Presidents and officers representing law enforcement across the Hudson Valley, New York City, and New York State stood with Lawler in Rockland County to formally announce their support.

Haverstraw, NY — August 17, 2026… Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) was joined Monday morning in Rockland County by presidents and leaders of police unions from across the Hudson Valley, New York City, and New York State, as eleven law enforcement organizations announced their endorsement of his campaign for reelection, representing over 80,000 law enforcement officers statewide, including:

• Rockland County PBA – President Sean O’Connor
• Police Conference of New York – President Mike O’Mara
• Port Authority PBA – President Frank Conti, First Vice President Michael Mollahan, and Financial Secretary Brian Ahern
• Port Authority Sergeants Benevolent Association – Second Vice President Andrew Caruso
• Haverstraw PBA – First Vice President Michael Lupo and Sergeant Pete Connolly
• Carmel PBA – President Vincent Serio
• Carmel LBA – President Mike Bodo
• Westchester County Correction Superior Officers Association – President Peter DiChiara
• New York State Supreme Court Officers Association – President Patrick Cullen
• Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York City – Treasurer Ed Geary
• New York State Fraternal Order of Police – Zone One Vice President Enrique Pabon

“I grew up here in Rockland County. I know what it means to live in a community where the police are part of the neighborhood, where they coach the teams, know the families, and show up for people on the worst day of their lives. These are the men and women who run toward danger when everyone else runs away, and they are the reason Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, and Dutchess counties remain among the safest places in America to live and raise a family. That happens because of the people standing behind me,” said Congressman Mike Lawler.

“On behalf of the Rockland County PBA, it is my honor to offer our full support and endorsement of your campaign to Congress in New York’s 17th District. We proudly give Congressman Lawler our endorsement, not because of the party he represents, but because of what he has done for police officers, both in office and in his professional life. When it comes to policing and public safety, our decisions are not driven by party affiliation. They are based on the individual, their record, and their commitment to those who serve and protect Rockland County,” said Rockland County PBA President Sean O’Connor.

“The Police Conference of New York represents police officers from the tip of Long Island to Buffalo and up to the Canadian border, including New York City, and at our May meeting we unanimously endorsed Mike Lawler in his reelection campaign for Congress. We’ve known Mike since he was an Assemblyman. He spoke up for us, he called out hypocrisy, and he used common sense. I’m also a constituent, and I appreciate that he puts my family before felons. He always, always, always stands with our police officers, and we will do anything in our power to help him get back into Congress to represent not only the members of his district, but police officers statewide,” said Police Conference of New York President Mike O’Mara.

The endorsements come eight days before cooperation agreements between a dozen New York law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities are set to be torn up under Albany’s new sanctuary law.

“Cait Conley just accepted the endorsement of the Working Families Party, the party that has called for defunding the police and abolishing ICE, and she said she was ‘excited’ to be working alongside them. Meanwhile, Albany Democrats passed the so-called Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which bars local police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and threatens to strip state law enforcement funding from any department that refuses to comply. On August 25, cooperation agreements at a dozen law enforcement agencies across ten counties will be torn up under that law,” continued Lawler. “I have a simple question for Cait Conley: will you call on Albany to repeal its sanctuary law, yes or no? The men and women on this stage deserve an answer, and so does every family in this district.”

“This election is a choice. You can stand with the people who protect our communities, or you can stand with a party that wants to defund them. I made my choice a long time ago, and I will never apologize for backing the blue,” concluded Lawler. “I want to thank the men and women of law enforcement for this endorsement, and I will work every day to keep your support and your respect.”

Video of the press conference is available HERE.

Photos of the press conference are available HERE.

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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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This morning, the Lawler campaign announced four accepted debates and called on Cait Conley to stop playing chicken. Conley’s response?  Refusing to debate on NBC’s Meet the Press and CNN’s State of the Union, two of the biggest stages in this race.

Pearl River, NY — August 12, 2026…   This morning, the Lawler for Congress campaign announced that Congressman Mike Lawler had accepted four televised debates and called on Democratic nominee Cait Conley to stop playing chicken and pick dates. By later this morning, the two debates with national outlets were dead. Conley’s campaign formally refused both the August 30 State of the Union debate with Dana Bash on CNN and the September 6 Meet the Press debate with Kristen Welker on NBC.

