With little more than a week to go before voters in New York's newly-carved 17th District (Hudson Valley) go to the polls, Republicans and members of the Empire State's Conservative Party are growing increasingly confident they can unseat Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Sean Patrick Maloney— thus making the five-term lawmaker the highest member of the House Democratic hierarchy to go down in 2022.
Should five-termer Maloney lose to Republican State Assemblyman Mike Lawler in November, it would be the first time since 1980 that a DCCC chairman has been defeated. That year, DCCC Chairman Jim Corman of California was narrowly beaten by Republican Bobbi Fiedler in what was considered a major upset in their Los Angeles area district.
"The latest sign that Mike Lawler is going to beat Maloney is the higher-than-expected early voter turnout among Republicans, as opposed to Democrats who traditionally vote early," New York State Conservative Chairman Gerard Kassar told Newsmax over the weekend.
Kassar, whose party has given its "Row C" ballot line to Lawler, added that the "law and order" issue and redistricting that caused turmoil among Democrats in the 17th District was working to Lawler's advantage.
It was clearly evident over the weekend that local and area Democrats are nervous about Maloney's possible defeat. The embattled congressman's former boss, Bill Clinton, made one of his rare campaign appearances on behalf of Maloney and delivered a half-hour speech on Sunday boosting the lawmaker who served as his White House political director.
The DCCC also announced plans to spend more than $600,000 on behalf of its chairman.
"Our polling shows us ahead," Lawler told Newsmax, adding that Maloney was hurt by redistricting "and by what happened to [freshman Democrat Rep.] Mondaire Jones."
When redistricting was completed earlier this year, Maloney chose to run in the 17th District, which included his home in Duchess County but much of which was previously represented by Jones. The furious Jones, who learned about Maloney's decision from Twitter, chose to run in a Manhattan district but was defeated in the primary.
A one-time executive director of the state Republican Party and top aide to the Westchester County Executive, Lawler, 36, is considered one of the Empire State GOP's best campaigners and drew widespread attention for ousting a seven-term incumbent assemblyman in 2020.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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