Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who once believed he would be the “best positioned” candidate to beat Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) in 2026, has endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) gubernatorial campaign.
Lawler appeared with Stefanik at a Rockland County event on Monday to endorse his onetime rival.
“Elise Stefanik doesn’t take s*** from anybody,” Lawler said at the event. “There’s a reason why Kathy Hochul spends every day attacking Elise Stefanik, because she knows she’s about to get her ass kicked next November.”
Lawler ended his gubernatorial campaign in July after President Donald Trump urged him to run for reelection to his House seat. Since then, he had refused to back anyone and noted he still believed he was the best Republican to take on Hochul.
With Lawler’s endorsement, Stefanik hopes to overcome Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman as the final Republican hurdle to the nomination.
“I am deeply grateful for the strong outpouring of support from Republicans across New York who believe we deserve better than the affordability, crime, housing, and energy crises families are suffering from under Kathy Hochul’s Far Left Democrat rule,” Stefanik said in a statement. “With the steadfast support of our growing coalition, we will win this righteous fight to Save New York and fire Kathy Hochul.”
Lawler added in a statement that he believed Stefanik to be “the fighter we need to turn this around.”
“She will restore the common sense and accountability that’s been missing from Albany for decades. I’m proud to endorse Elise for Governor because she’s the leader who will get New York back on the right track,” he said.
Stefanik is likely to get the GOP nomination as she has the support of most of the state’s GOP leaders.
Hochul said at an unrelated event that the two are more right-wing than Trump.
“They’re willing to be more extreme than him. It’s a new chapter in politics in our state, that’s for sure,” Hochul told reporters.
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The New York State Democratic Party piled on and used Lawler against Stefanik in its statement while calling him a “lapdog.”
“Mike Lawler said it himself: Elise Stefanik is too extreme and tied to Donald Trump’s unpopular agenda to win a statewide race in New York,” New York State Democratic Party spokesman Addison Dick said.