'We will be short': Mike Lawler concedes as Cait Conley flips his Hudson Valley seat

Democrat Cait Conley defeated Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Tuesday in one of the country’s most closely watched House races, after Lawler conceded.

“When all of the votes are counted tomorrow in Westchester, it’s gonna be pretty clear that we will be short,” Lawler told supporters, Spectrum News reported. Conley led by more than 11,800 votes as of 11:15 p.m., according to the Associated Press, a tally that didn’t include Westchester County ballots delayed by scanner problems. The AP had not yet called the race.

Lawler sought a third term in New York’s 17th Congressional District, a swing seat in the Hudson Valley that he first won in 2022 by defeating Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney. Conley, an Army veteran and former counterterrorism official, tied Lawler to President Donald Trump throughout the race, calling him a “puppet” of the president.

The campaign unfolded in a national environment that favored Democrats. Trump’s approval among likely voters fell to 36% in the final New York Times/Siena poll, which found likely voters preferring Democratic congressional candidates by 11 points.

In the campaign’s final week, 12 out-of-state canvassers sued Lawler’s reelection campaign and several consulting firms in federal court in Manhattan. They allege they were paid as little as $1 per door knocked, despite recruitment materials promising a weekly base salary of $1,200 to $3,000, free housing and covered travel, and that they were fired after complaining about labor practices and discrimination. The allegations have not been tested in court, and it was not immediately clear whether the campaign had responded.