“Cait Conley hasn’t lived in the Hudson Valley; doesn’t pay taxes here; and doesn’t understand the issues here. That is why today she turned down two national TV debates on CNN State of the Union and Meet the Press.  Let’s be frank: The only reason a challenger would turn those opportunities down is because her DC handlers know that Cait is grossly unprepared to debate the issues that matter to Hudson Valley residents and would be exposed as such in front of a large audience,” said Lawler for Congress spokesman Ciro Riccardi.

Meet the Press is one of the longest-running programs in the history of American television. State of the Union is CNN’s flagship Sunday show. Two of the biggest platforms in American politics offered the Hudson Valley a nationally televised debate, moderated by two of the top journalists in the country. Mike Lawler said yes to both. Cait Conley said no to both.

In late June, Conley went on Morning Joe and claimed Mike Lawler was afraid to square off with her. In April, she promised a primary forum at Manhattanville College that she would “Kick Lawler’s **s!” Offered the opportunity to do exactly that in front of a national audience, she ran.

Lawler first challenged Conley to six debates on June 23, put it in writing on July 7, and publicly called on her to stop stalling on July 15. Seven weeks later, the answer is in: no to the two biggest debates on the table. If Conley reverses course and tells NBC and CNN she will show up, the Lawler campaign will make any date work. She has also yet to accept News 12 on September 28 or Pix11 on October 14, and the CBS2 and Journal News debates cannot be finalized until her campaign actually engages. Mail ballots begin arriving in voters’ mailboxes after September 15 – thirty-four days from today.

Lawler represents one of just a handful of Republican-held districts in the country carried by Kamala Harris in 2024 and won reelection by more than six points. In the latest nonpartisan Bridge Grades report card, he earned a 99.2 out of 100 for bipartisanship, the best score in New York’s congressional delegation, and in the 118th Congress he was ranked 4th-most bipartisan by the nonpartisan Lugar Center.
 

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Seven weeks after Congressman Mike Lawler challenged Cait Conley to six televised debates, he has accepted four of them, from NBC, CNN, News 12, and Pix11. Two more are waiting on her. Conley has agreed to nothing, and voters begin casting ballots in seventy-three days.

Pearl River, NY – August 12, 2026… Congressman Mike Lawler has accepted invitations to four televised debates in New York’s 17th Congressional District and is prepared to accept two more as soon as they are scheduled. Democratic nominee Cait Conley has not publicly agreed to a single one.

The four Lawler has accepted:

• 8/30 – State of the Union on CNN, with Dana Bash
• 9/6 – Meet the Press on NBC, moderated by Kristen Welker
• 9/28 – News 12, with Tara Rosenblum
• 10/14 – Pix11, with Dan Mannarino

Two more are in the works. CBS2, which hosted a 2024 general election debate in this district, and The Journal News, one of the daily newspapers covering Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, are both working toward dates. The Lawler campaign has told each they are interested, but neither can be finalized until the Conley campaign actually engages.

Together, the six match the number Lawler proposed the night Conley won her primary.

“Mike Lawler has accepted four debates, and he will accept two more. Cait Conley has accepted not one thus far and has actively avoided the outreach from some of the top journalists in the country in the process,” said Lawler for Congress spokesman Ciro Riccardi. “Seven weeks of silence on debates tells Hudson Valley voters exactly what they need to know. Cait Conley is happy to talk about Mike Lawler ad-nauseum using her scripted talking points on friendly podcasts, but she’s scared to stand across from him on the debate stage.”

Lawler first challenged Conley to six debates on June 23, in the immediate aftermath of the Democratic primary, saying, “the people of the Hudson Valley don’t vote for resumes, they vote for results.” He renewed the challenge in a letter on July 7, proposing that the first debate be organized that month. On July 10, he repeated it on NBC’s Meet the Press NOW, telling Kristen Welker, “I challenge her again to six televised debates,” and inviting her to host one immediately. On July 15, the campaign publicly called on her to stop stalling. She still hasn’t answered.

Election Day is November 3, and early voting in New York begins October 24, seventy-three days from today. Absentee and Early Voting By Mail ballots will begin arriving in voters’ mailboxes after September 15. Cait Conley is denying voters in one of the top swing districts in the country the opportunity to hear her argument for serving them in a healthy debate. It’s highly unusual for a challenger in one of the premier seats in the country to duck and dodge debates, and it speaks volumes to Conley’s ineffective campaign thus far.

