Michael Lawler
RIncumbentFEC H2NY17162
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$10M
Cash on hand: $2.0M
2026 race
NY-17 — U.S. House
2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Michael Lawler.
Read the record. Not the rhetoric.
See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.
DeepSyte tracks the money and the record in every race against the issues you care about — not party, not press releases. Take the 2-minute values quiz to see your alignment.
How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the New York State Board of Elections.
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$44M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent
Currently in office
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
Cait Conley
DChallengerFEC H6NY17171
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$11M
Cash on hand: $949K
7 defeated candidates — show
Peter Chatzky
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17213
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$12M
Cash on hand: $789
Beth Davidson
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17163
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$2.2M
Cash on hand: $33K
Jessica Reinmann
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17155
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$655K
Cash on hand: $0
John Sullivan
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17197
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$486K
Cash on hand: $2K
Mike Sacks
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17189
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$298K
Cash on hand: $0
John Cappello
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17221
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$80K
Cash on hand: $447
Effie Phillips-Staley
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NY17205
Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.
Raised this cycle$0
Cash on hand: $0
Local signal
Early read on NY-17 — U.S. House
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Cait Conleylimited coverage
No coverage in our tracked outlets in the last 90 days.
Michael Lawlerlimited coverage
No coverage in our tracked outlets in the last 90 days.
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle
Total disclosed
$44M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$36M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$7.2M
$1.9M for · $5.3M against
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Michael Lawler(R)incumbent + AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSE ANESTHETISTS SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND (CRNA-PAC) $134K − HMP $474K − VOTEVETS $175K − NEW YORKERS FOR A RETURN TO FAIR AND HONEST GOVERNMENT $7K | $10M | $134K | $660K | $9.8M |
Cait Conley(D) + VOTEVETS $1.1M + NEW DEMOCRAT MAJORITY $523K + AFT SOLIDARITY $150K − CLF $3.1M − PROGRESSIVE CHAMPIONS PAC $1.5M − THE GOVERNING MAJORITY FUND $33K | $11M | $1.8M | $4.6M | $7.9M |
7 defeated candidates — show finances
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Peter Chatzky(D)defeated | $12M | — | — | $12M |
Beth Davidson(D)defeated | $2.2M | — | — | $2.2M |
Jessica Reinmann(D)defeated | $655K | — | — | $655K |
John Sullivan(D)defeated | $486K | — | — | $486K |
Mike Sacks(D)defeated | $298K | — | — | $298K |
John Cappello(D)defeated | $80K | — | — | $80K |
Effie Phillips-Staley(D)defeated | $0 | — | — | $0 |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside NY versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
Michael Lawler(R)39% in-state · $6.0M itemized
$2.3M in-state$3.6M out-of-state
Cait Conley(D)54% in-state · $3.2M itemized
$1.7M in-state$1.5M out-of-state
7 defeated candidates — show
Peter Chatzky(D)defeated65% in-state · $306K itemized
$198K in-state$108K out-of-state
Beth Davidson(D)defeated76% in-state · $1.6M itemized
$1.2M in-state$381K out-of-state
Jessica Reinmann(D)defeated83% in-state · $388K itemized
$323K in-state$64K out-of-state
John Sullivan(D)defeated23% in-state · $257K itemized
$59K in-state$198K out-of-state
Mike Sacks(D)defeated25% in-state · $217K itemized
$54K in-state$163K out-of-state
John Cappello(D)defeated3% in-state · $65K itemized
$2K in-state$63K out-of-state
Effie Phillips-Staley(D)defeated60% in-state · $269K itemized
$162K in-state$107K out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
Where they stand
Issue-by-issue comparison
Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.
| Statement | Conley | Lawler | You |
|---|---|---|---|
Abortion A national law should protect access to abortion in every state. | — | ||
Abortion Access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other fertility treatments should be protected by federal law. | — | ||
Abortion Access to contraception should be guaranteed by federal law in all states (Right to Contraception Act). | — | ||
Economy The federal minimum wage should be raised. | — | ||
Education Parents should be able to use public funds — through vouchers — to send their kids to private or charter schools. | — | ||
Environment The government should set legally enforceable limits on greenhouse gas emissions. | — | ||
Environment Government environmental reviews for energy and infrastructure projects should move faster, even if it means fewer reviews. | — | ||
Environment Federal permitting and subsidies for new nuclear power plants should be expanded. | — | ||
Healthcare States, not the federal government, should decide who gets Medicaid and what it covers. | — | ||
Healthcare Enhanced ACA premium subsidies should be made permanent at expanded levels. | — | ||
Housing The government should spend more building affordable housing. | — | ||
Veterans The VA should cover more veterans and more health conditions. | — |
SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.