Davidson takes on Lawler on Indian Point, immigration and Trump in NY-17's swing district battle for the Democratic nomination
A poll commissioned by her campaign showed her in the lead, but with 45% of the Democratic electorate undecided three months before the June 23 primary
As the sun rose on a chilly March morning, Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson and three volunteers arrived at the Chappaqua train station to collect petition signatures in her bid for the Democratic nomination to face Rep. Mike Lawler in November.
As commuters rushed to make their train, the upbeat Davidson introduced herself with a smile, wave or handshake. By 8:30 a.m., they’d call it quits, having gleaned dozens of signatures from the Democrat-rich Chappaqua commuting crowd.
“I have a spring in my step this morning,” said Davidson, who came attired in puffy knee-length down coat, jeans, and black sneakers.
Bolstering Davidson’s mood was that morning’s report in Politico, which published an Impact Research poll, commissioned by Davidson’s campaign.
The poll showed her leading her closest rival, former national security official Cait Conley, by 23% to 17%, with tech executive Peter Chatzky at 8%, Tarrytown Trustee Effie Phillips-Staley at 5%, and television journalist Mike Sacks and Air Force veteran John Cappello each at 1%.
The poll showed a wide-open race in New York’s 17th District, with 45% of the Democratic primary electorate still undecided, just three months before election day. The district includes Rockland and Putnam counties, Westchester north of White Plains, and three towns in southern Dutchess.
The district, represented by two-term incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler, R-Pearl River, is considered a swing district, with Democrat Kamala Harris winning a narrow victory over Donald Trump in 2024, and Lawler beating former Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-Tarrytown, by 24,000 votes.
The poll came out a day after Davidson won passage of a bill that paused charging a portion of Rockland County’s sales tax on gasoline. That action came in response to President Trump’s war on Iran, which has roiled the world energy markets and sent prices soaring at the pump.
It was part of her pitch to make life more affordable in the 17th District.
“It’s about finding the problems we need to solve in real time,” said Davidson, 53, of Nyack. “I’m a results-based person who will work with anyone who has a good idea.”
Rockland charges a 4% sales tax on gasoline. The bill would exempt the tax on the cost of gasoline above $3 a gallon. That means if gasoline sold for $4 a gallon, motorists would save 4 cents a gallon, or 60 cents if they filled up with 15 gallons.
At $5 a gallon, savings would double to 8 cents a gallon, or $1.20 with a 15-gallon fill-up.
“We had to move quickly,” said Davidson. “Moms always think three steps ahead.”
Joining Davidson to collect signatures was former New Castle Deputy Town Supervisor Jeremy Saland, Randee Glazer, co-chair of the New Castle Democratic Committee, and Lewisboro retiree Joe Bachana.
Bachana said that voters are receptive to Davidson’s positions on immigrant rights, health care, and housing.
“She’s the adult in the room,” said Bachana, former CEO of Planned Parenthood Direct, the nonprofit’s telehealth platform. “She’s calm and very thoughtful.”
What the polls show about Davidson v Conley
Polls released by candidate committees typically show their sponsors in a good light, with questions about their opponents designed to test possible lines of attack as the campaign heats up. Davidson and Conley are considered the frontrunners in the race.
The pollster noted that Conley, who moved to New Castle from Virginia in 2024 to run for the seat, had certain vulnerabilities that could be exploited.
“Her ongoing work on the payroll of AI companies that help develop technology used by the Trump administration, her attacks on progressive groups and unions, her never having lived in the district, and her lack of a track record supporting Democratic values and causes all test with very strong intensity, up to 53% very serious concerns, and move voters against her,” Impact Research said.
Conley Campaign Manager Emily Goldson cited two polls, including one funded by candidate Peter Chatzky’s campaign, which she said showed Conley’s strengths. Chatzky’s poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners in late January, showed Conley at 18%, Davidson at 17% and Chatzky at 12%, with 41% undecided. That poll found that Davidson had the highest name recognition and favorability.
A Change Research poll taken six months ago presented voters who biographical sketches of Conley, Lawler and Davidson. After hearing the bios, which were not disclosed in the two-page release, the poll found that Conley led Lawler by 47% to 42% while Lawler was leading Davidson by 47% to 42%.
“With numerous polls showing Beth Davidson losing in both the primary and general elections, it’s no surprise that Beth has to resort to false political attacks to save her campaign,” said Goldson. “Cait Conley is the only candidate born and raised in the Hudson Valley who grew up in a working-class family, the only candidate to spend her life serving our country in the military, at the White House, and at CISA, where she fought back against Donald Trump’s election lies, and is the only candidate who can defeat Mike Lawler in November. Cait is focusing on how we can deliver for Hudson Valley families. Clearly, Beth is not.”
Davidson’s take on Lawler
After the petitioning, we stopped at Bobo’s Café at the train station for coffee. Davidson criticized Lawler for his support of President Donald Trump’s agenda. She also knocked his vote on what was called the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, which locked in lower corporate and income tax rates, quadrupled the deductibility of state and local taxes, and curbed government spending on health care and food assistance.
Davidson warned that Rockland faces cuts in October of $20 million in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program while Westchester’s SNAP reductions will reach $30 million.
