George Conway, a former conservative lawyer and vocal critic of President Donald Trump, announced a bid for Congress as a Democrat to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
Conway, 62, filed paperwork on Monday to run for Nadler’s open seat. Nadler, 78, is the longest-serving New Yorker and one of the state’s most prominent Jewish leaders.
The former lawyer reportedly told members of Democracy Docket in November that he was thinking about running for the open House seat after eight Democrats ultimately voted to reopen the government after the record-breaking shutdown that did not achieve a deal to address the expiring Obamacare tax credits.
Democratic voters have been vocal about the shutdown, expressing irritation that it lasted 43 days, only to ultimately come away with nothing.
“This is the time for a lawyer who has never been in politics to go into politics,” Conway told the New York Times. “This is lawyering now.”
He has told supporters he plans to pitch himself as a staunch opponent of Trump and would help members such as Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Dan Goldman (D-NY). This is a turnaround from his previous work, as he helped behind the scenes to hasten the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.
Despite being a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that has sought to influence the Trump administration on judicial nominees, Conway is running as a Democrat.
Conway was married to Kellyanne Conway, a former senior White House official, but they divorced in 2023. The former conservative split from Trump after the president fired then-FBI Director James Comey in 2017. Trump has called Conway a “stone cold LOSER & husband from hell” in the past.
With his entry, he will be among the nearly dozen other Democrats seeking to represent New York’s 12th Congressional District. Among his primary opponents will be Jack Schlossberg, 32, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy; Micah Lasher, 43, first-term state assemblyman and confidant of Nadler’s; Cameron Kasky, 25, co-founder of March for Our Lives and survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting; Laura Dunn, 40, a civil rights lawyer; and Jami Floyd, 61, former host of NPR’s All Things Considered.
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of the former president and Hillary Clinton, was rumored to be considering a bid. However, her team told the Washington Examiner in September she would not launch a campaign.
JFK’S GRANDSON, JACK SCHLOSSBERG, TO VIE FOR NADLER’S CONGRESSIONAL SEAT
Nadler’s retirement is one of several occurring en masse in the House Democratic caucus ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, as the younger, progressive base has become more vocal about shaking up the status quo on Capitol Hill. In the wake of the 2024 election, Democrats have been advocating a change in the old guard and installing new lawmakers into the caucus’s ranks.
Most of the retirements from the House this year are from safe blue seats on the Democratic side, with the exception of Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). Democrats need only a net gain of three seats to flip the House majority, and recent data show the party is in a strong position to win as many as 14 seats.