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The Democratic candidate running against Republican Rep. Mike Lawler shockingly threw Gov. Kathy Hochul under the bus — telling a crowd she agreed with her opponent that the governor “has got to go.”
Cait Conley delivered the jaw-dropping burn this week, becoming the second Democratic congressional candidate to publicly distance themselves from Hochul ahead of next month’s midterms.
The stunning moment came after Lawler, the incumbent congressman repping New York’s 17th House District, railed againstt New York’s business climate — citing the highest in the nation taxes, congestion pricing and red rape — during a Putnam County VFW forum Tuesday night.
“We need a new governor. Kathy Hochul has to go,” he said in closing, as the conservative-leaning crowd cheered him on, video obtained by The Post shows.
“I have to tell you: I’m in absolute agreement with my opponent,” Conley, who was sitting next to Lawler at the dais, surprisingly said immediately after as she stood to address the group.
“Absolute agreement.”
Lawler and other Republicans on the dais started clapping, and one yelled, “Blakeman!” referring to Hochul’s GOP opponent in the November 3 election.
Lawler even looked at Conley and smiled, telling her, “I set you up on that one.”
Conley did not defend fellow Democrat Hochul, the favored incumbent seeking re-election to a second, four-year term against Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive.
“We’re not helping you in a moment when you desperately need it,” Conley, an Army veteran and Biden administration national security adviser, told the veterans’ group during her response.
She noted that New York’s $17 minimum wage is among the highest in the country, which puts local businesses at a competitive disadvantage and said she supported a higher federal minimum wage to deal with the disparity.
“You’re getting screwed,” Conley said. “You deserve better.”
Still, the Conley campaign claimed Lawler was “lying” about her caught-on-video response at the VFW forum, though did not mention Hochul by name.
“After yet another disastrous debate performance, career political operative Mike Lawler is lying in a desperate attempt to save face,” said Conley campaign spokesperson Maddy Rosen.
“As the full recording makes clear, Cait Conley was agreeing that New York’s small business owners need more support. That shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but a party-first politician like Mike Lawler could never comprehend that.”
Conley has lauded Hochul on other occasions.
The Democratic hopeful Conley has heaped praise on Hochul for her moratorium on new data center development and her sanctuary measures banning localities from entering into agreements with ICE.
At Wednesday’s PIX11 debate a day after the forum, when asked to give the governor a report card rating, Conley gave Hochul a “B.”
The two have not publicly campaigned or held rallies together, but Hochul spoke at a fundraiser for Conley in Peekskill on October 4.
An internal Lawler campaign poll released earlier this month had Hochul polling at 47% to Blakeman’s 51% in the district. The same poll had Conley also at 47%.
It’s the second instance in a week in which a Democratic congressional hopeful distanced themself from Hochul.
Democrat Blake Gendebien refused to say if he would even vote or support Hochul when asked by a Utica-area radio station on October 8. He’s running to replace retiring Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik in the 21st upstate House district, which encompasses the North Country.
“What I support is anyone that will help the North Country be absolutely successful,” Gendebien said on WUTQ’s Talk of the Town.