Lawler swept out by Conley, on a blue wave

Democrat Cait Conley has unseated Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the race for New York’s 17th congressional district after a grueling, expensive battle in the Lower Hudson Valley that remained a toss-up until the very end.

Just before midnight, Conley came out to an overjoyed, loud crowd with rock music blaring at her election night party in Pleasantville, in Westchester County.

“This wasn’t a partisan fight, this was a patriotic fight,” Conley told the crowd in the swing district. “We show people that we can build a coalition of neighbors of New Yorkers, of Americans, who even if we don't share a political affiliation, we share values, and that is so much more important. And those values are American values, and those are the things we will continue to fight for.”

Conley, an Army veteran, was swept in on Democrats’ blue wave Tuesday night. While the king of Rockland County lost in a thriller, and when the new Congress is seated, he’ll have to beat it. 

Lawler came out at about 11 p.m. to announce he called Conley and conceded. 

“When all of the votes are counted tomorrow in Westchester, it’s going to be pretty clear that we will be short,” Lawler said from his election night party in Pearl River. 

With all of the votes counted in Rockland County as of midnight Lawler was up by just over 8 points. Last cycle, he carried the county by 18 – a 10 point swing. There’s no room for him to pick up voters, and Westchester is expected to see a blue wave when the votes are finally counted, into Wednesday. 

A ballot scanner snafu kept many ballots in Westchester County from being immediately counted on Election Day. But even still, Conley’s performance in Rockland and Putnam Counties leave Lawler no room to make up the ground. 

Conley entered the ring with an impressive biography that she wielded to attack the corruption of President Donald Trump’s administration and argued that Lawler was beholden to his party and responsible for it. Voters had punished her predecessors for their progressive criminal justice stances, but there was little room for Lawler to use the same attacks against a special operations combat veteran. 

Armed with a full year of Trump administration scandals, Conley tied Lawler to him every chance she got, arguing that the congress member had sold them out to his donors at every turn. Lawler’s concerted efforts to highlight his disagreements with the president, and remind voters about his role in SALT negotiations, proved not enough to atone for his votes for tariffs and the support of the war in Iran. Trump’s three-time endorsement of Lawler amidst record-low approval ratings, which even included a Rockland County campaign stop alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, was a major point of contention that ultimately contributed to his demise. 

Conley’s military bonafides were a huge consideration during the primary, as Democrats considered which candidate would be most electable among swing voters. And even though state and national polling showed many Jewish Democrats leaving the party over Israel, Conley maintained support in one of the country’s most Jewish districts.

In the end, after bragging about having more than 30,000 Orthodox Jewish votes in Rockland County, it proved insufficient to get Lawler across the finish line. 

On a night when Democrats dominated throughout the country, Conley’s victory will bolster the party’s hold across the state. It will also add to the number of young, pro-Israel Democrats in the House of Representatives, an increasingly rare breed, though she’ll be outnumbered by incoming House members who are more critical of Israel, including Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander.

Nila Roper contributed reporting. This story has been updated with comments from Conley.