“Speaker Jeffries!”
There’s a contradiction at the heart of Democrat Cait Conley’s campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Mike Lawler in New York’s 17th congressional district.
On the one hand, Conley is making the case that Lawler, or, as she calls him, “MAGA Mike,” is a Trump puppet, a partisan tool whose cynicism compares unfavorably with her fair-minded patriotism.
“Speaker Jeffries!”
On the other, there’s the reality confounding that messaging.
Saturday afternoon on the beautiful banks of the Hudson River, Conley led an adoring crowd in the aforementioned chant with their shared muse in attendance.
“By winning, we have the opportunity to make Hakeem Jeffries the next speaker of the House of Representatives,” cooed Conley before turning the floor over to the apparent man of the hour.
Both the candidate and her powerful backer’s remarks focused their attention not on the district they were standing in, but their party’s broader quest for power in Washington.
“It’s not simply Election Day, it’s Judgment Day … because on Judgment Day we’re going to run these MAGA extremists out of town,” declared Jeffries.
“Beginning on day one of the new Congress, we’re going to hold the crooks accountable … In the minority, we ran Pam Bondi out of town. In the minority, we ran Kristi Noem out of town. And in the majority, we’re going to run Pete Hegseth out of town!”
Conley, an Army veteran with the delivery of a drill sergeant, struck a similarly combative chord while promising to hold Lawler “accountable” for “his loyalty to Donald Trump.”
“This fight really is not about Democrat versus Republican, or right versus left. This is about right versus wrong,” she submitted before asserting that “democracy itself” is on the line in November.
The scene, with its high-profile surrogates, whistles, music, inflammatory rhetoric and hyper partisan, nationalized focus made for quite the contrast with Lawler’s morning, which he spent at a benefit for The Arc Rockland County, a local chapter of the organization dedicated to employing and supporting the disabled.
With the wind cutting through even the thickest of jackets long before the sun had gathered its strength, Lawler took pictures and chatted with his fellow attendees.
Multiple advocates went out of their way to shower Lawler with praise for his engagement with them.
“Congressman Lawler has been very helpful to the disability agencies,” said Molly Gibeau-Griffin, The Arc Rockland’s chief development officer, who said he had been interested in her work and responsive to her cause’s needs from the moment he was sworn in back in 2023.
Jake Allyne, the CEO of Breakthrough Fit Co., an “inclusive personal training gym” that creates a welcoming environment for those with “intellectual or physical disabilities,” said Lawler had been very supportive of their efforts and a champion of all-inclusive playgrounds in the district.
Gibeau-Griffin also brought up Lawler’s work on behalf of the Haitian population in the area, whose ability to remain in the country has been threatened by the Trump administration, which has rolled back their Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
“We have a huge Haitian population in this area, and many, many individuals who work with people with disabilities in group homes and in day programs,” she said.
“He [Lawler] actively helped us with legal assistance and immigration assistance for these individuals to help them apply for alternate pathways.”
It was work that the congressman himself spoke to.
“They do phenomenal work serving the intellectually and developmentally disabled community,” he said of The Arc. “We’ve been able to help them not only on funding issues, but workforce issues.”
“A number of their employees are on Haitian TPS,” observed Lawler, who said they’d “found some success in getting people their visas or green cards so they can get back to work.”
He certainly didn’t sound like a “Trump puppet,” and the most political statement he mustered at the entire morning was that Democrats have it out for the oil and gas industry, an observation he only made after being asked about energy policy by a prospective voter.
His schedule, even with Election Day rapidly approaching and early voting underway, was chock full of similar events.
The day before, he had attended an appreciation breakfast hosted by The Arc Westchester County.
That afternoon, while Conley and Jeffries raised their fists together at the conclusion of much pomp and circumstance, Lawler had a trade school graduation ceremony on the docket.
So who sees themselves as an independent public servant of the Hudson Valley? And who sees themselves as a cog in a party machine?
There are words, and then there are actions.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