Congressman Lawler, on the other hand, has no such issues with debating. In 2024, his campaign announced a slate of four debates in August, and he went on to face former Congressman Mondaire Jones on News 12, CBS2, and PIX11. 

“We are asking the Conley campaign to stop stalling and sit down this week to pick dates so we can lock in all six,” Riccardi continued. “Every day that Cait tries to run out the clock is a day Hudson Valley voters lose their chance to get what they deserve – a healthy exchange of ideas between two candidates vying for one of the most important seats in Congress.”

The Journal News’ editor has even weighed in on Cait’s inability to accept debates, saying, “In late June, Conley told MSNOW’s Morning Joe that Lawler was afraid to square off with her. That’s ringing a little hollow now. Conley promised to “Kick Lawler’s **s!” in a primary candidate forum at Manhattanville College in April. Her recalcitrance in accepting Lawler’s challenge, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to engage in a face-to-face debate is perplexing.”

“The fact that Conley has been avoiding debates is a disservice to the Hudson Valley,” concluded Riccardi. “So which is it, Cait? Are you too chicken to debate Mike or are your DC consultants too scared to let you try?”

Lawler represents one of just a handful of Republican-held districts in the country carried by Kamala Harris in 2024 and won reelection by more than six points. In the latest nonpartisan Bridge Grades report card, he earned a 99.2 out of 100 for bipartisanship, the best score in New York’s congressional delegation, and in the 118th Congress he was ranked 4th-most bipartisan by the nonpartisan Lugar Center.

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The opening ad, “Solutions,” shows Hudson Valley voters describing what Lawler’s tax work has meant for their households. It goes up with Republicans holding a better-than-20-to-1 advantage over Cait Conley in reserved fall airtime, and Lawler leading independents by 15 points.

Pearl River, NY — 8/11/2026… Yesterday, Lawler for Congress launched the first $5 million of its 2026 media campaign, opening the general election in what is expected to be one of the most expensive House races in the country. Axios first reported the buy on July 31. It runs across broadcast, cable, streaming, and digital in the New York market.

The first ad of the campaign is a 30-second spot titled “Solutions.” It opens with Congressman Mike Lawler saying, “If you’re going to fight for the Hudson Valley, you’ve got to know who you’re fighting for,” and then showcases Hudson Valley voters who have benefited from his tax wins for the district. Bill and Mary Jane, retirees whose federal tax bill went to zero under the new deduction for seniors. The Foxes, who received a $4,000 tax cut after the SALT cap was raised. Joanne and Ralph, who are keeping more of their tips and overtime pay. “Mike Lawler will never let us down,” Ralph says.

Lawler has run on the cost of living in the Hudson Valley since he got to Washington. He called restoring the state and local tax deduction his “number one focus in Washington from Day One,” and the cap quadrupled from $10,000 to $40,000, a change Mike Lawler won for Hudson Valley voters. The same law created a new $6,000 deduction for taxpayers 65 and older and new deductions for tip income and overtime pay.

The gap in reserved airtime is wider still. Republican groups and the Lawler campaign have roughly $9.8 million in television booked from now through Election Day in NY-17, according to ad reservation data. Democrats have booked $270,000 behind Conley, all of it airing this month, and have not reserved a single dollar of television after Labor Day. That is a better-than-35-to-1 advantage in committed airtime, with Election Day less than three months out. Democratic candidates and their outside groups have already spent close to $7 million in this district just getting through their June primary, and the national party is in no position to bail Conley out: per June 30 FEC reports, the DCCC trailed the NRCC in cash on hand, $79 million to $92.7 million, and the DNC reported more debt than money in the bank.

“Republicans have reserved more than thirty-five times what Democrats have put behind Cait Conley in this district, and anybody in politics can read a media buy,” said Lawler for Congress spokesman Ciro Riccardi. “Mike Lawler will be on television making his case from now until Election Day. Conley is going to spend the fall hoping Washington bails her out at the cost of other Democrats in key races across the country.”

Lawler leads Conley 50 to 45 in the most recent public survey of the district, a poll of 1,292 likely general election voters conducted by co/efficient on July 23 and not sponsored by any candidate or candidates’ committee. Among unaffiliated and third-party voters, he leads by 15 points, 54 to 39, and draws 23 percent of registered Democrats.

