NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican representing a suburban New York swing district, said Wednesday he won’t run for governor next year.
Lawler had been viewed as a potentially strong challenger to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. But another prominent House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, also has been eying a candidacy. She said in a statement Wednesday she’ll decide after this November’s election.
Lawler, a second-term Congress member from the Hudson Valley north of New York City, weighed his options as President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans strive to retain control of the House in next year’s midterm elections. Lawler told the “Fox and Friends” morning show that running for reelection to the House was “the right thing to do for me and my family and my district.”
“Keeping the House majority is critical if we are going to continue to move this economy in the right direction,” he said.
Lawler’s seat has been a crucial swing district in recent elections. He noted Wednesday that he’s one of few Republicans who won a seat in a district Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris won last year.
Lawler is now coming off a successful fight to raise the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes, a significant pocketbook issue in New York and some other places primarily on the East and West coasts.
Trump’s big tax and spending legislation, which he signed into law this month, quadruples the cap on state and local deductions to $40,000, for the next five years. It had been capped at $10,000 as part of Trump’s first-term tax overhaul.
Lawler held a series of sometimes raucous town halls in his district over the spring — at a time when Republicans were being advised to skip the forums that were drawing angry questions about President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Trump in May endorsed Lawler for reelection in the 17th Congressional District , calling him “a Strong Champion, and Highly Effective Representative” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Hochul, a former lieutenant governor, assumed the top office in 2021 after predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned. Hochul then was elected in 2022.
She also faces a challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, amid a feud between the two Democrats.
Lawler arrived in the House after defeating former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones, a Democrat who previously represented part of the district. During that campaign, The New York Times obtained a photo of Lawler wearing blackface in 2006 at a college Halloween party where he dressed as singer Michael Jackson. Lawler said the outfit was intended to be an homage to a childhood idol.
