First-term Republican Rep. Mike Lawler has launched a new multi-million dollar ad campaign claiming credit for forcing Gov. Kathy Hochul to shelve the controversial $15 congestion pricing toll to enter Midtown Manhattan.
“I’d rather focus on getting things done. That’s why I brought Democrats and Republicans together to stop the MTA’s congestion tax,” Lawler says in the 30-second spot that aired Wednesday.
The ad then plays an old news segment showing Lawler with New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer in a joint press conference opposing congestion pricing.
Republicans, including Lawler, planned on campaigning against congestion pricing in their races with Democratic opponents when Hochul surprisingly imposed an indefinite “pause” on the program in June.
Lawler faces a tough re-election bid against ex-Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones in the lower Hudson Valley’s 17th District which includes Rockland County, parts of Westchester and Putnam.
Hochul had been an ardent supporter of congestion pricing to fund the MTA’s $15 billion capital program until she pulled the plug.
There was widespread speculation that the governor blocked the $15 toll to help Democrats reclaim House seats.
Hochul denied those claims, insisting she reversed course because the toll was too much of a burden on New Yorkers post-pandemic.
Lawler also says in the ad that he supports restoring the full federal deduction on state and local taxes.
The Lawler campaign said the spot is the start of a $5 million ad campaign that will span broadcast and cable TV, as well as other digital platforms.
“Congressman Mike Lawler is getting things done in DC — from stopping congestion pricing to fighting to lift the cap on SALT to returning tens of millions of federal dollars to the Hudson Valley, he’s been the bipartisan fighter NY-17 elected him to be,” said Lawler for Congress spokesman Chris Russell.
“We look forward to reminding voters of Mike’s record as a commonsense problem solver, and his opponent’s record as a far-left radical, do-nothing politician. The contrast is clear.”
Rep. Jones formerly represented the 17th Congressional District.
However, after redistricting in 2022, he ran in the more liberal 10th CD in lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn instead of seeking re-election in the driver-reliant 17th CD — and embraced congestion pricing.
He lost the Democratic primary to Dan Goldman.
The Jones campaign said Lawler’s claim of stopping congestion pricing was pure fantasy.
“Mike Lawler is lying again. Thankfully, no one is at risk of believing he’s responsible for the Democratic Governor of New York pausing congestion pricing,” said Jones campaign spokeswoman Shannon Geison.
“Likewise, no one is at risk of believing the extreme Republican majority in Congress has been productive for Lower Hudson Valley families. Lawler couldn’t even get his own party to let Congress vote on a modest restoration of the State and Local Tax Deduction. Mike Lawler simply can’t be trusted.”
Jones, meanwhile, has shifted his position on congestion pricing.
When he ran for congression in 2022, he supported it.
“In terms of my personal policy preference, it is for congestion pricing,” Jones said during the August 10, 2022, NY1/Spectrum News debate.
“At the local level, we need to be doing congestion pricing, it is long overdue.”
But Jones, after deciding to run for his former seat in the more car-reliant Hudson Valley, changed his tune last year.
“I do not support congestion pricing for residents of the lower Hudson Valley,” he said.