“House Speaker Mike Johnson’s House has repeatedly ceded authority to the president - whether it’s tariffs, the War Powers resolution and the power of the purse,” she said. “Donald Trump has really won the table with Mike Johnson, and Mike Lawler has been there to rubber stamp every step of the way.”
Lawler has targeted Davidson for her stance on immigration issues following Davidson’s co-sponsorship of Rockland’s Safety and Dignity for All law, which would limit cooperation of Rockland County police and county employees on federal immigration enforcement unless the federal government had a judicial warrant for a suspect.
A recent online ad from the Lawler campaign stated: “Stop Beth Davidson from making Rockland County a sanctuary county. Just Say No.”
Davidson said the bill is patterned after a similar law in Westchester County, which was not listed on a US Justice Department list of sanctuary counties, according to Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins.
“I’m not scared of Mike Lawler,” said Davidson. “He thinks he can intimidate me. That’s what he does. You know he’s the chair of the Rockland Republican party. Every time people are like, he’s so bipartisan. He literally has the most partisan job possible.”
Lawler campaign spokesman Ciro Riccardi bristled at Davidson’s dismissal of Lawler’s collaboration with Democrats.
“Mike Lawler was ranked the 4th most bipartisan member of the entire United States Congress by the nonpartisan Lugar Center at Georgetown University,” he said. “He stood up to Republican leadership on IVF, on the debt ceiling, on government shutdowns, on extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, and he’ll do it again. The idea that Mike Lawler, who built his career working across the aisle with Democrats like Josh Gottheimer and Ritchie Torres, is a ‘rubber stamp’, is laughable on its face.”
Davidson said she was troubled by Lawler’s forceful attack on the Safety and Dignity for All act in early February, with Lawler vowing that a law making Rockland a “sanctuary county” would never be enacted while he was in office.
“For a Congressman to say ‘I’m going to kill a county law’ is completely undemocratic,” she said. “There are plenty of people in Clarkstown and Orangetown who voted for me and Mike Lawler, each to do our own jobs. He can focus on his own job. Stay in your lane, Mike Lawler. Go do some actual work in Congress and worry a little less about me.”
The bill, which has yet to be voted upon, remains under the review of the county Legislature’s Public Safety Committee, said committee chair Paul Cleary, D-Haverstraw.
Lawler spokesman Riccardi insisted the bill had already been voted down. He said Lawler was a staunch advocate for Rockland’s Haitian community, which became concerned after the Trump administration rescinded temporary protective status for some Haitian immigrants. That action, however, was put on hold by a federal court judge.
“Mike Lawler has spent three years fighting for Rockland’s Haitian community, advocating for TPS protections from his seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and co-introducing the bipartisan DIGNITY Act — the most comprehensive immigration reform bill in decades,” said Riccardi. “All while Davidson plays politics with a sanctuary county bill that was defeated with bipartisan support. The only lane Beth Davidson should worry about is the one leading her back to the county legislature.”
Davidson and Lawler on Indian Point
When Lawler announced a March 6 press conference with US Sec. of Energy Chris Wright at the closed Indian Point nuclear complex in Westchester’s village of Buchanan, Davidson joined local activists to have a presence there that day.
Lawler called for the plant to be rebuilt, which he said would lower energy costs and strengthen the region’s energy grid.
Davidson opposes such a plan, noting that the plant is five years into decommissioning, with the cost of rebuilding the plant to be incorporated into future electric rates. She noted her support for the Save the Hudson Act, which prohibited the release of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. A federal judge in 2025 found the state law unconstitutional.
“It’s insane,” said Davidson. “No one asked for this. The plant already has a history of leaks. By Holtec’s own admission, it would take up to 5 years and cost $8 billion to $12 billion to build. How is that going to lower fuel costs immediately? That’s what he wants to do to lower costs: stick us with a $12 billion bill to reopen a nuclear plant that nobody wants.”
Reopening the plant would also raise security concerns, she said.
“It’s 20 miles from New York City and we are in the middle of a Middle Eastern conflict,” Davidson said. “Do we want that target on our backs? That was one of the reasons it was closed in the first place.”
Lawler spokesman, though, maintained renewables can’t be relied upon to fill the void left by the loss of Indian Point power generation.
“Mike Lawler supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes natural gas, nuclear, and renewables, because he knows that ideologically driven energy policy has real consequences for working families,” Riccardi said. “Beth Davidson is still auditioning for her far-left endorsements, and Hudson Valley families can’t afford her learning curve.”
But Davidson said she’ll continue to oppose to Lawler’s embrace of a new nuclear power plant in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
“He has crazy out-of-step ideas that are clearly out of step with the district,” she said. “I’m stepping up with common-sense, immediate ideas that can help people right now.”
CD-17 environmentalists are strongly opposed to putting new nuclear facilities at Indian Point - and would be reluctant to vote for any pro-nuke candidate.
Indian Point was closed because it was not financially viable - but it had a lot of other problems as well - including higher cancer rates (according to a Harvard study) and being considered as a target by the 9/11 terrorists!
Beth has been a firm supporter of our environmental efforts for a long time. We need to get out the vote for her in the primary or else we risk having a Dem candidate whose position we won’t be able to support.
How can a candidate like Conley move into the .District just two years ago and claim to know its problems as well as Beth Davidson who has been raising a family there for decades and been elected to the County Legislature by voters?