“Independent and unaffiliated voters decide elections in the Hudson Valley, and they are with Mike Lawler by fifteen points,” Riccardi concluded. “They know who fought to quadruple the SALT deduction and who is actually delivering on the cost of living. Cait Conley is losing this key voting bloc 54 to 39, and there is no version of this race where she can overcome that.”

Lawler represents one of just a handful of Republican-held districts in the country carried by Kamala Harris in 2024 and won reelection by more than six points. In the latest nonpartisan Bridge Grades report card, he earned a 99.2 out of 100 for bipartisanship, the best score in New York’s congressional delegation, and in the 118th Congress he was ranked 4th-most bipartisan by the nonpartisan Lugar Center.

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The nonpartisan report card gave Lawler a score of 99.2, grading him an “A” for the 119th Congress, placing him in the top 10 among House members graded. Lawler also scored the highest among any in New York’s Congressional delegation.

Pearl River, NY — August 04, 2026…  Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) earned a Bridge Score of 99.2 out of 100 and an “A” grade in the latest Bridge Grades report card on the 119th Congress, one of the highest marks in either chamber. Bridge Grades, a nonpartisan project of the Mediators Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, grades every member of Congress on whether they govern collaboratively or divisively, drawing on objective third-party data about what members do and what they say.

Only five of the 424 House members graded higher than Lawler in the current update, which covers the 119th Congress through June 30, 2026. His 99.2 is the best score in New York’s congressional delegation.

The grading places more weight on legislative actions than on words. Co-leading a bill with a member of the opposing party carries three times the weight of a bipartisan public statement, and cosponsoring a bill authored by a member of the other party carries twice that weight.

This rating extends a pattern that goes back to Lawler’s first term. Bridge Grades’ April 2026 report card, covering the first 15 months of this Congress, ranked him seventh in the House. In the 118th Congress, the Bipartisan Index published by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy ranked him the fourth-most bipartisan member of the House, and the Center for Effective Lawmaking named him the most effective freshman lawmaker of the 118th Congress after seven of his bills passed the House, with one signed into law as a standalone measure and five more enacted as part of larger packages.

“Mike Lawler has earned top marks for bipartisanship in the 118th and 119th Congress because he does the work, introducing legislation with Democrats and Republicans while delivering tangible results for the Hudson Valley,” said Lawler for Congress campaign manager Ciro Riccardi. “Cait Conley has offered voters nothing except opposition to any idea that doesn’t fit her and AOC’s worldview. There isn’t a nonpartisan report card in America that rewards that. This November, the choice is between a proven bipartisan leader and a rubber stamp for the far left.”


 

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Hochul’s new “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” bars local police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, and Albany is now forcing departments to comply or lose state law enforcement funding.

Yorktown Heights, NY – July 24, 2026… Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) was joined today by Assemblyman Matt Slater, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, local elected officials, and Jessica and Tom Gorman of Yorktown Heights for a press conference at the Yorktown Police Department, where they blasted Albany’s new sanctuary mandates on local law enforcement.

Under Governor Hochul’s new “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” local police departments are barred from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, and the state is now forcing departments to comply or lose state law enforcement funding.

The Gormans’ daughter, Sheridan, an 18-year-old Yorktown High School graduate and Loyola University freshman, was shot and killed in March in Chicago, a sanctuary city, while walking with friends near campus. The man charged with her murder is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.

“Today we are here, as one community, to send a clear message to Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats: Stop tying the hands of our local police. Stop forcing sanctuary policies on our towns and villages, and stop putting politics ahead of public safety,” said Congressman Mike Lawler. “This so-called ‘Local Cops, Local Crimes Act’ does exactly the opposite of what its name suggests. This bill prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and threatens to withhold state law enforcement funding from departments that refuse to comply. In plain English: Albany is trying to pressure our police departments.”

“To my colleagues in Albany: the people of New York are watching criminals get protected while law-abiding citizens pay the price. It is time to choose safety over sanctuary. It is time to put the people before politics. New Yorkers are tired of it,” continued Lawler. “Kathy Hochul needs to immediately call the legislature back and repeal this disastrous law that they have enacted, and start cooperating on the deportation of criminal illegal aliens. It is not a hard concept.”

“This was preventable. Every step of the way. And every step of the way, the government failed the Gorman family,” concluded Lawler. “Kathy Hochul needs to listen to the Gormans. Not to me, not to Bruce, not to Matt. To the Gormans.”

