House member says he will seek re-election
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican whose House district includes Philipstown, said on Wednesday (July 23) that he won’t run for governor next year.
Another prominent House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, has been considering a campaign in 2026 against Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. She said in a statement Wednesday that she’ll decide after the November election.
Lawler, in his second term representing District 17 after defeating incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022 and Mondaire Jones in 2024, weighed his options as President Donald Trump and the Republican Party attempts to retain control of the House in next year’s midterm elections. Lawler told “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday that running for reelection was “the right thing to do for me and my family and my district. Keeping the House majority is critical if we are going to continue to move this economy in the right direction.”
Lawler is one of few Republicans who won a seat in 2024 in a district won by the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris. He is coming off a successful fight to raise the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes, a significant pocketbook issue in New York state. The federal budget bill enacted by the president last month raised the cap to $40,000 for the next five years; it had been capped at $10,000 as part of Trump’s first-term tax overhaul.
Lawler held a series of sometimes raucous town halls this year at a time when Republicans were being advised to skip the forums that were drawing angry questions about Trump’s agenda. The president endorsed Lawler in May, calling him “a strong champion and highly effective representative” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Hochul, a former lieutenant governor, assumed the governor’s seat in 2021 after Andrew Cuomo resigned. She was elected in 2022. She also faces a challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.
Seven Democratic candidates have launched campaigns to unseat Lawler, and Axios reported earlier this month that Maloney is contemplating a return. The candidates are:
■ Peter Chatzky, a tech company founder and village trustee in Briarcliff Manor;
■ Cait Conley, a 2007 West Point graduate from Orange County who is former director of counterterrorism for the National Security Council;
■ Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator;
■ Effie Phillips-Staley, a Tarrytown trustee who is a nonprofit executive;
■ Jessica Reinmann, who founded the nonprofit 914Cares in Westchester County;
■ Mike Sacks, a lawyer and former TV journalist from Westchester; and
■ John Sullivan, a former FBI intelligence analyst who lives in Rockland County.
As of June 30, Lawler had raised $2.8 million for his campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission. Among the Democrats, Davidson had raised $855,000 and Conley $815,000. In April, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it focus on 35 House districts held by Republicans nationally in 2026 in an attempt to regain control of the House. The only New York district on its list is Lawler’s.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
