Republican congressman Mike Lawler says he won’t run for New York governor
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler on Wednesday announced he will run for reelection in his suburban New York swing district rather than launch a long-anticipated campaign for governor.
The congressman has been openly considering a run for governor for months and was viewed as a potentially strong challenger to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
But in an interview on the “Fox and Friends” morning show on Wednesday, Lawler said he was abandoning his statewide ambitions to instead defend his battleground seat as Republicans try to retain their threadbare control of the House in next year’s midterm elections.
“Keeping the House majority is critical if we are going to continue to move this economy in the right direction,” he said, adding that running was “the right thing to do for me and my family and my district.”
The decision came as another prominent House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, also has been eying a candidacy for governor after her nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was pulled over concerns about Republicans’ tight margins in the House.
In a statement, Stefanik called Lawler a “great, effective, and hardworking” representative. Stefanik, who represents a northern New York district considered to be solid Republican territory, said she would make her decision on whether to run for governor after the November elections this year.
“Republicans are more unified than ever in our mission to fire the Worst Governor in America Kathy Hochul in 2026,” she said.
Lawler’s district, in the Hudson Valley north of New York City, has been considered a crucial swing seat in recent elections and Democrats are expected to again dedicate heavy resources to flip it next year. In his Fox interview, Lawler noted that he’s one of few Republicans who won a seat in a district Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris won last year.
Lawler, a political moderate, held a series of sometimes raucous town halls in his district over the spring — at a time when Republicans were being advised to skip the forums that were drawing angry questions about President Donald Trump’s agenda. He is now coming off a successful fight to raise the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes, a significant pocketbook issue in New York and some other places primarily on the East and West coasts.
Trump in May endorsed Lawler for reelection to Congress , calling him “a Strong Champion, and Highly Effective Representative” in a post on his Truth Social platform. The endorsement, which came as Lawler was still mulling a run for governor, was widely considered to be a public nudge for the congressman to remain in Washington rather than risk his competitive House seat.
Hochul, in a post on X after Lawler’s announcement, said the congressman “doesn’t have the spine to face me.”
Hochul is facing a primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, amid a public feud between the two Democrats.
By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Associated Press
