Negative TV ad against Cait Conley running over and over again in NY-17
Who is Paying $1 Million for “Progressive Champions PAC’s ” Big Negative TV Ad Buy on Cait Conley?
By Dan Murphy
For those of us who live in NY-17 in Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties have likely watched the same TV ad run again and again on our Cable TV or YouTube channels over the past week. The ad highlights the ongoing work of ICE and the separation of immigrant communities, and then claims “while Cait Conley profited by over $325,000 from firms supporting the apparatus weaponized by ICE. True activists fought ICE’s atrocities, but Conley kept collecting. That’s not progressive, that’s profiteering.”
The ad is paid for by Progressive Champions PAC, which sounds like a democratic leaning group but in reality is a secret republican funded group which is dumping up to $1 Million in negative ads against Cait Conley in NY-17, according to several published reports and democrats. The question that many want to know if why is a republican funded group putting their dollars in an attempt to make Conley lose the democratic primary on June 23, (and in early voting now)?
“Cait Conley is the one that [Mike Lawler] doesn’t want to see. Just today, a Republican backed Dark Money group put almost $1 million into an IE to go against her specifically, said Morgan Hook, Blue Jacket Strategies, on Spectrum News.
Due to Federal Election Commission campaign laws, donors can fund Political Action Committee’s without identifying their identity. And that is the case with Progressive Champions PAC.
Progressive Champions PAC is a GOP front, wrote Judd Legum, https://popular.info/p/progressive-champions-pac-is-a-gop. A Popular Information investigation, however, reveals that Progressive Champions PAC is tied to the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the super PAC of the House Republican leadership. Progressive Champions PAC is part of a network of sham “progressive” PACs attempting to influence key Democratic primaries across the country.
On its website, Progressive Champions PAC says, “Our mission is simple: elect bold, progressive candidates up and down the ballot who will fight for working families, protect our democracy, and build a future that works for everyone.”
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins posted, “Republicans are so desperate to hold onto power that they’re now trying to rig the playing field by meddling in a Democratic primary. It’s a cynical, dishonest tactic that shows just how afraid they are of facing a strong Democratic nominee in November. The voters of the 17th Congressional District won’t be fooled by these political games. Our elections belong to the people—not to Republican strategists in Washington trying to manipulate the outcome for their own benefit.”
Neither Jenkins, nor Westchester Congressman George Latimer have endorsed a democratic candidate in NY-17.
While five democrats are running in the democratic primary in NY-17, most believe the contest is between Conley, and Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson. Many of us in NY-17 have also seen a TV ad paid for by Davidson’s campaign laying out the same allegations against Conley.
And while no democrat will directly link Progressive Champions PAC to the Davidson campaign, the Conley campaign did say in their release about the meddling that “Responding to a plea from Beth Davidson, a MAGA Dark-Money Super PAC is now spending nearly $1 million falsely attacking veteran Cait Conley.”
Conley said, “Republican dark money Super PACs are targeting me with false attacks because they know I’m the only candidate who will beat Mike Lawler in November.
“Mike Lawler and his MAGA allies are scared, and they should be. As a West Point Grad and Army Special Operations combat veteran, I have spent my entire life serving our country and taking on the hardest fights when the stakes couldn’t be higher. If they think this is going to intimidate me, they have no idea who they are messing with. And Republicans are seriously underestimating NY-17 democrats who will see through their political lies and deceit. I’m ready to bring real leadership to Congress, not more political games.
“I am running to stop the greed, corruption, and chaos caused by this Trump Administration and enabled by cowards in Congress like Mike Lawler. They know I will rein in ICE and demand accountability for the abuses of power we have seen, and they are scared of it. Make no mistake – they will fail here as well. We have the momentum and we will win on June 23rd and take the fight right to Mike Lawler,” said Conley, with the campaign pointing to the following Fact Check.
- Cait Conley does not work for or with ICE.
- Cait Conley does not work for or with Palantir.
- Cait consults for two technology firms. These companies have nothing to do with immigration enforcement, and neither have contracts with ICE.
However, unique to New York, career political operative and politician Beth Davidson has actually called on these outside groups for support in a desperate attempt to save her flailing campaign, directing them with a redbox message they are now mirroring exactly.
The redbox message states, Last updated: May 20, 2026 “Voters need to see on television that Cait Conley currently works for two AI companies that help Donald Trump’s DHS and ICE track and detain law-abiding immigrants and American citizens. Conley has refused to quit, even after ICE killed two Americans in Minneapolis, expanding her work and earning over $325k. Meanwhile, Beth Davidson is standing up to Donald Trump and Mike Lawler and protecting Rockland County from ICE’s recklessness.”
Mike Lawler and Beth Davidson are attempting to draw false links between Cait’s work and ICE that do not exist,” end of Conley response.
Both Davidson and Effie Phillips-Staley, another democrat in the NY-17 primary, condemned the attack ads against Conley in statements.
The Lawler campaign, also not directly tied to the ad or the Progressive Champions PAC, has frequently send out campaign emails attacking Conley. Their latest, titled “CAIT CONLEY’S EMPLOYER SELLS AI TO ICE AND TOUTS ITS PALANTIR PARTNERSHIP. WHY IS CAIT CONLEY LYING ABOUT IT?” makes the same arguments that both Progressive Champions PAC and Beth Davison make.
So, if we can’t verify where the Progressive Champions PAC $$$$ came from to pay for the Conley negative ads, can we at least deduce that the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee and Congressman Lawler’s campaign, would prefer to run against Davidson, and not Conley, in November?
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi said, “Desperate D.C. Republicans are so terrified Mike Lawler will lose in November that they’re resorting to meddling in yet another Democratic primary. It’s just the latest sign that Lawler knows he can’t win on his toxic record of rubber-stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda of raising costs and gutting health care — and Democrats will make sure NY-17 voters know exactly who’s behind these shameless and frankly pathetic tactics.”
