President Trump was in high spirits when he took the stage in Rockland County on Friday for his first rally in New York since his 2024 election.
He hit many familiar notes, boasting about his domination of political enemies in Republican primaries, criticizing transgender athletes and dancing to “Y.M.C.A.,” which he claimed endeared him to L.G.B.T.Q. voters.
He also tried out some fresh material, praising the new Federal Reserve chair, Kevin M. Warsh, who was sworn in earlier in the day, and playing to the crowd by referring to the Democratic Party as Dumocrats. (The “b,” he said, was superfluous.)
But the stated purpose of the visit was to boost Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican who is facing a tough re-election fight in his Hudson Valley swing district, even if it felt far more like a campaign stop for the president.
Mr. Lawler spent much of his relatively brief time onstage reminding voters of his work to raise the SALT cap from $10,000 to $40,000 as part of the president’s signature bill that also made sweeping cuts to Medicaid and food stamps.
Mr. Trump reiterated this point, calling Mr. Lawler a “warrior” and “Mr. Salt.”
“He fights like hell and he fights for you,” the president said as he introduced Mr. Lawler to a roar of applause.
For Mr. Lawler to retain his seat in the 17th Congressional District, which former presidential candidate Kamala Harris narrowly won in 2024, he needs to convince moderates and independents that he can get things done, while assuring Republicans — not least the president himself — of his absolute fealty.
And while Mr. Lawler has been largely successful thus far — emerging as one of the strongest voices to raise the state and local tax cap that Republicans slashed in the president’s first term to the consternation of highly taxed New Yorkers — it is becoming increasingly clear that this year will be his greatest test yet.
Just five days ago, at a town hall event across the river in Dutchess County, Mr. Lawler was greeted far more harshly. Hecklers began their jeers before the last word of the Pledge of Allegiance was uttered. Forty minutes passed before he was able to begin taking questions from largely unhappy constituents.
One woman came up to the microphone to report that indeed, she had saved $2,800 on her tax bill this year, thanks to the Republican legislation. But, she said, those savings did little to make up for the fact that she lost her health insurance, requiring her to pay out-of-pocket premiums, and for the increases in food and gas prices that have strained her family budget.
Mr. Lawler launched into a complex explanation about health care subsidies and Democrats’ failure to rein in spending. At one point, following yet another interruption, he yelled at the crowd, visibly disdainful: “If you are not interested in what I have to say, why are you here?”
On Friday, there were but a few protesters gathered to show their displeasure at the presidential visit — the first since Gerald Ford came to the county in 1976 — with signs and bullhorns. But their cries were easily tuned out by the hundreds of eager attendees, young and old, dressed in all manner of attire from American flag scarves and MAGA caps to the fine silk jackets and towering fur hats favored by Hasidic men.
And while the crowd did not fill the entire Rockland Community College arena, they were an appeasing audience. They roared their approval when Mr. Trump took the stage, introduced by the New York Giants quarterback, Jaxson Dart. They nodded along as the president asserted that he had brought down prices, led stock prices to soar and would soon tame rising oil prices.
They booed when he mentioned Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. And they applauded when he alluded to other Republicans seeking office in New York, like Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive running for governor.
It was a world apart from the sentiments recorded in national polls that show that Mr. Trump’s approval ratings have fallen to the lowest of his presidency, amid bipartisan backlash to a proposed $1.8 billion slush fund for Jan. 6 protesters and sky-high gas prices as a result of U.S. intervention in Iran.
In Rockland County, a hilly, conservative-leaning suburb about an hour’s drive from New York City, the president is slightly more popular, according to polls. In 2024, he won the county with 56 percent of the vote — 14 points more than in 2020.
But New York’s 17th Congressional District also includes part of Westchester County, a wealthy New York suburb populated by well-heeled commuters who reliably vote Democratic.
Democrats in the district will choose among several candidates seeking to face off against Mr. Lawler in November. They include Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator; Cait Conley, an Iraq War veteran and national security expert; and Effie Phillips-Staley, a village trustee of Tarrytown and a progressive activist.
The Democrats are highlighting Mr. Trump in their campaigns, hoping that the traditional midterm discontent for the party in power will be enough to flip the district in November.
Even Mr. Lawler seemed to acknowledge that dynamic in his remarks on Friday.
“I’ve been asked a lot this week by the media, colleagues and many others, ‘why would you bring Donald Trump to your swing district?’” Mr. Lawler said before the president’s arrival.
“My answer to all those people in the back is simple: He’s the president of the United States, and when the president comes, you show up.”
Mr. Lawler’s pitch to voters is that they will have a stronger voice in Washington by electing a member of the president’s party.
“To get things done in Congress in either way you need to have a strong working relationship with the president of the United States,” Mr. Lawler told the crowd.
“The fact is, I do have a strong working relationship, and in part it’s why he’s here today.”
Grace Ashford covers New York government and politics for The Times.
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