Cait Conley stood beside Gov. Kathy Hochul at a Peekskill phone bank Thursday, working the phones for about 10 minutes with the New York Democratic Party's coordinated campaign office in Westchester County, just over two weeks after she appeared to agree with Rep. Mike Lawler that Hochul should be voted out of office. The joint appearance capped a fast-moving episode in one of the most closely watched House races in the country, where Conley, a first-time candidate, is trying to unseat the two-term Republican congressman.
The flap traces back to an Oct. 13 forum in Putnam County, where Lawler said New York needs a new governor and that Hochul has got to go, according to VINnews. Conley responded that she was in “absolute agreement” with her opponent, repeating the phrase before pivoting to a point about struggling small businesses. Her campaign later said she was agreeing only that small-business owners need more support, not endorsing Lawler's call for Hochul to leave office, VINnews reported. The New York Post reported that at the forum, Conley said they were not helping Lawler when he desperately needed it before launching into her small-business message, and that Republican Bruce Blakeman drew cheers from the crowd during the same event.
Conley's Apology and Hochul's Response
Conley called Hochul days later to apologize for the exchange, according to a report from POLITICO. Hochul accepted it as a mistake made in a pressure-cooker debate environment, the outlet reported, a characterization that framed the moment as a stumble rather than a rupture. POLITICO also described Conley as an Army veteran and first-time candidate taking on Lawler in the Hudson Valley.
By the time the two Democrats stood together in Peekskill, Conley was telling reporters that Lawler spins things and that she and the governor were simply making their case to voters, per the Post's account. She said she was standing outside their joint campaign office at the time. According to the Post, Conley introduced Hochul as a New York leader who had brought people together and helped them, while Hochul praised Conley as imperative to America's future, patriotic, and, in the governor's words, the badass they need. Hochul also said, per the Post, that Democrats would not bow down to a king and that Lawler was one of that king's subjects.
A Neck-and-Neck Battleground Seat
New York's 17th Congressional District stretches across all of Rockland and Putnam counties, most of northern Westchester and a slice of southern Westchester, according to CBS New York. The station also reported that Conley's economic platform calls for fully restoring the SALT deduction, limiting power-company profits and tightening lobbying rules, while Lawler has pointed to his bipartisan record working with Democrat Josh Gottheimer and said he's drawn praise from both Joe Biden and President Trump.
An Emerson College Polling survey conducted with PIX11 News in late September found Conley ahead of Lawler 48% to 46%, with 7% undecided — a reversal from 2024, when Lawler held a five-point lead in the same poll, as PIX11 reported. Emerson's data also showed Conley leading by seven points among voters who described themselves as very excited to vote in November, and found Democratic crossover support for Lawler had dropped to 12% from 20% two years earlier while Republican support for the Democrat climbed to 10%. The same survey found voters naming the economy as the state's top issue at 31%, ahead of threats to democracy at 23%, immigration at 13% and housing affordability at 12%, and found Hochul's approval among NY-17 voters underwater, 40% to 49%.
Governor's Race Looms in the Background
The Conley-Lawler contest is widely viewed as a potential factor in which party controls the House after November, VINnews reported, and both campaigns are expected to spend roughly $60 million combined, according to a separate ABC7 New York report that described the race as within the margin of error. That same report noted House Speaker Mike Johnson had campaigned in Orangeburg for Lawler, while Conley had recently appeared with health care workers in Suffern and campaigned alongside Hakeem Jeffries.
Hochul's own reelection race against Republican Bruce Blakeman looks far less competitive. ABC7 New York's live Election Day coverage noted that recent major polls give Hochul a double-digit lead, including a new Marist poll showing her ahead 53% to 42%. Not every Democratic House candidate has rushed to embrace the governor this cycle — VINnews reported that Blake Gendebien, running in New York's 21st District, had earlier declined to endorse Hochul or say he would vote for her.
What's Left Before Election Day
Early voting continues through Saturday, with Election Day set for Tuesday, Nov. 3. Members of Congress serve two-year terms and earn $174,000 annually, underscoring the stakes in a district both parties are treating as a must-win. With the race still described as neck-and-neck, the Peekskill phone bank marked an attempt by Conley and Hochul to present a unified front in the campaign's closing days.
