Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Michael Lawler’s campaign; Insider
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is running against Republican Michael Lawler in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
The 17th District is located in the lower Hudson Valley.
The Cook Political Report reclassified Maloney’s reelection race to a “toss-up” just two weeks before Election Night.
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney faces off against Republican Michael Lawler in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
Polls close in the state at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
New York’s 17th Congressional District candidates
Maloney, who was first elected to the US House in 2012 after defeating Republican incumbent Nan Hayworth, serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He has also served as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 2021.
Maloney currently represents the state’s 18th Congressional District, but following the redrawing of New York’s congressional map, ran in the 17th District, where he successfully defended himself against a Democratic primary challenge from the left by state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.
Prior to his congressional career, Maloney served as senior advisor to former President Bill Clinton. He is the first openly gay person elected to Congress from New York.
In 2018, Maloney ran for attorney general of New York but lost to Letitia James — the state’s current attorney general — in the Democratic primary.
Maloney is among several dozen members of Congress found by Insider since 2021 to have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 by improperly disclosing personal financial trades.
Lawler, Maloney’s challenger, is a small business owner and state assemblyman representing New York’s Assembly District 7.
Prior to being elected to the Assembly, Lawler served as deputy town supervisor in Orangetown, New York, and worked in the Westchester County Executive’s Office as an advisor to Rob Astorino. He also served as executive director of the state Republican Party.
He has listed border security and preserving Social Security and Medicare as some of the key issues on his campaign website.
Lawler defeated William Faulkner and three other candidates in the 2022 GOP primary, bringing in nearly three-fourths of the vote.
Voting history for New York’s 17th Congressional District
New York’s 17th Congressional District is located in the lower Hudson Valley and includes Rockland and Putnam counties, parts of Westchester, and three towns in southeast Dutchess County.
Joe Biden had a 20 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district’s previous boundaries in 2020 before it was redrawn in redistricting following the 2020 Census, making it friendlier for Republicans.
The money race
According to OpenSecrets, Maloney has raised $4.95 million, spent nearly $5.3 million, and has $544,000 on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Lawler, has raised $1.1 million, spent $937,000, and has $173,000 cash on hand, as of October 19.
As of early November, super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $8.2 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race’s primary phase. Congressional Leadership Fund, a pro-Lawler hybrid PAC backed by national Republicans, alone accounts for more than half that spending and has hammered Maloney with negative advertising.
What experts say
The race between Maloney and Lawler is rated as “tilt Democratic” by Inside Elections, a “toss-up” by The Cook Political Report, and “leans Democratic” by Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.