRICT
A September 2026 comptroller Olean audit found the City of Olean did not consistently keep its unrestricted fund balance at the level its own policy requires, and that its accounting records and financial reports were inaccurate. The audit number is 2026M-40.
Union Street looking toward downtown Olean, where Sempolinski keeps his district office. (Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
In July 2026 the comptroller found the Allegany County Village of Richburg board had not arranged an audit of the clerk-treasurer’s 2023 records, and that the clerk-treasurer had not filed annual fiscal reports with the state for 2019 through 2023. PagPol could not find fiscal stress scores for the district.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sempolinski appears on the Republican and Conservative lines on Nov. 3 with no Democrat listed, according to the Allegany County candidate list. The governor must act on his Rushford and West Almond bills, and the Ellicottville tax authority expires Sept. 1, 2027. For more, visit PagPol’s Cattaraugus County page or subscribe to the Cattaraugus County newsletter.