“It’s no secret that Governor Hochul and the New York Democrats have taken our state in the wrong direction on public safety. First came cashless bail. Then Raise the Age. Then that disastrous prison staffing crisis. And then, after the murder of Sheridan Gorman, instead of asking what went wrong and how we can prevent the next tragedy, they chose to make New York a sanctuary state,” said Assemblyman Matt Slater. “How many families have to suffer before Albany realizes that we need to support our police and not tie their hands? How many victims will it take for Albany to understand that public safety is government’s first responsibility?”

“An 18-year-old daughter, at the beginning of her life, gunned down by someone who should not have been in this country, because of sanctuary policies promulgated by those who have an agenda that is anti-American, anti-public-safety, pro-criminal. That needs to end,” stated Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. “Let’s do this for Sheridan’s memory. Let’s make something of her life that was cut short so early. Let’s give her family some comfort that she didn’t die in vain, by correcting these injustices that continue to happen throughout New York State.”

“A father believes he can protect his children. We check the doors, we wait up until they come home,” said Tom Gorman. “But I cannot protect Sheridan from a government that refused to use every lawful tool available to protect her. And that truth will follow me for the rest of my life”

“So I ask Governor Hochul and every politician defending these policies: How many warnings are enough? A theft, an assault, a weapons charge, a failure to appear, an active warrant, or must an American’s child die before you decide that someone is dangerous?” asked Mr. Gorman. “We will today ask Governor Hochul that same very question: Why is cooperation with federal immigration authorities too much to ask, but asking New Yorkers to bury their own children acceptable?”

“All I can do is speak the truth. Sanctuary policies have consequences. Blocking communication has consequences. Refusing to enforce immigration law has consequences,” concluded Mr. Gorman. “And sometimes those consequences are carried forever by a father and mother who would give their life ten times over so that their daughter could live.”

“My beautiful 18-year-old daughter was murdered in cold blood by a man who never should have been in this country,” said Jessica Gorman. “A man our government had already encountered, already arrested, and still failed to remove, because the politicians we chose, leaders like Kathy Hochul, choose failed sanctuary policies over the safety of our American citizens.”

The speakers closed with a united call to end Albany’s sanctuary policies. Lawler demanded that Governor Hochul immediately call the legislature back into session and repeal the law, and pledged to fight in Congress to ban sanctuary policies nationwide. Blakeman, whose county maintains a 287(g) cooperation agreement with ICE, promised that his first executive order as governor would declare that New York is no longer a sanctuary state. Slater said Albany must find the courage to end sanctuary policies before another family endures what the Gormans have endured. And the Gormans urged New Yorkers to remember Sheridan this November and vote to end sanctuary policies.

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Video and Audio recordings of the press conference are available HERE.

Still photos are available HERE

Independent co/efficient polling shows Mike Lawler leads Cait Conley 50 to 45, and Lawler is up 15 points with independent voters in critical House race.

Pearl River, NY — 7/23/2026… A new survey from independent polling firm co/efficient shows Congressman Mike Lawler leading Cait Conley 50% to 45% in New York’s 17th District, with just 5% undecided. The survey sampled almost 1,300 likely general election voters. Lawler’s lead is built on crossover support from his independent brand. Lawler wins unaffiliated voters 54 to 39, and takes 23 percent of registered Democrats. 

The poll also shows New York Democrats badly underwater in NY-17. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posts a 37-53 job rating in the district, Governor Kathy Hochul sits at 36-49, and 63 percent of likely voters, including a 51 percent majority who are very concerned, worry about the rise of socialism in New York. Among independents, that concern hits 64 percent. 

Two weeks ago, Conley’s allies were telling a very different story. On July 8, House Majority PAC, the super PAC whose entire mission is electing House Democrats, released a poll claiming Conley led 51% to 45%. Who ran that poll? FM3 Research, a Democratic polling firm, on the PAC’s dime. Conley’s campaign then blasted out a release the same day declaring she was “surging.”

“Cait Conley’s campaign has spent the past month claiming she’s ‘taking the lead.’ Her whole campaign is riding on a number her DC donors and funders paid for, and an independent survey of nearly 1,300 voters just showed Mike Lawler winning this race by 5 points, all while crushing Cait amongst independent voters,” said Lawler for Congress campaign manager Ciro Riccardi. “If Cait has to rely on her DC donors to continue to prop up her campaign, she’s in for a rude awakening in November. We anticipate Mike will be ‘surging’ past Cait on Election Night as he heads towards a third term of delivering for Hudson Valley voters. Fortunately for Cait, she can go back to her lucrative consulting for AI defense contractors, maybe even helping advise them on who to deport next.”

