Defeated Republican Mike Lawler believes not even Jesus Christ could have saved his congressional seat from the Democratic blue wave that on Tuesday swept Republicans out of power in both houses of Congress.
CNN’s Manu Raju, the network’s chief congressional correspondent, relayed that assessment after speaking with Lawler, who lost to Democrat Cait Conley in New York’s 17th Congressional District. Raju noted that Lawler was one of three Republicans running in districts Kamala Harris carried in 2024.
According to Raju, Lawler believed he had run as good a campaign as he possibly could, but “the bottom fell out.” When pressed on the matter, Raju reported, Lawler said, “Jesus Christ could have run and would have lost.”
The New York Post reported that even with the large bloc of Orthodox Jewish voters in the Hudson Valley’s 17th district behind him, Lawler was no match for the blue tsunami of Tuesday.
According to the Post’s account of the preliminary results, the two-term congressman won 71 percent of the precincts in the town of Ramapo, home to many Orthodox and Hasidic voters. Yet he could not do enough in traditional Republican territory to offset the Democratic and anti-Trump vote for Conley in the Westchester portion of the district.
In Rockland, Lawler held a 55-45 edge over Conley, or fewer than 10,000 votes. Lawler made mincemeat of her in Ramapo, but Conley won the towns of Orangetown, Clarkstown and Haverstraw. Lawler also led in Republican-leaning Putnam County.
Following the defeat, the GOP has been engaged in a blame game, Raju said in a clip shared by Mediaite.
“On the Republican side, it’s a reckoning,” he told Anderson Cooper.
He cited Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), who was reelected but put the onus on Republican leaders for “kneeling down to moderates within their own party and not standing firm to their principles.”
Then there is Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), also reelected, who went so far as to say “someone at the White House should be fired.” According to Raju, Stutzman specifically suggested Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
And others have pointed the finger at Pete Hegseth. The defense secretary could face an impeachment vote as early as next week over his conduct in President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) plans to force a vote once lawmakers are back in Washington, and several Republican sources told CNN on Wednesday they expect the measure to pass.
“Some have flatly blamed the president and his handling of the economy,” Raju said, citing outgoing Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), whose district has gone blue. According to Raju, Bacon called the result a referendum on President Trump.