Republican New York Assemblyman Michael Lawler defeated incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) on Tuesday to represent New York’s 17th District in one of the country’s most-watched House races of the midterm elections.
Maloney called Lawler Monday morning to concede the race.
Lawler, who rose to prominence after his staffers trolled Maloney, gained momentum in October after the bipartisan Cook Political Report moved the race from “lean Democrat” to “toss-up.”
“It’s a highly educated community, but it’s blue collar and working class,” Lawler told Politico. “Where I’m hitting him is exactly where [voters] are focused — on the economy and crime.”
The Maloney-Lawler contest was one of nine competitive congressional races in the state that could determine whether Republicans take back the House of Representatives. Currently, Democrats control both Houses of Congress and the White House, but Republicans are expected to retake the House despite an underwhelming performance on Tuesday and only need one net gain to take back the Senate.
National Republicans invested heavily in the race, prompting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to spend $600,000 in a last-minute bid to save his seat. Maloney chairs the DCCC, and his loss is a major takedown for the GOP.
Lawler’s campaign focused on inflation, high gas prices, crime, the southern border, education, and energy. Lawler said that if the state can not fix crime problems in New York, he will focus his efforts on making sure the federal government does.
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“There’s multiple bills before the House of Representatives, including Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis’s bill, which would do what the federal government often does, and that’s control the purse strings and force New York to act,” Lawler told Spectrum News. “You cannot continue to have a situation where violent repeat offenders are put back onto our streets and the government is failing to act.”
Lawler worked as a political strategist and campaign consultant at his company Checkmate Strategies prior to his tenure in the state Assembly. Lawler won his seat in the Assembly in 2020 and has worked across the aisle to pass key pieces of legislation, including the education bill “Alyssa’s Law.”
