Republican Rep. Mike Lawler is ruling out another run for Congress after his painful re-election defeat, but he is leaving open the possibility of seeking the New York governorship or another statewide office in 2030.
In one of his first interviews since losing last week’s midterm contest, the two-term Hudson Valley lawmaker told The Post that he has no intention of returning to the House. Still, he said he would consider a different political path if the right opportunity emerges.
“If running for office in a different capacity presents itself, great. If not, fine,” Lawler said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Lawler said he did not believe there was any strategic change he could have made that would have stopped Democrat Cait Conley from defeating him as part of the nationwide blue wave that swept through the Nov. 3 elections.
“I have no regrets,” he said.
He also cautioned Democrats against assuming Republicans will remain politically vulnerable indefinitely, arguing that voters will eventually move on from President Trump as the central issue in every race.
“Politics is cyclical,” Lawler said.
In time, he predicted, New Yorkers will take a closer look at which party is responsible for the state’s high taxes and expansive spending.
“The Democrats have been in control of the state since 2019 and they’ve run it into the ground,” he said.
Asked about his own race in the closely watched 17th Congressional District, Lawler offered a blunt assessment: “The bottom fell out.”
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The district includes Rockland and Putnam counties, along with portions of Westchester and Dutchess counties. Democrats outnumber Republicans there by roughly 80,000 voters, yet Lawler had won more than 20% of the Democratic vote in each of his previous two campaigns.
This time, he failed to reach that level of crossover support, and Conley prevailed by 19,000 votes.
Lawler is now considering a move into the private sector and said he would not dismiss a potential media role. For the moment, however, his priority is completing his congressional term, which runs through the end of December.
He said he was scheduled to meet Wednesday with Conley, an Army veteran and former national security adviser in the Biden administration, to help ensure a smooth transition.
Lawler also plans to assist with rebuilding the New York Republican Party, though he stopped short of saying whether he might seek its chairmanship. Current party leader Ed Cox has faced growing criticism following the GOP’s midterm losses.
“The goal is to build out a state party not only to compete but to succeed,” Lawler said.
At the same time, he argued that the internal Republican blame game over the election results is doing more harm than good.
“The circular firing squad is not helping anybody,” Lawler said.
“We got obliterated in red states. We lost in Texas, Iowa, Kansas and Mississippi,” he added. “New York was not going to be an outlier.”
