Seven years ago, Democrats seized on a growing backlash against President Trump to flip the House of Representatives, relying partly on the successes of four newcomers with backgrounds in national security or the military.
Two of them are now senators — Andy Kim of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — and the other two, Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, are running for governor.
Now another Democrat is trying to follow their lead in the high-stakes midterms election in 2026.
Cait Conley, 39, an Army veteran and former national security official, will announce on Monday that she is challenging Representative Mike Lawler, a second-term Republican in a swing district in the suburbs north of New York City.
Mr. Lawler, 38, defeated the well-known Democratic incumbent, Sean Patrick Maloney, in 2022, and then held the seat last year in a hard-fought contest that helped Republicans maintain control of the House.
The race is likely to be close again next year, with or without Mr. Lawler: He has expressed interest in vacating his seat to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat.
For her part, Ms. Conley hopes her military experience will give her some credibility among voters who are frustrated by some of President Donald J. Trump’s early actions.
“The economic welfare of New Yorkers is my top priority, hands down,” she said in an interview. “Being a person who has consistently been sent to solve tough problems and to fix things that are broken shows that I can get it done.”
Ms. Conley spent nearly 20 years in the military, including a stint working on counterterrorism for the National Security Council under former President Biden. The work led the Russian government to ban her from traveling there.
She also worked in Washington at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which focused on election integrity, until leaving the position in January to move back to the Hudson Valley, where she was born and raised and hopes to continue her public service as a congresswoman.
Ms. Conley noted her predecessors’ success: Ms. Slotkin, for example, was chosen by her party to give the Democratic response to Mr. Trump’s address to Congress earlier this month.
“We need people who take public service seriously, who are not politicians, who are actual leaders and problem solvers,” Ms. Conley said.
She accused Mr. Lawler of being the opposite, pointing to his support of a recent House budget resolution that called for unspecified funding cuts that many fear will affect Medicaid and food aid programs for poor Americans.
Mr. Lawler said that despite his support for the budget resolution, he intended to “protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
But voters in the swing district north of New York City have peppered him with sharp questions about Mr. Trump’s early actions and views. At a recent phone town hall gathering that attracted nearly 4,000 people listeners, Mr. Lawler was quizzed about cutting entitlements, the United States’ role in the war in Ukraine and cuts to the federal work force that Elon Musk is coordinating.
Ms. Conley said she found it troubling that a political action committee backed by Mr. Musk spent at least $1.7 million boosting Mr. Lawler’s last campaign.
Last week, Mr. Lawler was asked on CNN why a Social Security office in White Plains, N.Y., in his district was closing, potentially forcing older residents to drive hours to the closest office. The closure had been initiated under Mr. Biden, and Mr. Lawler said he was appealing to Mr. Trump’s team to keep it open.
Chris Russell, Mr. Lawler’s campaign spokesman, said he would make a decision about the governor’s race in “the next few months.”
In the meantime, Mr. Russell said, Mr. Lawler was happy to let his Democratic challengers “compete over who is the most lunatic, far-left radical in the race, while he continues to work with common-sense Democrats and Republicans to lower the cost of living, make communities safer, protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and secure the border.”
Mr. Lawler and Ms. Conley share views on one combative issue: congestion pricing. Mr. Lawler was one of the more vocal proponents of Mr. Trump’s decision to revoke federal approval of the tolling program into Manhattan, and he often criticized Ms. Hochul for supporting it. Ms. Conley likewise called the program “an unfair tax on working families.”
Ms. Conley will not be the only Democrat running in next year’s June primary. Beth Davidson, a well-connected legislator from Rockland County, declared her candidacy last month, joining Jessica Reinmann, a nonprofit executive in Westchester, in the race.
The field of Democratic challengers looks likely to grow. Effie Phillips-Staley, an arts executive and local government official in Westchester, and Neal Zuckerman, a U.S. Army veteran and management consultant who is on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, both said they were thinking of running.
“We need someone who knows business, who understands government, who understands infrastructure,” said Mr. Zuckerman, who added that he looks forward to discussing the success of congestion pricing if he decides to run.
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