After Friday's house vote to repeal Obamacare, a former aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo announced he will challenge one of the New York congressional Republicans who voted for it. Zack Fink filed the following report.

On Friday, freshman congressman John Faso voted along with fellow Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

It's a vote he has been defending ever since.

"We are giving additional resources to the states to cover costs for people who are on Medicaid who might be in a nursing home or for people who are disabled. So that criticism is not correct as well," Faso said.

Faso was also the sponsor of a New York-specific amendment that pushes the costs of Medicaid from counties to New York State. That has drawn the ire of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who says the burden on New York would be several billion dollars.

But now, Faso is facing a challenge from Gareth Rhodes, who left the Cuomo administration to get a law degree at Harvard. He's now suspending his studies to run as a Democrat against Faso.

"John Faso ran as a moderate. He misled the voters," Rhodes said. "Since taking office, he has voted lockstep with Donald Trump. And the final straw for me was when he voted to take health care away from 50,000 people right here in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills."

Rhodes downplays any suggestion he was put up to the task of running by his former boss.

"This was my idea to run," he said. "This is my community. It's where I am from. So I am going to be here for my community. I let the governor's office know that this is something I am interested in."

At least three other Democrats are expected to run.

"I don't have any comment. The election is 20 months away, and I was just elected for months ago. I'll turn to politics when the time comes. And whatever the other side does that is their concern and not mine," Faso said.

Although Faso will be running as an incumbent, independent expenditure groups are already running ads against him.

Cuomo is also up for re-election in 2018. It would be his third term should he win. And while Cuomo is considered a possible presidential candidate in 2020, analysts say he is going to need to run up the score in 2018 to be taken seriously.