Republican Rep. Mike Lawler declared victory late Tuesday against Democrat Mondaire Jones, who mounted a bid to regain a seat in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
Lawler led just after 11:35 p.m. with 55% of the vote compared to Jones’ 43%, and 75% of the estimated total reported, according to the Associated Press.
“What an absolute ass-kicking!” Lawler gleefully told a roomful of supporters at the Paramount Country Club in New City, NY. “Tonight the Hudson Valley told Mondaire Jones to ‘Beat It!’”
He walked on stage to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
The contest pitting the progressive Jones against the conservative Lawler was closely watched nationally as polls showed a tight race, with the potential balance of power in the US House on the line.
Jones had previously held the 17th District seat until 2022, when redistricting reshaped its boundaries and prompted him to mount an unsuccessful campaign for a seat covering Lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn.
Lawler lambasted Jones, who decided to run again for the seat that spans all of Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess, as a carpetbagger.
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Lawler — who has the support from virtually every union representing law enforcement and emergency responders — vowed to fight to lower taxes and maintain former President Trump-era tax cuts that are set to expire in 2025.
The tight race pushed Jones to campaign as a policy moderate after running in 2021 on a progressive platform.
One independent voter — Maureen Henry, 58 — was offended by what she viewed as Lawler’s negative campaign, particularly his accusation that Jones wanted to defund the police.
“Lawler was just using it to deceive people and stir racial tension,” she said. “It just seemed really slimy to me.”
Another voter in Nyack was outraged over a scandal swirling around Lawler’s old Halloween costume, in which he dressed as Michael Jackson and darkened his face.
“Mike Lawler went in blackface!” said Rhonda, 53.
