STANDING ROOM ONLY: Cait Conley Rallies With Pete Buttigieg in Tarrytown as Momentum Builds Against Mike Lawler

Taking the stage with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last night in Tarrytown, Conley made the contrast between her record of service and Mike Lawler’s record of partisan politics and self-dealing crystal clear.

“All that time when I was putting my life on the line defending this country, Mike Lawler was profiting off of it as a political operative and utility lobbyist, and now politician,” Conley said.

With less than 50 days until the election, Buttigieg argued that “if Republicans like Mike Lawler have to run on their record, their positions, their policies, they will lose.”

Conley and Buttigieg met a “standing room-only crowd” in Tarrytown, “where sign-waving supporters packed the theater and cheered for Conley to flip [NY-17] and help Democrats wrest control of the House.”

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LoHud: Pete Buttigieg holds Westchester rally with Cait Conley in House race

• Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to a fired-up crowd at a campaign rally with House candidate Cait Conley, seeking to boost the Democratic challenger’s bid to unseat Rep. Mike Lawler in a nationally watched race.
• Zeroing in on soaring gas prices and other cost increases, Buttigieg said President Donald Trump had promised Americans lower prices when he campaigned in 2024 but produced the opposite with a GOP-controlled Congress.
• Speaking before Buttigieg at the Tarrytown rally, Conley recalled choosing to go to West Point after the 9/11 attacks while she was in high school, and drew a contrast that has become a defining theme of her campaign. While she served in Iraq and Afghanistan war zones in her six overseas deployments, she said, Lawler was pursuing a career in politics as a “political operative” and “utility lobbyist,” as she put it, before he won his House seat.
• “That is the real difference between who Mike and I are,” she said. “How did we spend the last 20 years of our lives? And it’s a reflection of what type of representative we would be.”
• Conley also went after Lawler for supporting Trump’s Iran war and tariffs and for the higher costs they caused. Gas has cost more than $4 a gallon in New York for almost six months, and the price was averaging $4.62 in Westchester on the day of the rally, according to AAA figures.
• Lawler has staunchly defended the war Trump launched in concert with Israel on Feb. 28, saying it was needed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. He voted multiple times against resolutions in Congress to halt the military action, most recently in a vote the day before the rally.

Spectrum News: Pete Buttigieg rallies with Mike Lawler challenger in competitive Hudson Valley House race

• “When Nov. 3 comes, we send Mike Lawler packing and take back the House — let’s go fight,” Conley told supporters.
• Conley highlighted her military and national security background, contrasting it with Lawler’s previous work as a political operative and utility lobbyist.
• She also tied Lawler to President Donald Trump, saying, “There is only one way Mike Lawler votes and that is the Donald Trump way.”
• “A war, by the way, that your congressman, Mike Lawler, voted last night, for a third time, to continue,” Buttigieg said.
• At Wednesday’s rally, Conley criticized Lawler over data center construction. “Mike Lawler raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from Big Tech, then voted to ease restrictions on data center construction,” Conley said.

Politico New York Playbook: Mayor Pete hits the Hudson Valley

• The 17th District has a significant population of veterans and first responders. Buttigieg, like Conley, is a military veteran.
• “Cait is as serious as it gets about keeping our country safe, just like she is serious about bringing down the cost of housing, health care and energy,” he said to a crowd of more than 1,000, including our own Katelyn Cordero, at the Tarrytown Music Hall. “She will take on corruption because she believes that politicians shouldn’t profit off our democracy — which is a bit of a contrast in this race.”
• Buttigieg isn’t the only Democrat whose name has been floated for higher office backing Conley. Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) have also endorsed her, as has New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
• During her speech, Conley hit plenty of familiar notes, bashing Lawler over affordability, health care and tariffs. She also addressed data centers — a hot-button issue that Lawler has taken to the airwaves, accusing Conley of wanting to build them because of work she’s done for tech firms.

News 12 Hudson Valley: Former US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg rallies for Cait Conley in Tarrytown

• In her remarks, Conley agreed, saying “This fight isn’t about the Hudson Valley, but is truly about the nation.”
• The standing room-only crowd at Tarrytown Music Hall did not exactly need to be convinced. Many held signs and chanted Conley’s name throughout the night.
• “If Republicans like Mike Lawler have to run on their record, their positions, their policies, they will lose,” Buttigieg said to cheers.
• When he brought up President Trump’s May visit, he wondered, “What exactly were they celebrating?”
• “We swore an oath to this Constitution to defend the country, to put this country over any part or person, and that is the message I want to bring – we win this district by unifying people,” she said.

PIX 11: Buttigieg rallies for Democrat Cait Conley in New York’s 17th district