New York Post

By Carl Campanile

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a top ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi who oversees the House Democrats’ campaign fundraising arm, is on the ropes in his re-election bid, a new poll released by his rival Friday claims.

Republican candidate Assemblyman Michael Lawler’s campaign released an internal poll claiming he leads Maloney 52% to 46% in the district covering the lower Hudson Valley.

“Voters in New York’s 17th Congressional District remain frustrated with the current state of the country, specifically regarding inflation, the economy and crime,” said pollster Jim McLaughlin.

“Maloney and his extreme views on issues such as cashless bail, taxes, spending, inflation and ethics are being exposed and this is making Maloney very unpopular with voters.”

The Lawler-commissioned survey says headwinds favor the GOP in the district: 72% of likely voters say the U.S. is on the wrong track, 56% disapprove of President Biden’s job performance, while Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin leads Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in the governor’s race in the 17th CD 52% to 44%.

“Lawler can release as many skewed internal polls as he likes, but it won’t change the reality that he is losing because his extremist MAGA agenda of banning abortion, opposing gun safety reforms, and engaging in disgusting, anti-Semitic attacks isn’t welcome in the Hudson Valley,” said Maloney campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg.

The Maloney campaign dismissed the findings.

Lawyer’s campaign claims his lead over Maloney in internal polling jumped from 2 points in July to 6 points now.

But the independent Cook Political report gives Maloney the edge in the race, rating the contest as leaning Democrat.

The contest is one of about a half dozen competitive races in New York that could determine whether Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats.

Maloney, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was first elected in 2012, and is running for a sixth term.

Lawler, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2020 representing Rockland County.

The GOP internal poll of 400 likely general election voters in CD 17 was conducted from
October 10-12 and has a margin of error of plus or 4.9 percentage points.

The sample includes a mix of 33% landline phone, 34% mobile phone, and 33% text-to-web interviews.

The Journal News

By Michael V. Lawler

American politics can get ugly. Candidate positions are so often misconstrued by opponents that it’s vitally important to get the truth out to voters in every way possible.

In my race for Congress in New York 17th District — all or parts of Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties — I’ve been amazed, for example, by how much my position on abortion has been misrepresented, and I use that word generously, by my opponent. I barely recognize myself in the mailers and television ads being used against me.

Let me be clear: I am personally pro-life, while also supporting the right to an abortion in cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in jeopardy. For the record, I’m also opposed to a federal ban on abortion and would vote against one.

My support for life was reaffirmed for me when my wife and I experienced a miscarriage in 2020. Thankfully, we were blessed with a healthy baby girl this year.

I recognize that abortion has always been a lightning-rod issue in this country, and June’s Supreme Court Decision overturning Roe v. Wade brought it back to the forefront in many states across America.

The decision changes nothing in New York, though. Abortion was made legal here in 1970, under a Republican governor and a Republican-led state senate and assembly, interestingly, and our laws have only moved leftward since. Too far left, in my opinion.

In 2019, New York went all the way, allowing abortions right up until the moment of birth for virtually any reason — something I vehemently oppose — aligning itself with nations like China and North Korea, where abortions are used as a form of population control and gender selection. Most European countries, in contrast, allow abortions only in the first trimester.  

New York prohibits parents from being notified if their minor daughter seeks an abortion — and also allows non doctors to perform abortions, which effectively means that many low-income New Yorkers receive abortions from non-physicians today. Wherever one stands on the abortion issue, that doesn’t seem fair.

While I don’t agree with New York’s radical abortion laws, I do respect the will of the state’s voters whom the Supreme Court have given exclusive jurisdiction over the abortion issue. New York is a strongly pro-choice state. I get it.

One thing we all can agree on, hopefully, is that New York needs to do more to help vulnerable young women and families make the best decisions for themselves when pregnancies occur. I will always advocate for life, but I will never stand in judgment.

No one wants an abortion, and I sympathize with anyone struggling to make that choice.

As we move forward, there needs to be a more civilized discussion around this important issue, and a respect for differing viewpoints. If I am fortunate enough to be elected your congressman, I look forward to being part of that discussion and will pledge to always keep an open mind and open heart.

