CONGERS, N.Y. — New York Rep. Mike Lawler will often tout in interviews that he was ranked the fourth-most bipartisan member of the House.
“Folks who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, folks who may vote for Kamala Harris now, as well as folks who are voting for Trump, because I think they recognize me as somebody who has been rated the fourth-most bipartisan member of Congress, who’s been praised by both Biden and Trump, that I’m somebody who gets things done on behalf of the district,” he told Roll Call in an interview at a campaign stop last week.
The comment is part of how the freshman lawmaker — who two years ago ousted a member of Democratic leadership, flipping a seat that President Joe Biden would have in 2020 won by 10 percentage points over Donald Trump — seeks to show he is crossing the aisle. He’s counting on his reputation as a moderate Republican to power him to a second term in a blue district, but he’s not necessarily leaning away from being a member of the GOP.
