Cait Conley, the Democrat seeking to unseat Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in New York’s Hudson Valley, says the most serious danger facing the United States is not a foreign enemy—but President Donald Trump and the forces inside the country supporting him.
Conley, an Army veteran and former senior national security official in the Biden administration, has repeatedly argued in campaign appearances that “the greatest threat to America’s future is coming within our own borders,” pointing to Trump and congressional Republicans.
“I never thought that I would feel like the greatest threat to our country and our future would come from within our border, and that is what we are seeing with this administration,” Conley said during an April 23 address to the Rockland County NAACP.
At a July Zoom fundraiser, she expanded on that warning, saying she believed America’s future was being threatened by “corruption” and “dysfunction,” as well as a president more interested in creating chaos, rewarding allies and enriching friends than protecting the nation and its national security.
Speaking at an AFL-CIO candidates’ night on Sept. 28, Conley also drew on her experience overseeing election security during the 2024 campaign.
She said the country’s greatest challenge had not come from foreign adversaries, but from the fallout of the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen—a reference to Trump’s repeated false claims that he lost that contest to Joe Biden because of fraud.
In a May 14 speech, Conley similarly said she never expected to see America’s values and future endangered from inside its own borders. She blamed the Trump administration and a Congress she said had placed political loyalty and ambition above the interests of the country and its people.
Lawler rejected Conley’s description of the threat facing the nation.
“Cait Conley led counterterrorism efforts on President Biden’s National Security Council, but believes that the greatest threat to our country isn’t Al Qaeda, ISIS, or even Russia or China. Instead, Conley thinks it’s her fellow American citizens who don’t vote the way she wants them to,” the Republican incumbent said.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: It's Final: Sweden Officially Joins NATO – NewsFinale
Lawler called the position “insane and disqualifying,” arguing that it showed Conley would be a “hyper-partisan hack” if elected to Congress.
Conley’s campaign pushed back, calling Lawler’s criticism a “new low” and defending her remarks as a warning about government decisions—not ordinary Americans.
“Career political operative Mike Lawler takes every chance he gets to lie about Cait Conley, but this is a new low,” campaign spokesperson Maddy Rosen said. She argued that Conley was referring to actions by Trump and members of his administration, including [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth, that she said had weakened national security, including the reckless war with Iran that has claimed the lives of 21 American service members.
Rosen emphasized Conley’s military background, saying she spent 16 years in the Army under Republican and Democratic presidents, deployed six times to combat zones including Iraq and Afghanistan, and helped confront terrorist threats from Al Qaeda and ISIS.
“That Mike Lawler would even attempt to question the patriotism of someone who has always put country before any party or person is not only absurd but insulting to anyone who has ever worn the uniform,” Rosen said. She accused Lawler of being the true partisan in the race, arguing that he votes with Trump 100% of the time even when she said those positions hurt his constituents.
The sharp exchange comes as Lawler and Conley compete in one of the nation’s most closely watched House races. Their contest is unfolding in New York’s 17th Congressional District, a key swing district.
The district covers all or portions of Rockland, Putnam, Westchester and Dutchess counties.
Lawler, a former member of the New York State Assembly, is campaigning for a third term in the House.
Conley is a political newcomer who won a five-candidate Democratic primary to become Lawler’s challenger.
Members of Congress earn $174,000 annually and serve two-year terms.