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The Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Mike Lawler for his Hudson Valley House seat claims the greatest threat to America comes not from our foreign adversaries, but from President Trump.
Cait Conley, an Army veteran who served as a top national security adviser in the Biden administration, has given numerous speeches where she’s said the “greatest threat to America’s future is coming within our own borders” — namely Trump and Republicans.
“I never thought that I would feel like the greatest threat to our country and our future would come from within our border and that is what we are seeing with this administration,” Conley said in a speech to the Rockland County NAACP on April 23.
During a July Zoom fundraiser, Conley said, “I truly believe the greatest threat to America’s future is coming from within our own border right now. The corruption, the dysfunction, the fact that we have a president that is more focused on chaos and corruption and lining the pockets of his friends to the detriment of our nation and our future and even our national security.”
During a Sept. 28 AFL-CIO candidates’ night, the Democrat noted she oversaw election security during the 2024 campaign.
“The biggest threat that we faced wasn’t from our foreign adversaries. It was from the consequence of the big lie that 2020 was rigged right inside our own country,” she said, referring to Trump claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him when he lost his re-election bid to Joe Biden.
On May 14 speech, Conley said, “I never thought I’d feel that the greatest threat to its future, to its values, would come from within its own borders. And that is what we are seeing play out with this administration, enabled by a Congress that has put political ambition and political loyalty ahead of country and people.”
Lawler challenged the characterization.
“Cait Conley led counterterrorism efforts on President Biden’s National Security Council, but believes that the greatest threat to our country isn’t Al Qaeda, ISIS, or even Russia or China. Instead, Conley thinks it’s her fellow American citizens who don’t vote the way she wants them to,” the Republican incumbent said.
“That’s insane and disqualifying, and a window into how she will be nothing more than a hyper-partisan hack if she ever got to Congress.”
Conley’s camp defended her statements and dismissed Lawler’s criticism as a “new low.”
“Career political operative Mike Lawler takes every chance he gets to lie about Cait Conley, but this is a new low. Cait’s comments were in reference to decisions made by the president and members of his administration like [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth that have undermined national security, such as the reckless war with Iran that has now claimed 21 American service member lives,” said Conley’s campaign spokesperson Maddy Rosen.
“As someone who has risked her life to defend our country — serving 16 years in the Army under both Republican and Democratic presidents, deploying six times to combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, and yes, taking out terror threats like Al Qaeda and ISIS — Cait is especially qualified to call out our leaders when they’re jeopardizing our safety.”
The Conley rep added, “That Mike Lawler would even attempt to question the patriotism of someone who has always put country before any party or person is not only absurd but insulting to anyone who has ever worn the uniform. The only partisan hack in this race is the one who votes with Donald Trump 100% of the time, even when it harms his own constituents.”
The neck-and-neck race between Lawler and Conley in a 17th swing district has become one of the most closely watched in the country.
The battleground district includes all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Westchester and Dutchess counties.
Lawler, a former state assemblyman, is seeking a third term.
It’s Conley’s first foray into politics. She won a five-way Democratic primary to take on Lawler.
Members of Congress are paid $174,000 a year and serve two-year terms.