Assemblyman Michael V. Lawler is the Republican and Conservaitve Party nominee for Congress in New York’s 17th District, which includes all or parts of Rockland, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties.

New York Post

By Post Editorial Board

In the fight for the new Rockland-Westchester 17th Congressional District, The Post endorses Assemblyman Mike Lawler over Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

Lawler is a no-nonsense Republican with a vision to get the things that matter to New Yorkers done.

On crime, he wants to end cashless bail and give judges back the power to actually make decisions based on a dangerousness standard. On the economy, he promises to fight back against disastrous policies that harm everyday citizens, including runaway government spending that drives inflationas well as regressive taxes on the less affluent, like the MTA’s insane congestion pricing plan.

He’s also promising to battle woke nonsense in schools and talking sense on abortion — and worked with genuine bipartisan enthusiasm in his prior legislative career.

In other words, he’s the model of a conscientious, serious elected official doing his best to fight for the interests of his voters. Which makes him the very opposite of his opponent.

We’ll say it again: Sean Patrick Maloney is the most arrogant, self-serving incumbent in all New York, and possibly all of Congress.

How? Let us count the ways.

• He couldn’t be bothered to alert fellow Dem Rep. Mondaire Jones before announcing that he’d run in NY-17, which contains a lot more of Jones’ old district than it does Maloney’s — despite being the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, i.e. in charge of making sure Dems get elected and re-elected.
• Speaking of new districts, Maloney was one of the presiding geniuses behind the New York Dems’ disastrous gerrymander effort in the first place — which failed and set the Empire State caucus to clawing at one another’s throats (and may end up costing Dems control of the House).
• In 2018, this joker ran for two offices at the same time, entering the state attorney general primary even as he stayed in the race for his then-House seat, in a scheme widely seen as part of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s vendetta against progressive gadfly Zephyr Teachout. More, he shadily spent cash from his federal campaign fund on the state race.
• He also spent campaign bucks on what sure looks like a hire for personal services in the form of his aide Harold Leath (who’s registered to vote at the property Maloney lives in with his family), a move that is now the subject of a House ethics complaint.
• He’s a mastermind of the cynical Dem strategy of backing far-right congressional candidates — you know, the MAGA Republicans who represent an existential threat to democracy? — on the grounds that they’ll make weaker opponents come the midterms.

His policies are awful, too. In his 2018 AG run, he vowed to make ending cash bail a “top priority” if elected, only to fall back on supporting Gov. Hochul’s lame “fixes” after crime soared. He voted for all the Biden spending blowouts through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, yet told The New York Times in August, when inflation hit 8.3%, that “what we’ve done on the spending side” is not the “primary driver of this.” In the same interview, he again called for packing the Supreme Court and killing the filibuster, but dodged when asked about term limits.

Maloney fended off a primary challenge from socialist Alessandra Biaggi. But polling now shows Lawler ahead. No shock there: New Yorkers left and right alike are sick of self-dealing, smug insiders like Maloney putting their own interests ahead of the voters’ and even fellow Democrats’.

Lawler is a standup guy; Maloney, a total tool. The choice is obvious.

Spectrum News 1

By Susan Arbetter

New York’s 17th Congressional District in the lower Hudson Valley race pits current 18th District incumbent Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney against first-term state Assemblyman Republican Michael Lawler, of Rockland County.

It’s Maloney’s race to lose: not only does he have the benefit of incumbency, he is the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, so he’s responsible for getting Democrats elected this cycle.

But Lawler is smart and has shown he is willing to work across the aisle, which will likely matter in a district that the Cook Political Report describes as “leans Democratic.”

While only a first-term assemblyman, Lawler has worked in politics for 14 years, starting out as a campaign worker for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain during his presidential bid, and then as the executive director of the New York state Republican Party. He also ran former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s campaign for governor in 2014.

“I’m a small business owner. I’ve served locally as a deputy town supervisor in the town of Orangetown before becoming assemblyman in 2020, flipping a 2-1 Democratic district, defeating a 14-year incumbent,” he said.

