Rep. Mike Lawler says he deserves second term over taxes, border and public safety record
Freshman US Rep. Mike Lawler said lower Hudson Valley voters should send him back to DC for another term because of his stances on taxes, border security and public safety.
The Republican told The Post’s editorial board Wednesday that there’s a stark choice between him and Democrat Mondaire Jones as they battle it out in New York’s 17th congressional district in one of the most closely watched contests in the state.
“On affordability, he wants to increase taxes,” Lawler said of Jones, a former one-term congressman looking to make a comeback in the swing district.
Lawler said he would fight to lower taxes and at the very least preserve tax cuts approved by former President Donald Trump and the GOP-run Congress in 2017.
Those tax reductions expire at the end of 2025.
Lawler said although corporate tax was slashed from 28% to 21% under Trump, a Democratic White House under nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris could bring them back up to 28%.
Democrats are also looking to raise income taxes on higher-end earners, Lawler said.
He said Jones — along with Vice President and Democratic White House nominee Kamala Harris — want to raise the corporate taxes back to 28% from 21% and raise income taxes on higher end earners.
“It would be the largest tax increase in American history,” Lawler said.
“He wants the Trump tax cuts to expire.”
The 17th District, which includes Putnam and Rockland counties as well as parts of Westchester and Dutchess, is one of a few races in deeply blue New York that pundits think can go either way — and help decide which party controls the House of Representatives next year.
The closeness of the race has pushed the debate to the center, with Jones campaigning as a policy moderate after coming into office in 2021 on a decidedly progressive platform.
Lawler said Jones’ record includes “defunding police” — and he’s now shying away from past statements and associations — including being cozy with the hard left “Squad” and democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The Republican has backing of virtually every union representing law enforcement and emergency responders, including the NYC PBA. Many Big Apple cops and firefighters reside in the district.
Lawler said he has a strong record in Congress backing Israel, including introducing and passing laws protecting the Jewish state.
For his part, Jones and the Democrats have tried to link Lawler to Trump — an effective approach in some suburban races north of the city years ago that the congressman said no longer has teeth according to polling.
“This is not 2020,” Lawler said.
He said voters, with the exception of the Trump haters, rarely bring up the ex-president.
Lawler even joked that many constituents who saw the TV ad of Trump praising him as “spectacular’ liked it.
Meanwhile, Lawler said one-party Democratic rule of the statehouse in Albany has been a disaster for New York — and those policies are also on the ballot.
He called ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to force the closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester “idiotic,” cutting off a major power supply for New York City and the region’s growing power needs.
Lawler also predicted that Gov. Kathy Hochul will flip again — after the Nov. 5 election — and revive the plan to impose a planned congestion toll to enter Manhattan Midtown.
Hochul in June suspended the proposal “indefinitely.”
He said Hochul postponed it as a political ruse at the behest of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who feared at a backlash against House Democrats at the polls.
Lawler said it’s no contest on who supports stricter border enforcement.
“[Jones] supported open borders, he wanted to defund ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] he called ICE agents terrorists,” the congressman said.
