ENDICOTT, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – Saying he learned from his football coaches at U-E to get back up when knocked down, Democrat Josh Riley is making a second attempt at becoming a member of Congress.

Riley returned to the block in Endicott where he grew up yesterday to meet with former neighbors and supporters.

He announced on Tuesday another run for the 19th Congressional district less than 6 months after he lost the last election by less than 4,500 votes to Republican Marc Molinaro.

Riley says he’s running for the same reasons as last time: the revitalize the economy and strengthen the middle class.

He blames the corrupting influence of corporate money for many of the challenges facing working families.

Riley, who received 49.2% of the vote last November, says he plans to build on a grassroots campaign that included support from Republicans and independents as well as Democrats.

“We turned out 62% of our Democrats, which was a higher percentage than any other Democratic campaign in the country. One of the things that I was most proud of is that our campaign brought Democrats and Republicans together. We had a ton of people who split their tickets between Republicans and Democrats and that’s a sign of the unifying message that our campaign offered.”

Riley says that within 24 hours of his announcement, he gained endorsements from 20 Chairs and Vice Chairs of Democratic county committees across the district.

Riley lives in Ithaca with his wife and son and is currently on a fellowship working on public policy issues and has returned to practicing law part-time.

Check out our full interview with Riley below.