Republican Lawler Seeks to Oust DCCC Chair Maloney in NY-17

By Reuvain Borchardt

Republican Mike Lawler is seeking to ride a red wave into Congress, as the Rockland County assemblyman is in a tight battle with incumbent Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in a district President Joe Biden won by 10 points.

On Monday, the New York District 17 Congressional race was reclassified from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up” by Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. Wasserman wrote that Maloney, 56, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), charged with electing Democrats to the House, “finds himself in deep danger, simultaneously fighting for his political life in his Hudson Valley seat and desperately trying to prevent Democrats from being swept out of the House majority.” No sitting House campaign committee chair has lost a general election since 1980.

A moderate Republican, Lawler is hoping to capitalize on Democratic troubles nationwide.

The Lower Hudson Valley district “is a blue-collar, working-class community,” says Lawler, 36, in an interview with Hamodia, “people who are really being impacted by inflation, by gas prices and by crime. And so I think, those being the top issues in the campaign obviously plays well for us, because Democrats control everything in Washington and everything in Albany.”

The Maloney campaign declined Hamodia’s interview requests.

Maloney currently represents New York’s 18th congressional district. But after the recent redistricting, he announced in May that he would run in the adjacent new 17th instead — which only includes a small portion of his old district. Maloney has said he chose to run in the 17th because his home is there. But The Intercept news site reported at the time that Democratic President Joe Biden had carried the new 17th District by ten points in 2020 and the 18th by eight points, and that the DCCC chair jumping from a +8 district to a slightly safer +10 indicated Democrats’ apprehension over the upcoming midterm elections.

“It shouldn’t be this close,” veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf told Hamodia on Monday. “But this district may be more reflective of what’s going on in the country than any other district in New York State: people are not responding to Democrats; they are responding to what they see as chaos and economic disorder.”

Lawler says his priorities in Congress would be to boost the economy and tame inflation.

“We need to get spending under control, we need to bring down gas prices and the cost of goods,” the candidate says. “And it requires a pro-growth economic agenda. We have to cut taxes and spending. We have to make America energy-independent. And that means an all-of-the-above approach to energy, which includes natural gas. If we want to grow our economy, manufacturing and business needs cheap, reliable energy.”

Lawler has attacked Maloney for saying he would “make it a top priority” to get rid of cash bail, at a debate during his unsuccessful run for attorney general in 2018.

A 2019 law, enacted by the Democratic-controlled state government, largely ending cash bail, has been criticized by Republicans and moderate Democrats, who have blamed it for rising crime, and is seen as an electoral liability for Democrats.

Lawler previously served as deputy town supervisor in Orangetown, as adviser to then-Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, as executive director of the state Republican party, and as a political consultant. He won his Assembly seat in 2020, defeating incumbent Democrat Ellen Jaffee with overwhelming support of the Orthodox Jewish community.

In 2019, Lawler was part of a team of Rockland County Republicans trying to take back the county legislature for the GOP — a team that released a video opposing Democratic Legislator Aron Wieder that many deemed antisemitic and was subsequently taken down.

Maloney has criticized Lawler for the video, but Lawler tells Hamodia he did not see the video until it was posted online.

“I had nothing to do with the video,” Lawler says, “and in fact, at the same time, I was running Tom Walsh’s campaign for district attorney,” which was heavily supported by the Orthodox community.

“I had nothing to do with the production, the strategy behind the video, the dissemination of the video,” says Lawler, “and I was one of the voices within the party as soon as it went out saying, ‘Take this down.’ And nothing I have ever said at any point ever has been antisemitic.”

Yossi Gestetner, a Rockland-based conservative news commentator who is supporting Lawler, describes Lawler as “very popular in the Orthodox community.”

“While I don’t know the internal workings of the Rockland GOP and which people were responsible for that video,” Gestetner says, “Lawler was not a name or face that we had seen agitating against the Hasidic community online or at town halls, which was, sadly, popular with operatives, candidates, and officials of both major political parties.”

Gestetner says Lawler has been a representative of all his constituents in a region that no longer suffers from the divisiveness it did just a few years ago.

