| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ciro Riccardi | ciro@lawlerforcongress.com | (845) 642-6569 In the last of the two debates she would agree to, Cait Conley changed her tune on everything from immigration enforcement to Mamdani. Pearl River, NY — October 14, 2026 — Congressman Mike Lawler decisively won tonight’s PIX11 debate, and the story of the evening was how many positions Cait Conley tried to change her tune on in just one hour. Start with Zohran Mamdani. At the News 12 debate on September 28, Lawler asked Conley four times whether she denounces the New York City mayor’s antisemitism, and four times she would not. Tonight he asked again, this time about Mamdani’s October 7 statement blaming Jews for the massacre. “Yes, I do denounce Mamdani’s statement on October 7th,” Conley said only after Mike Lawler pressed her to answer on behalf of the Hudson Valley’s Jewish community after a full week of silence. This comes seven days after Zohran Mamdani issued the statement. Is this the type of bravery the Hudson Valley’s Jewish community can rely on Cait Conley for? A week late and a dollar short? Then on immigration, she spent the night twisting herself into knots. Conley told viewers “border security is national security” and said violent criminals, drug cartels, human traffickers and terrorist organizations should be “deported.” Asked about Sheridan Gorman, the 18-year-old from Yorktown shot and killed in Chicago in March, she said: “That man should have been deported.” The man charged in Sheridan’s death was in the country illegally and had been arrested and released, and should have been deported, but Conley’s position would prevent that from happening. That’s because Conley supports Kathy Hochul’s sanctuary law, the Local Cops Local Crimes Act, which bars local police from the 287(g) agreements that hand arrested illegal immigrants to federal custody. Conley defended it on stage, saying local officers should not be “doing the federal government’s job.” Lawler put it to her plainly: under the law she supports, a man arrested the way Gorman’s killer was arrested “will not be turned over to ICE and he will be released under cashless bail.” Data centers made three. On September 28 she said, “I support a moratorium on data centers.” Pressed tonight on whether she wants more once the moratorium lifts, she said, “It depends on the conditions.” PIX11’s own Dan Mannarino reported three weeks ago that she does not oppose new data centers at all. “Cait Conley refused to denounce Zohran Mamdani four times in September and finally discovered her courage – or talked to her pollster,” said Lawler for Congress Campaign Manager Ciro Riccardi. “Conley says she wants violent criminals deported while she strongly supports Kathy Hochul’s Sanctuary Laws that keep them here. She told the Hudson Valley that Sheridan Gorman’s murder was preventable, then defended the policy that makes the next one just as preventable.” “Conley would have been better off staying home for this debate – or just going back to her house in Virginia and throwing in the towel for good,” concluded Riccardi. “Her flip-flops on key issues and inability to provide answers to specific questions show she’s not fit to serve as a member of Congress representing Hudson Valley families, especially our Jewish communities.” |
Keep Scrolling