‘Voters were craving a fighter.’ Cait Conley speaks with News 12’s Tara Rosenblum about landslide District 17 win
In her first sit-down interview since her win, Conley spoke with News 12 senior reporter Tara Rosenblum about her general election strategy and more.
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One of the biggest winners in the New York primary Tuesday night was military veteran Cait Conley.
In her first sit-down interview since her win, Conley spoke with News 12 senior reporter Tara Rosenblum about her general election strategy and more.
The first-time candidate easily won a crowded five-way Democratic primary for New York’s 17th Congressional District.
The military veteran and former national security official cruised to a decisive victory and quickly established herself as the Democratic Party's choice to take on two-term Republican Rep. Mike Lawler this November.
Some political experts thought the race for District 17 would be a lot closer. But Conley won in a landslide.
"So many of us share the same values and what we were fighting for. We're watching America no longer work for the working people, and we've got to fix that,” Conley told Rosenblum.
Her attention now turns to November. The 17th district is one of the few true swing districts left in the country. Democrats view it as critical to their effort to win back control of the House of Representatives.
But Lawler has defied political expectations before, winning two straight elections in a district that has shown a willingness to split its ticket.
Conley says that her strategy to beat Lawler is to focus on the same things she has been doing for the last 14 months.
“And just do even more of it, which is, again, showing people that since Mike Lawler has been elected in November of 12022, their lives haven't gotten any better,” Conley said.
Conley's win was just one of the storylines to emerge from primary night. Across New York, candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America won a series of high-profile victories, toppling incumbents and fueling a debate about the future direction of the Democratic Party.
Rosenblum asked Conley if she thought the Democratic Party in New York was moving further to the left.
"What I took away from last night was that Democratic voters were craving a fighter. Someone who believes that we are facing really hard and tough problems, but we have to find solutions,” Conley said.
Tara Rosenblum’s full interview with Conley can be viewed this Sunday on a special edition of “News 12 Power and Politics.”
