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NBC News

By Ben Kamisar

New York Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney faces his own tough race, not to mention the task of helping Democrats keep the House.

The top House super PAC working to win back the body for Republicans says it’s dropping $4 million in television ads aimed at upping the pressure on Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the New York Democratic congressman who also leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign.

Congressional Leadership Fund’s new ad focuses on crime, criticizing 2018 comments Maloney made on opposing cash bail — during his attorney general bid that year, he said he would make ending cash bail a top priority.

“Sean Patrick Maloney’s hubris is catching up with him,” CLF President Dan Conston said in a statement about Maloney, referencing the redistricting-related shift that now has him running in a different district.

“Maloney made a grave miscalculation in giving up incumbency and we have a real shot to beat him in November.”

Maloney told The Journal News that he supports ending cash bail in some cases as an issue of fairness.

And Maloney criticized the effort in a statement to NBC News: “Republicans have spent millions against me and their numbers still say MAGA Mike Lawler is losing. CLF can light another $4 million on fire and peddle open racism [the statement referenced this link] in an attempt to rescue their loser candidate — it won’t work. I’ve won 5 times in a Trump district and I didn’t need to play footsie with insurrectionists to do it. Lawler is just another Trump errand boy who will be too busy taking away your reproductive rights to deliver for the Hudson Valley.”

The big investment from CLF down the stretch takes aim at Maloney as he faces a competitive election against Republican state Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who has made crime a big issue in his bid. But it also comes as Maloney, who chairs the DCCC, has his eyes on the Democratic efforts to hold the House majority after November’s elections.