Republican Leader McCarthy Meets With Skverer Rebbe, Asks for Lawler Endorsement

By Reuvain Borchardt

House Republican Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy met Thursday evening with the Skverer Rebbe in New Square, advocating for a reversal of Skver’s endorsement of Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney for Congress, and pushing for Skver to back Republican Assemblyman Mike Lawler instead, in New York’s 17th congressional district.

The district, which includes all of Rockland and part of Suffolk Counties, is becoming a major battleground district: President Joe Biden had previously called the Rebbes of Skver and Vizhnitz-Monsey seeking an endorsement for Maloney.

According to a multiple participants at the meeting, McCarthy asked the Rebbe to endorse Lawler, citing the record of President Donald Trump’s helping the Jewish community, and arguing that with Republicans expected to win the majority in the House, Lawler and a potential Speaker McCarthy would be well-positioned to help the community.

But the Rebbe, speaking through an interpreter, replied that the community owed a debt of gratitude to Maloney, who had helped it in the past. The Rebbe also said that former President Bill Clinton, who had helped the community while in office, reached out now for the first time in two decades asking for the Maloney endorsement.

The New Square endorsement is highly coveted, as more than 99% of the village typically follows the endorsement, which can be worth more than 3,000 votes.

McCarthy suggested that perhaps the Rebbe could have half the village vote for one candidate and half for the other. But the Rebbe said this suggestion was unfeasible.

The Rebbe said several times that McCarthy’s visit was not a waste, and that the community would build a strong relationship with him in the years to come. McCarthy, in turn, said he would like to return as speaker, and he invited the Rebbe to visit him in Washington and reciting the invocation at a session of Congress.

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rborchardt@hamodia.com