By Dan Murphy
On the evening of June 23, democrat Cait Conley won her party’s primary for Congress in NY-17, setting up a November election against republican congressman Mike Lawler.
The Lawler campaign appeared ready for Conley’s victory because they began a series of attack press releases immediately after the primary.
#1
WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR CAIT CONLEY TO DENOUNCE THE RADICAL LEFT AND STAND UP TO THE SOCIALIST WING OF HER PARTY?
Cait Conley has had multiple chances to denounce the Socialist Sweep of New York City, but every single time she’s deflected, dodged, or outright accepted their support in her race for Congress. Today, the Lawler for Congress campaign announced a five-figure ad buy to hold her accountable.
Fresh off her under-50% primary win, Cait Conley sat down with CBS, Bloomberg TV, and NBC and received what should have been a layup question on every program about the socialist sweep in New York City. Yet every time, she avoided the question and moved on, even when confronted with a clip of Brad Lander, architect of the Defund the Police movement in NYC, saying he was excited to campaign for her. Then, Cait doubled down, saying she would welcome his support!
This is in stark contrast to the actions taken by members of Conley’s own party from New York, including Tom Suozzi, who have pledged to fight the radical left.
Today, the Lawler for Congress campaign is announcing a five-figure buy to air these clips so every voter in NY-17 can see Cait Conley’s cowardice for themselves.
Lawler for Congress Campaign Manager Ciro Riccardi offered the following statement in light of this new ad spend:
“Cait Conley will be held accountable throughout this campaign for her far-left positions, and that starts today. Saying you would ‘welcome’ socialists like Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, and the rest of the DSA in the Hudson Valley is the opposite of moderate – it’s radical. Cait Conley says she wants to fight for the Hudson Valley, but she can’t even stand up and denounce someone who wants to abolish ICE, defund the police, raise taxes, and is Zohran Mamdani’s best friend. That lack of courage, also known as cowardice, in the face of radicalism is precisely why voters will send Cait Conley back to the private sector and big tech contract work this November.”
#2-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just publicly endorsed Cait Conley.
Read that again…Friend.
The face of the Squad. The voice of Democratic Socialism. The congresswoman who has spent six years dragging the Democratic Party into open socialism just put her name behind Mike Lawler’s opponent.
CAIT CONLEY MAKES IT CLEAR – LANDER, VALDEZ, CHEVALIER, AND THEIR FELLOW SOCIALISTS ARE WELCOME IN THE HUDSON VALLEY ON HER WATCH
Cait Conley has decided she wants the help of those who have pledged to abolish ICE, fought to defund the police, and co-founded a group that calls for the “total eradication of Western civilization.”
Last Tuesday, three New York City socialists won their Congressional primaries: Brad Lander in NY-10, Claire Valdez in NY-7, and Darializa Avila Chevalier in NY-13. The very next day, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated that she was looking forward to working with Cait Conley and her fellow socialists. Brad Lander said he was excited to campaign for Cait Conley in the Hudson Valley after winning in NY-10.
And Cait Conley’s response? “I welcome anyone here in this district.”
So, who exactly is Cait Conley welcoming into the Hudson Valley?
Brad Lander (NY-10). In June 2020, Lander published an open letter with a title that says it all: “My commitment to working to defund the NYPD.” He called for cutting a billion dollars from the police budget. Recently, Brad stated he was looking forward to campaigning for Cait Conley in the Hudson Valley.
Claire Valdez (NY-7). Valdez calls herself a “proud democratic socialist,” and her own campaign website pledges that she will “fight to dismantle and abolish ICE.” She was arrested inside Senator Chuck Schumer’s Manhattan office in August 2025 while protesting U.S. arms sales to Israel. At a televised primary debate, she said Israel had committed “genocide” and said she would support arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on an International Criminal Court warrant if he set foot in New York.
Darializa Avila Chevalier (NY-13). Deleted tweets reviewed by CNN’s KFile show her calling to abolish the police, prisons, and borders, declaring “all deportation is wrong,” and reposting a message that “Israel doesn’t exist.” She also called President Biden a “rapist.” Darializa even attended the pro-Hamas Times Square rally on October 8, 2023, the day after October 7th, an event so widely condemned that fellow primary winner Brad Lander quit the DSA over the party’s promotion of it. At a March 2026 candidate forum, she declined to condemn Hamas’s October 7 attack when asked directly. She also co-founded Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), the campus group that later posted that it was fighting for the “total eradication of Western civilization.”
And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) herself, who has called to “Abolish ICE,” still champions defunding the police on her campaign website and pledged at a March 2026 NYC-DSA forum to vote against any U.S. military aid to Israel, including defensive systems such as the Iron Dome, which she has previously voted against.
These are the people who Cait Conley wants to serve alongside and the same ones she would “welcome” into the Hudson Valley. Those are their words and their records.
Lawler for Congress Campaign Manager Ciro Riccardi offered the following response:
“Cait Conley just said the quiet part out loud – that she welcomes the support of New York City socialists in her campaign for Congress. Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and AOC are some of the most radical, card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Cait Conley wants to campaign alongside them. These are folks who want to defund the police, abolish ICE, work for the ‘total eradication of Western Civilization,’ get rid of prisons and borders, and even think Joe Biden is a rapist. If Cait thinks those are the values Hudson Valley voters are clamoring for, we wish her the best of luck in securing more six-figure contracts with big tech companies after losing in November.”
