WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Jared Golden bucked party lines Monday and urged New Yorkers to back Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler for re-election in an ultra-competitive race that could determine the balance of power in the House.
Golden (D-Maine), who announced last year he would not seek another term in Congress — and is no stranger to defying party bosses — praised Lawler (R-NY) as a “true partner” in the often-divided legislature.
“[T]he country needs fewer members who treat the job as a stage and more who treat it as work,” Golden wrote in an op-ed for The Journal News. “In New York’s Hudson Valley this fall, that is the choice on the ballot.”
“Mike Lawler has been a true partner to me and a friend to fishing families he will never represent. I strongly back him,” the Democrat went on. “Wherever you live, find the members who pass laws with the other party, and keep them.”
Golden, 44, was referencing Lawler’s assistance on the Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act, which the House approved earlier this month.
That bill delays until 2035 the implementation of new fishing regulations meant to protect whales. Golden had warned that some 18,000 fishing jobs in his home state would be affected if the new rules went into effect.
The day after his bill passed, Golden defied House Democratic leadership and voted for a GOP procedural motion, known as a “rule,” that helped Republicans get that week’s agenda through the chamber.
Typically, rule votes in the House occur on a party-line basis, but Golden and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) prevented Republicans from having to send the House home early on their pre-midterm recess.
“I held the most challenging district of any Democrat in the country [Maine’s Second District] by earning the trust of Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike,” Golden wrote. “Lawler holds one of just three Republican seats in the country that Kamala Harris carried in 2024.”
“Representing districts like ours forces you to work for people who disagree with you, and it teaches you that those people are not your enemies. They are your neighbors.”
Lawler also hasn’t been afraid to defy GOP leadership, having clashed with President Trump last year to secure a larger hike to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act than what was initially proposed.
Polls indicate Lawler is running neck and neck against Democrat Cait Conley in New York’s 17th District.
Conley’s campaign for comment did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
