POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – Battleground Democratic candidate Cait Conley seemingly took an abrupt U-turn Wednesday on tariffs — after repeatedly bashing her Republican opponent Rep. Mike Lawler over the issue.
The pair bitterly battling for the critical Hudson Valley congressional seat faced off in a candidate forum in Poughkeepsie, where Conley got zapped during a lightning round of “yes” or “no” questions.
Conley — who has lambasted President Trump’s seemingly endless tariffs on imports as “reckless” — admitted that some fees justified for “national security” are reasonable.
“Yes, in principle,” she told the Dutchess County Chamber of Commerce forum.
Lawler, a moderate Republican who has cozied up to Trump, leapt on Conley’s apparent flip-flop.
“After a whole year and a half of bashing tariffs, she said she supports them. I mean, frankly that’s fascinating,” Lawler told reporters after the forum.
“If that’s her position, then I’m not really sure what the hell she’s been attacking me on,” he added.
The back-and-forth underscored the high stakes in the 17th Congressional District fight between Conley and Lawler.
The contest is New York’s sole tossup race during the midterm elections.
A win by Conley would not only help Democrats pick up an Empire State congressional seat, but could be critical as the party nationally hopes to wrest the House of Representatives from GOP control.
Lawler took the seat in 2022 when he defeated former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, then the chairman of the House Democratic Campaign Committee.
He coasted to reelection in 2024 and styles himself as an even-keeled, common sense Republican who’s palatable to swing voters in a suburban district that includes all or parts of Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties.
But Democrats have railed against Lawler’s closeness to Trump, who endorsed the congressman last year.
Conley, a former intelligence and national security official during former President Joe Biden’s administration, emerged victorious from a crowded Democratic primary race in which she bested a fellow moderate and a more progressive contender.
As Conley built up steam during the campaign, she echoed the sentiments of many Democrats by broadly trashing Trump’s tariffs as “illegal.”
“We must stop the bleeding this administration has caused by ending illegal tariffs that are driving up the cost of everything from prescription drugs to housing,” Conley wrote in a June post.
After the forum flip-flop, Conley told reporters that tariffs should be used as a “scalpel” instead of the “bulldozer” strategy the Trump administration is imposing.
“Tariffs are intended to help foster business development and innovation and cultivate that domestic boom. They have to be accompanied with investment in smart policies to drive that. That is not what’s happening right now,” she said.
But asked for examples of a good tariff, Conley only vaguely pointed to those “around national security” and “alternative energy investment.”
Conley’s comments on tariffs unfolded just hours after Trump delayed planned 50% tariffs on most imports from Canada for three days.
The president, in a Truth Social post, claimed the US and Canada were close to a “DEAL.” He also teased that the deal could resurrect the Keystone XL Pipeline, a megaproject that both Biden and former President Barack Obama worked to scuttle.
The tariff would have hit wine, hockey sticks, cement, among other Canadian products.
— Additional reporting by Matt Troutman
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