Lawler, who is married with an infant, told Capital Tonight that people are tired of one-party rule. That said, he has worked across the aisle during his tenure in the Legislature, ensuring passage of Alyssa’s Law.

“I have among the most bipartisan records in Albany,” he said. “People are looking for common sense and balance at every level of government and I think I offer that.”

Lawler cited record inflation, the cap on SALT, high gas prices, crime, the southern border, education and energy policy as issues that he’s hearing about on the campaign trail.

“When you’re paying $11 for a package of chicken cutlets or $7 for a box of cereal, it’s a problem,” Lawler stated.

When it was pointed out to him that the cap on SALT was implemented under former Republican President Donald Trump, he said his opponent, Sean Patrick Maloney, had “an obligation” to negotiate and ensure that the cap on SALT was removed from the final bill.

“He packed up his things and went home,” Lawler said of Maloney.

In August, Maloney strenuously objected to Lawler’s characterization, which the assemblyman has made in the past.

“It’s guys like me who have been fighting that tooth and nail,” he told the Examiner.“We’re going to get that done, with no thanks to Lawler, who supports the party that let that get away.”

When Lawler was asked what he would do to tackle crime in Congress, he cited the following statistics.

“Since cashless bail has been enacted, crime is up 36% in New York City,” he said.

To support this claim, Lawler sent Capital Tonight a Manhattan Institute study from July, which used NYPD comp stat numbers, which are typically higher than those released by DCJS.

Indeed, according to numbers released last week by DCJS, total index crimes in New York City have increased from 2020 to 2021 by 5.2%.

Violent crimes, a subset of index crimes, rose by 11.3% during the same time period.

Regarding rearrests, Assemblyman Lawler stated that “40% of those who have been released on non-monetary bail have been re-arrested for offenses while those charges were pending.”

Those statistics are backed up by the recent DCJS release of data.

As a member of Congress, Lawler told Capital Tonight that, if the state Legislature and the governor fail in their responsibilities to the residents of the state on crime, then Congress must act.

“There’s multiple bills before the House of Representatives, including Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis’ bill which would do what the federal government often does, and that’s control the purse strings and force New York to act,” Lawler explained. “You cannot continue to have a situation where violent repeat offenders are put back onto our streets and the government is failing to act.”

Another issue of importance to voters in the new NY-17 is congestion pricing. While both Lawler and Maloney are against the plan released by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Lawler introduced a measure in Albany to repeal the enacting legislation.

“Unlike my opponent who just recently announced his opposition to congestion pricing, I’ve been opposed to congestion pricing from the start,” Lawler said.New York’s 17th Congressional District in the lower Hudson Valley race pits current 18th District incumbent Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney against first-term state Assemblyman Republican Michael Lawler, of Rockland County.

News 12

Scott McGee welcomes freshman Republican Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who is running to be the next congressman in New York’s newly drawn 17th District. It’s currently being held by freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones, but Lawler is running against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

Lawler is the former executive director of the New York State Republican Party and also was an adviser to former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. Before his election he was a deputy town supervisor in Orangetown.

The Legislative Gazette

By Christian Evanko

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, and his Republican challenger, Assemblyman Mike Lawler, R-Pearl River, have agreed to participate in the League of Women Voters’ debate for candidates running in the newly drawn 17th Congressional District.

The virtual debate is planned for Wednesday, October 12 at 7:00 p.m. 

Maloney is running this November on the issues of gun safety, infrastructure improvement and abortion rights. 

Lawler’s priority issues include public safety, secure borders and “age-appropriate” school curriculums.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

Voters can learn more about the new congressional and state legislative districts, see their personalized ballots, find polling places and learn more about their elected officials at the League of Women Voters of  New York’s website.

WAMC

The road to the House majority might run through the Hudson Valley.

In today’s Congressional Corner, Republican New York state Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who is running in the state’s new 17th House district, wraps up his conversation with WAMC’s Alan Chartock.

Click here to listen

Recorded 9/19/22.

Fox News

New York congressional candidate Mike Lawler shares how he plans to defeat Democrat incumbent Rep. Sean Maloney in November.