The full polling memo can be found HERE.

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Conley claiming she’d vote for military aid while also calling that same vote “shameful” doesn’t fly

Pearl River, NY – 7/17/2026… Democrat Cait Conley’s duplicitous attempt to play both sides of the military aid for Israel issue today doesn’t fly and exposes her as a phony who is terrified to stand up to the radical anti-Israel crowd in her own party. Lawler’s camp said Conley simultaneously claiming she would have supported $3.3 billion in military aid for Israel while also saying that the same vote was “shameful” is completely lacking in credibility.

Lawler’s camp specifically pointed to her unwillingness to directly and explicitly call out fellow New York Democrats like Congressman Pat Ryan, whose complete sell out to AOC and the radical left is now complete. 

Pat Ryan endorsed Cait Conley back in January and headlined her get-out-the-vote rally in Peekskill last month, where Conley told the crowd she was “so incredibly proud” to campaign alongside him.

“Cait Conley’s embarrassing attempt to have her cake and eat it, too, on such a critical issue to the 17th Congressional District and its large Jewish population, not only insults people’s intelligence, but reveals a candidate completely lacking in conviction, credibility, and seriousness,” said Ciro Riccardi, campaign manager for Lawler for Congress. “Jewish voters and people in both parties who support Israel won’t let her get away with this two-faced garbage, and the press shouldn’t either.”

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Three weeks after Congressman Lawler first called for six televised debates, Cait Conley has yet to accept a single one, and has still not agreed to the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce candidate forum.

Pearl River, NY – 7/15/2026… The Lawler for Congress campaign today renewed its demand that Democratic nominee Cait Conley accept Congressman Mike Lawler’s standing challenge to six televised debates across New York’s 17th Congressional District, and further called on Conley to accept the candidate forum hosted by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce – an invitation she has, to date, also failed to accept.

Congressman Lawler first issued the six-debate challenge on June 23, the night Conley won the Democratic primary. “We all commend Cait’s military service, but the people of the Hudson Valley don’t vote for resumes, they vote for results,” Lawler said at the time. “That is why I am challenging Cait tonight to six televised debates.”

On July 7, Congressman Lawler renewed the challenge in a formal letter to the Conley campaign, noting that absentee ballots will be mailed to voters in just over two months and that there is ample time to organize the first debate this month. The letter also cited LoHud’s call that Conley “owes it to voters” to debate. Congressman Lawler has already authorized his campaign manager and general consultant to begin working with the Conley campaign immediately to schedule the first debate, but they have not yet heard from Cait Conley’s team.

On July 10, Congressman Lawler renewed the challenge a third time, this time on national television. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press NOW, Lawler said: “I challenge her again to six televised debates. And I would welcome you, Kristen, to host one immediately. There’s no reason why we should wait until October or late September. Let’s get it started now.” Kristen Welker responded on air: “We’re going to track it very closely. And as you know, I like a good debate, Congressman. So let’s see what happens.” With one of the nation’s most respected political journalists openly signaling her interest in hosting a debate, Conley’s continued silence is inexcusable.

Conley’s refusal to engage extends beyond the debate stage. The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce has a long tradition of hosting congressional candidate forums where Hudson Valley employers and workers can question the candidates directly. Congressman Lawler is prepared to participate. Conley has not yet agreed. The campaign today calls on her to accept the Chamber’s forum without further delay.

New York’s 17th Congressional District, spanning Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, and Dutchess counties, is rated the only true toss-up district in New York by the Cook Political Report, and the outcome may well determine control of the House of Representatives. Voters deserve every opportunity to compare the candidates side by side, in their own words, before ballots go out.

Lawler for Congress spokesman Chris Russell issued the following statement reacting to Cait’s ongoing debate dodging:

“Three weeks ago, Congressman Lawler challenged Cait Conley to six televised debates. Since then: She’s dodging and making excuses. Meet the Press’ Kristen Welker said on national television she’d welcome a good debate. The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce is ready to host a forum. Ballots go out in just over two months. It’s time Cait Conley stopped hiding behind canned talking points and safe audiences. If she wants to represent the Hudson Valley, she can start by showing up and facing tough questions. So let’s go, Cait. Let’s have these debates.”

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