Democrat Cait Conley has flipped New York's 17th Congressional District, defeating incumbent Republican Mike Lawler in one of the mostly closely watched races in the country.
“We started this because we knew that America, the land of promise and opportunity, was on the wrong path,” Conley said as she took the stage to cheers. “But we knew if we came together, if we brought people together, that we could fix it. And tonight, we showed. That this fight, this wasn't a partisan fight. This was a patriotic fight.”
Lawler conceded last night at about 11 p.m. even though the count for much of Westchester County's ballots has only just begun. The latest numbers have Conley at 52.2% and Lawler at 47.7% with almost two thirds of the votes counted, according to the AP.
“Every lawful vote will be counted,” the county board of elections wrote in a statement.
In his concession speech, Lawler reminded people that he had secured an increase to the allowed deduction of state and local taxes as part of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" and the nickname President Trump gave him, Mr. SALT.
“We delivered the largest tax cut in American history. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, and lifting the SALT cap from $10,000 to $40,000, putting on average over $4,000 back in the pockets of hard-working Hudson Valley families,” Lawler said Tuesday night.
Maureen Warren, a New York State United Teachers member, was ecstatic about Conley’s win. She said she's confident that Conley will make the right decisions and undo the damage she said Republicans have inflicted.
“[I’m] completely worried about affordability," Warren said. "That's number one. I'm worried about public education. I'm a retired public educator. Very worried about the state of public education in this country and the current administration's work to undermine public education. That's a huge one. I met with Cait over those issues. She's a great listener, and I know she's going to take that forward when she goes to Washington. And I'm also a really huge proponent of having my decisions about my body and every other female's stay between me and my doctor."
Howard Fleischer said he met Conley at a bar many moons ago and said he could immediately tell she was, as he put it, “real.”
“She's a straight talker," Fleischer said. "She looks you in the eye. She's the real deal. She has proven herself both out in the field, in the military, in cyber intelligence — or counterintelligence for the White House and so on. She's been there and she's somebody that I put my faith in. I can never put my faith in a man like Lawler."
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said a problem earlier that day with the ballots machines which impacted thousands of ballots would not affect the final count. He said the problem had started a printer error.
“So, with the court decision this evening at about 9:15 [p.m.] when they finally decided, they determined that they will take those emergency ballots, allow the county and local police to bring them up, take them to the Board of Elections, where they'll be tabulated and scanned and counted tomorrow," Jenkins said. "So, I think that we're in really good shape from that. I think the Board of Elections has done fantastic job.”
Lawler told CNN earlier on Tuesday that both candidates would work together with the Board of Elections to count the final votes.
Conley said when she takes office she wants to get straight to work, and said her first priority will be lower costs.
"We recognize that as we take back government, as we take back Congress, it comes with it a responsibility to actually deliver on lowering costs for families, rooting out the corruption," Conley said. ... "We have to get more elected officials that are more focused on the next generation and not the next election."
