NY Congressman-elect Mike Lawler says GOP has to campaign on issues that cross party lines

GOP New York Congressman-elect Mike Lawler said that in order for the GOP to get the swing voters, they have to campaign on issues across the aisle and address issues where there is common ground. 

Mike Lawler had a historic win in the 17th District of New York where he defeated his opponent Sean Patrick Maloney, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The 17th district has been a historically blue district and Lawler got 50.4% of the vote.

"You got to show up and you got to talk to voters in every community," Mike Lawler said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "You have to ask them for their support and you have to campaign on issues that cut across party lines, especially in these tough districts. It's the only way we're going to have a majority."

Lawler explained that he knew his district well, including the kind of people who worked and lived there, and was able to communicate on issues that mattered to them.

"I'm coming from Rockland County, which is two to one Democratic enrollment," Lawler said. "It's blue collar, working class, has a large Orthodox Jewish community that lives there, a lot of law enforcement, first responders, and veterans. I knew that if I could win Rockland by 10 points, that I would be in a very good position to flip this seat."

"We did it by sticking to the issues that matter to voters, regardless of their political party," Lawler continued. "Specifically the cost of living, crime, parental choice with respect to education, and securing our border and tackling the fentanyl crisis that's killing 300 Americans a day."

Lawler acknowledged that the type of candidate matters and that part of the reason the big anticipated "red wave" didn't occur was that swing states didn't run good candidates.

"I would argue part of the reason that maybe we didn't do as well as people anticipated, is because in some of these swing states and tough districts, we had terrible statewide candidates who were not running on messages that appealed to a broader coalition, but spoke only to a base that looked backwards as opposed to looking forward," Lawler explained. 

"As the party moves forward and as we kind of look back on this election and what went right and what went wrong, I think we need to take a hard look at how we are recruiting candidates and what our messages are," he concluded.