First-term Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and ex-Congressman Mondaire Jones slammed each other as extremists in a fiery debate Wednesday for the House seat in the lower Hudson Valley.
They repeatedly accused each other of lying about his record.
Lawler painted Jones as a “radical leftist” who voted with democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the “Squad” during his House tenure while backing the Biden-Harris lax border policy and record inflation — as well as the state Democrats’ unpopular cashless bail law.
He put Jones on the defensive over making disparaging remarks about police officers and ICE agents.
During the News 12 debate, Jones claimed Lawler was a toady of Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans” who wouldn’t be a check on him.
Both Lawler and Jones had to revisit controversies.
Lawler, a Michael Jackson “super fan,” was asked about recently resurfaced old photos of him posing as the “Thriller” hitmaker while in blackface at a college Halloween party.
“I recognized why people were upset,” Lawler said, noting he had apologized.
“Would I do this today? Absolutely not.”
Jones, who is black, wouldn’t let Lawler off the hook, saying the blackface episode was “deeply offensive” and “part of a pattern.”
But he was asked to explain why he said during a recent interview that he didn’t want a “little bitch as governor” while Kathy Hochul serves as the first female governor.
Jones said his comment was not directed at Hochul but apologized to her to end a “distraction.”
During a discussion on abortion and women’s rights, Lawler said, “You’re the only one who called the first female governor the little “B-word” that rhymes with witch.”
Lawler also suggested Jones was a carpetbagger, declining to run for re-election in the 17th District in 2022 after redistricting and instead running in the 10th District covering lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn as a “progressive champion.”
Jones lost the Democratic primary and then decided to run again for the Hudson Valley seat that takes in all of Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess.
The congressman described their differences this way: “We don’t support cashless bail and defund the police. We don’t support congestion pricing … open borders and amnesty for criminal illegals … don’t support higher taxes and reckless and inflationary policies.
“You know who does support these things? Mondaire Jones,” Lawler said.
Jones said a Trump presidency with a Republican-led Congress would be dangerous for New York and the nation, and claimed he was the better choice to protect abortion rights and deliver immigration reform instead of border gridlock.
“[Lawler] has never in a day of his life stood up to Donald Trump,” Jones said.
“We deserve better.”
There were clear differences on some issues.
Jones supports a ban on assault weapons, while Lawler is opposed.
Jones supports the Proposition 1 ballot measure that would enshrine the right to an abortion and provide “equal rights” for transgender individuals in the state constitution.
Lawler opposes Prop 1, arguing it would strip parents of rights and allow biological males who identify as transgender athletes to compete against women.