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After telling a national cable audience that Mike Lawler was “scared” to face her, and that she would “kick [Lawler’s] ass”, Conley ducked Meet the Press and State of the Union, and stalled for 52 days to agree to just two debates, fewer than this district got in 2024 and none before September 28. Lawler has accepted four and is ready for all six. The candidates’ first forum is on Wednesday morning in Poughkeepsie and is open to the press. 

Pearl River, NY — August 14, 2026… After telling a national cable audience that Mike Lawler was “scared” to face her, and that she would “kick [Lawler’s] ass”, Conley ducked Meet the Press and State of the Union, refused CBS2, and stalled for 52 days before agreeing to just two debates, fewer than this district got in 2024 and none before September 28 – after early voter are already being cast. Lawler has accepted four and is ready for all six. The candidates’ first forum of the cycle is on Wednesday morning in Poughkeepsie and is open to the press.

Lawler challenged Conley to six televised debates on June 23, the night her primary was called. He renewed the challenge in a letter on July 7 and proposed holding the first debate that month. He repeated it on NBC’s Meet the Press NOW on July 10, and five days later publicly called on her to stop stalling and accept the six debates plus the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce candidate forum. On August 11, he accepted four debates: Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, State of the Union with Dana Bash, News 12 with Tara Rosenblum, and Pix11 with Dan Mannarino. Conley’s answer took 52 days and rejected two of them. Under her schedule, the first debate of this race comes 97 days after Mike Lawler first asked for one.

Lawler accepted both debates Conley named before she even considered them. The two she killed are the two with the biggest audiences. The National Republican Congressional Committee reported this week that her campaign’s explanation for turning down the networks is that she “doesn’t want to do network debates.” 
 

Two years ago, voters in this district got three televised debates. News 12 hosted Lawler and Mondaire Jones, CBS News New York held a debate between them, and PIX11 hosted the final debate. Conley’s schedule keeps News 12 and PIX11 and drops CBS2. Under her plan, NY-17 voters will have fewer debates in 2026 than in 2024, in a race the entire country is watching – and 1 of only 3 where a Republican won a district also won by Kamala Harris in 2024.

“Cait Conley went on national television in June and told the country Mike Lawler was scared to face her. Shortly thereafter, NBC and CNN offered her a national stage with Mike Lawler, and she chickened out of both,” said Lawler for Congress spokesman Ciro Riccardi. “If Mike Lawler is the one who’s ‘scared,’ why did Cait Conley just run away from two of the debates on the table? We know the answer: It’s because Conley hasn’t lived in this district, doesn’t pay taxes or own a home here, and is embarrassingly unprepared to talk about the issue facing the hard working families, seniors, and small business owners who do.”

Conley’s statement leans on “multiple forums between now and Election Day.” The first one is five days away. On Wednesday morning, August 19, the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce hosts the general election’s first candidate forum at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Poughkeepsie, and it is open to the press.

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