And
Less than 24 hours after the polls closed, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to X to congratulate Cait Conley by name, declaring that she looked forward to “working together as a delegation as we fight for working families across New York.” The question for Cait Conley is simple: Does she accept her place by AOC’s side in New York’s newfound radical-left Congressional delegation, and everyone in it?
Lawler for Congress Campaign Manager Ciro Riccardi offered the following response:
“AOC congratulated Cait Conley alongside a slate of radical candidates Cait wishes to serve in Congress with. So, which is it, Cait: do you reject AOC and the candidates who want to abolish ICE, defund the police, and tear down our borders, or do you embrace them? The Hudson Valley deserves an answer, and so far, all we’ve heard is your own damning silence.”
IF CAIT CONLEY IS SERIOUS ABOUT REPRESENTING THE HUDSON VALLEY, SHE’LL RELEASE HER NDAs. WHAT IS SHE HIDING?
Cait Conley won her primary while refusing to tell voters what two Palantir-linked AI defense contractors paid her nearly $335,000 to do, citing nondisclosure agreements. Now that she’s the nominee, the Lawler for Congress campaign is calling on Conley to release certified copies of her NDAs with Primer AI and Hidden Level. If she won’t, voters deserve to know why.
Cait Conley is now the Democratic nominee for New York’s 17th Congressional District. She earned that nomination without ever answering a basic question: What are Primer AI and Hidden Level paying her hundreds of thousands of dollars to do?
Conley’s own financial disclosure, filed only after a local reporter and constituents pressed her, shows roughly $335,000 in income from the two firms, $35,000 from Primer, and nearly $300,000 from Hidden Level. Both companies work alongside Palantir, the contractor helping the federal government carry out its surveillance and deportation operations. Primer advertises that it supports DHS “homeland security operations.” Primer also won what was then its largest federal contract in history, a multi-million-dollar deal with US Special Operations Command, in October 2020, while Conley was serving as Director of Operations at Army Special Operations Command, inside SOCOM.
When voters and members of the media asked what she actually did for that money, Conley said she had signed nondisclosure agreements and could not discuss it. Lawler for Congress campaign manager Ciro Riccardi today called on her to release certified copies of those agreements:
“Cait Conley is asking Hudson Valley voters to make her their voice in Congress, but she’s doing so while hiding who has been signing her checks and what they bought. She says an NDA ties her hands. Fine. Then release certified copies of them. If there is nothing in Cait Conley’s arrangement with Primer and Hidden Level that voters would object to, a certified copy of each NDA costs her nothing. So, which is it, Cait? Will you release certified copies of your NDAs with Primer and Hidden Level, so the people of the Hudson Valley can see exactly what a Palantir-linked surveillance contractor is paying their would-be Congresswoman to do? Or will you ask them to trust you while you keep them in the dark? If you are serious about representing the Hudson Valley, you’ll release them. If you won’t, voters deserve to know why.”
And
A carpetbagger from Northern Virginia just won the Democrat primary
Cait Conley is the one the DCCC parachuted into this district twelve months ago — a place she hadn’t lived in for over twenty years and had never once voted in or paid taxes in. She is the establishment’s hand-picked candidate. The Hillary Clinton signal-boost candidate. DCCC’s quiet favorite all along.
Her suspicious AI and big tech contracts, the ones she keeps lying to local reporters about, are hiding behind NDAs while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for part-time work.
Her opposition to the Working Families Tax Cut, the law that even Bloomberg said overwhelmingly benefits middle-class New Yorkers, especially in the Hudson Valley.
Her call to revoke 287(g) agreements that allow local law enforcement to cooperate with federal officials on immigration.
Her embrace of Hochul-style green mandates and her opposition to reopening Indian Point.
Her calling all Republicans “the greatest threat to America” and an enemy from within disqualifying rhetoric for someone seeking to represent one of the most politically balanced districts in the country.
NY-17 is the #1 flip target in the country. Bernie Sanders’ organization is mobilizing one million volunteers. Hillary Clinton is publicly weighing in from inside the district. The DCCC has reserved millions in fall ad spending. And now Conley, their hand-picked carpetbagger, is the nominee carrying it all.
I won this seat by 1,700 votes in 2022. I held it against over a $20 million assault in 2024. I
The general election begins now.”
The Lawler campaign is working hard to identify Conley at too far left, and out of touch for the voters in NY-17. The campaign tactic that the Lawler campaign, and look for the Conley campaign to use, is two-fold.
First, get your base excited to work for Lawler or Conley, by volunteering and voting in November. As the past two elections show, NY-17 is evenly divided, with Lawler winning his first race by only 2,100 votes, and his second contest with 52% of the vote.
The second and more traditional method is to try and attract independent or undecided voters to your side. This portion of the electorate has become smaller and smaller over the past 12 years, and could be as little as 5% of the total. Are there Trump-Lawler voters who could vote for Conley? We will delve into this small but important part of NY-17 in the weeks to come.
