Lawler Targeted by Dems

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting Republican Michael Lawler of New York’s 17th district in the mid-term election of 2026.

The DCCC says Lawler’s addition to the Democrats’ Districts in Play signal their readiness to reclaim the House majority by focusing on this key New York seat.

The Democratic committee said Lawler’s addition to the Districts in Play “sends the clear message that Democrats will ensure Hudson Valley voters know of Lawler’s continued embrace of Elon Musk’s extremism and his party’s dangerously far-right agenda that’s raising costs, destroying jobs, eroding New Yorkers’ freedoms, and hurting our county’s future.”

DCCC Chairwoman Suzan DelBene said Lawler is “running scared. From tanking the economy, gutting Medicaid, abandoning our veterans, to making everything more expensive, he’s broken his promises to New Yorkers, and it’s going to cost him his seat.”

Chris Russell, a campaign spokesman for Lawler, pointed to the congressman’s strong fundraising performance as an indication of his support.

“Congressman Lawler has raised more than $1.46 million in Q1 and will report over $1.3 million cash on hand for his reelection campaign, one of the strongest quarters ever,” said Russell. In the first quarter of 2025, Lawler has out-raised all three of his Democratic challengers combined.

Lawler has been ranked as one of the most bipartisan members of the House of Representatives. Lawler narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent and then DCCC chairman Sean Patrick Maloney in the November 2022 election to secure his first term, and bested former congressman Mondaire Jones in 2024 by around seven percentage points in a district won by Vice President Harris that same year.

Three Democrats have declared their candidacy just nine weeks into Lawler’s second term: Beth Davidson, Cait Conley, and Jessica Reinmann.