“Lawler, in my view, was one of the first who changed the despicable dynamic where candidates of both major political parties continually ran as ‘us versus Hasidim,’” Gestetner says. “He decided to reach out and be a candidate for everyone.”

Lawler is critical of the New York State Education Department’s attempts to regulate the secular-studies curriculum at yeshivas, and, though he would have no direct power over the issue, “as a member of Congress,” he says, “you have the ability to speak out.”

 “There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to education,” the candidate says. “Where there are examples or incidents of a yeshiva or a public school not following the law or not adhering to the requirements, obviously you deal with that on an individual basis. But I would say the vast majority of yeshivas are doing what they are required to do and are providing the children with a substantially equivalent education.

“‘Substantially equivalent’ does not mean exactly the same. The focus is on the outcomes. And I would say that most children that receive a yeshiva education have very good outcomes.”

Lawler takes a pro-Israel stance when asked for his policy as a Congressman toward the Jewish state.

“I believe Israel is our greatest ally in the world, and that we need to continue to do everything we can to support their economic prosperity, their freedom as our democratic ally in the Middle East, and to ensure their safety and security,” the candidate says. “We obviously contribute greatly in terms of financial resources. We need to continue to do so.” He would not place conditions on aid to Israel.

“I oppose the effort by the Biden administration to reestablish the Iran nuclear deal, which Sean Patrick Maloney supported then and supports now; it’s unacceptable,” Lawler continues. “And I refuse to put Israel in harm’s way by giving Iran billions of dollars that they can use to funnel toward terrorism directed at Israel.

“In addition, I am opposed to the BDS movement and the push to attack Israel economically by radical socialists within our own country, including AOC and Ilhan Omar, who Sean Patrick Maloney supports for reelection and is working with as chair of the DCCC to help reelect to their conference and hold the majority.”

While Lawler’s positions on the economy, crime, guns, energy and Israel may be squarely in the Republican mainstream, overall he would be among the more moderate members of the caucus.

He supports nontraditional marriage, and the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy during its early period, though he says the issue should be up to the states and not the federal government.

He describes himself as “a big supporter of the construction and building trades and labor, because I think at the end of the day, the objective has to be to get people to work.” He says he is “one of a handful of Republicans” who supports the Davis Bacon Act, which requires government to pay the local prevailing wages on construction projects.

“I’m a big believer in investing in infrastructure, and I would have supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill,” Lawler says. “So there’s a lot of area of opportunity to work together if people are willing to look at issues and not party.”

The Republicans’ House campaign arm and Super PAC are pouring millions of dollars into the district, more than making up for Maloney’s personal fundraising advantage over Lawler. The race is taking on national prominence, with top House Republicans including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise attending fundraisers and visiting the district on behalf of Lawler.

A Democratic political strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the election, described the NY-17 race as “a toss up,” and said the election may come down to the Orthodox Jewish vote.

“There are very few races where the Orthodox Jewish community can make a difference this year,” the strategist said. “For example, nobody believes that the Orthodox community will decide the governor’s race where there will be six million votes. However, this is probably the one race in New York in which the Orthodox can decide the race.”

Thus far, no Orthodox leaders have made endorsements in the NY-17, but Gestetner believes the “overwhelming majority of orthodox voters will support Lawler.”

“However,” he says, “if certain people in leadership endorse Maloney, it may lead many of their followers and supporters to vote for Maloney, or simply not to vote.”

While Maloney is an incumbent congressman, Gestetner says that since Maloney’s old district “did not cover any of the Jewish community in Rockland, Lawler, a hands-on assemblymember who has shown up everywhere, in fact has the aura of incumbency. To the community, Maloney is a blank slate.”

A blank slate who, according to Sheinkopf, is in trouble.

“Maloney is a Biden supporter, which makes him pro-chaos and pro-economic policies that middle-income people don’t think are working,” Sheinkopf says. “In 1992, James Carville said, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ And in New York right now, it’s crime and the economy, Maloney.”

Election Day is November 8, and early voting begins October 29.

—

rborchardt@hamodia.com