NRCC

A new poll of NY-17 shows DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney is losing to Republican Mike Lawler 49%-45%.

It turns out all the heat Maloney drew from his fellow Democrats after he bullied Mondaire Jones out of the district was well-deserved.

NRCC Comment: “Democrats should be panicking that their midterm fates lie with Sean Patrick Maloney, who will now have to siphon off DCCC resources to save himself. New Yorkers don’t like politicians who put criminals first.”  – NRCC Spokeswoman Samantha Bullock

New York Post

By Zach Williams

It was once unthinkable, but a path to Republican control of the House of Representatives could run through New York.

A new poll showing Republicans with the edge in the newly-drawn Congressional District 17 gives Democrats one more reason to worry how the GOP could capture the U.S. House this November by flipping swing districts across the Empire State in the midterm elections.

GOP Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R-Rockland) has a 49% to 45% lead over Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-Hudson Valley) ahead of the Nov. 8 election, according to data released Tuesday by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The poll by the GOP firm McLaughlin & Associates, which had a margin of error of 4.5%, shows GOP attacks are endangering the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head Maloney while he oversees his party’s national efforts to defend its eight-seat majority in the House this November.

“I will fight to cut taxes and spending to tackle inflation and end cashless bail to restore safety in our communities,” Lawler told The Post. “That’s what this election is about and the poll numbers bear it out.”

The race is among a half dozen races that appear to be competitive this year after the state’s highest court invalidated plans for a so-called “Hochulmander” that would have left the GOP with just a couple super-red seats.

“Democrats blew it by getting greedy with congressional lines in New York; now they’re paying the price with competitive races all across the state. That’s great news for voters who haven’t had a chance to vote in truly competitive elections for years,” Republican political consultant William O’Reilly said in a text.

Republicans are also aiming to flip the congressional seat of retiring Rep. Tom Suozzi on Long Island as well as District 18 and District 19 in the Hudson Valley – while defending three Long Island races, another on Staten Island and a seventh in the Syracuse area.

No other state has a critical mass of swing districts like New York, with the non-partisan FiveThirtyEight website rating three races (two in the Hudson Valley and in Syracuse) as toss-ups in New York – more than any other state.

“People from around the country looking to help win battleground districts are either going to discover what it’s like to be stuck on the Long Island Expressway or get to enjoy the fall foliage in the Hudson valley and upstate,” Democratic political consultant Evan Stavisky quipped.

FiveThirtyEight gives Lawler a 10% chance of beating Maloney, who recently reported having about $2.4 million to spend compared to $435,000 for Lawler, who is receiving help from the national party.

“Lawler is a radical MAGA Republican whose dangerous, out-of-touch positions are incompatible with this district; he supported the decision to overturn Roe, voted against bills to protect reproductive rights in New York, and opposes common-sense gun safety reforms,” Maloney spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said in response to what she called the “pathetically skewed” poll showing her boss down.

Stubborn inflation could boost Lawler in the homestretch of the campaign and in other races where Republicans are locked in a fierce fight with Democrats for control of the U.S. House.

Incumbent Rep. Nicole Malliotakis has a 93% chance of beating ex-Rep. Max Rose in a rematch of their 2020 race while GOP nominee Nicholas LoLota has a 69% chance of winning an open race for Congressional District 1 on Long Island, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Maloney remains the favorite to win reelection, according to the website, while Democratic nominees Laura Gillen and Robert Zimmerman have edges in open Long Island races against Republicans Anthony D’Esposito and George Santos.

The contests pitting newly-elected Rep. Pat Ryan (D-Hudson Valley) against Assemblyman Colin Schmitt (R-Orange) and the open Syracuse race between Democrat Francis Conole and Republican Brandon Williams remain a toss-ups amid Democratic hopes that Ryan’s victory in a “bellwether” August special election might hint at more victories to come.

But an encouraging poll for Lawler has him and other Republicans bullish about winning back control of the U.S. House with the help of voters in supposedly super blue New York where Democrats like Maloney are supposed to feel safe.

“On Nov. 8, we will defeat Nancy Pelosi’s campaign manager and serve as a check on the Biden administration,” Lawler vowed Tuesday.