No GOP primary for Lawler: Trump-aligned critic who weighed run opts to forgo challenge

A former Trump administration employee who considered challenging Rep. Mike Lawler in a Republican primary says he decided not to run for New York's 17th Congressional District seat.

Westchester County native Bill Maloney cited two factors for his decision: the prospect that the district's lines will be redrawn in a way that favors Democratic candidates, and the recent withdrawal from the race of Liz Whitmer Gereghty, a Democrat who planned to compete with former Rep. Mondaire Jones for their party's nomination.

"The primary would require me to fundraise and spend a lot of money, while Mondaire Jones's most serious challenger just dropped out of the race," Maloney told the USA Today Network by text message this week.

The 27-year-old contacted reporters last month to say he was seriously considering a primary challenge against a GOP freshman he viewed as insufficiently conservative. His running would have forced Lawler to face a rival on his right before what is expected to be a fiercely contested race for a prime swing seat next November.

Maloney held a series of posts in the Trump administration after starting out in 2015 as a Trump campaign intern while attending college at Iona University in New Rochelle. They included stints at the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S Agency for International Development.

Primary threat: Will Mike Lawler face GOP primary? Trump loyalist weighs 2024 race against House freshman

Lawler, a former GOP consultant and assemblyman from Rockland County, won the seat last year by beating five-term Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. The 17th District takes in all of Rockland and Putnam counties, northern Westchester and a few towns in Dutchess County.

With Whitmer Gereghty ending her campaign and endorsing Jones last week, the two Democrats running for the seat next year are Jones, who represented the 17th District for one term, and MaryAnn Carr, a former Bedford town supervisor and councilwoman. Jones has been endorsed by Democratic leaders and elected officials across the county.

New York's highest court is expected to rule this month on whether a state redistricting panel must draw a new congressional map to redo lines that were set last year. Democrats had sued to demand another map, saying the panel never completed its work. Republicans urged the court to keep the current map in place.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mike Lawler spared GOP primary as Bill Maloney opts to forgo run