AJN: “New York Rep. Mike Lawler is running for reelection as a moderate, but he’s campaigning with a rogue’s gallery of far-right, MAGA acolytes.”
New reporting exposes Mike Lawler for cozying up to some of the most extreme MAGA loyalists in the country on the campaign trail.
Lawler has regularly joined far-right politicians in favor of eliminating the Affordable Care Act, enacting a nationwide abortion ban, and promoting election denialism and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories – despite claiming to be a so-called ‘moderate’ in Congress.
Over the past few months, Lawler brought Ted Cruz, one of the most partisan Senators in Washington and a staunch supporter of destroying the ACA, as well as Jim Jordan, the founder of the far-right House Freedom Caucus to the Hudson Valley. He also helped uplift MAGA extremists Jack Ciattarelli and Elise Stefanik in their own races, joining several NJ and NY campaign stops and endorsing both of their far-right bids for Governor.
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Mike Lawler’s fake moderate act falls apart the minute you look at who he campaigns with. If Lawler truly represented the values of the Hudson Valley, he wouldn’t be surrounding himself with far-right extremists who want to rip away New Yorkers’ health care and attack our democracy.”
- New York Rep. Mike Lawler is running for reelection as a moderate, but he’s campaigning with a rogue’s gallery of far-right, MAGA acolytes.
- On Oct. 23, Lawler held a fundraiser in Monsey, NY, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. An analysis by GovTrack ranks Cruz as the third most conservative lawmaker in Washington. The Houston Chronicle reports that Cruz is currently leading a charge to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
- Less than a month later, Lawler held a fundraiser at the Putnam County Golf Course featuring Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who is deputy chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
- In 2023, the Freedom Caucus pushed a budget proposal that called for deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. While the budget did not pass, these same ideas ultimately found their way into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which Lawler supported.
- Lawler has also helped far-right candidates with their own campaigns.
- Last month, Lawler attended a get-out-the-vote rally for New Jersey governor candidate Jack Ciattarelli. In his campaign, Ciattarelli praised OBBB, aligned himself with anti-vaxxers, and spread disinformation about immigrants and transgender athletes. He also campaigned with far-right conspiracist Jack Posobiec.
- This week, Lawler endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik in her bid for New York governor. Lawler flirted with his own campaign for governor and previously suggested Stefanik was too extreme to win. Stefanik has backed a nationwide abortion ban, eliminating Obamacare, and pardoning the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has endorsed Stefanik’s campaign.
- “Mike Lawler will toss New Yorkers aside in a heartbeat if it keeps him in Donald Trump’s good graces,” said Riya Vashi, a spokesperson for the DCCC. “From enabling Trump’s extreme agenda to backing his dangerous ‘Ultra MAGA’ ally in New York for Governor, Mike Lawler keeps reminding Hudson Valley voters exactly who he works for — and it’s certainly not them.”