GOP meddles in Dems' CD1 primary
The Republican flyer about Democrat Lukas Ventouras.
The most unusual twist to the Democratic primary contest for the 1st Congressional District seat now held by Republican Rep. Nick LaLota has to be the GOP’s attempt to manipulate their rival party’s choices and messaging.
Slick flyers have been sent to Democrats eligible to vote in CD1, which starts on the Twin Forks and works its way west. Oddly, the return address is for the New York State Republican Committee at 315 State St. in Albany. The flyers disparage one of two candidates in balloting that ends Tuesday.
One side of the printed piece, listed as “Paid for by New York Republican Federal Campaign Committee,” at the same address, shows a photo of President Donald Trump set against an all-caps sentence: “In Congress, [candidate] Lukas Ventouras would impeach Trump.”
That wouldn’t sound like a bad thing to Democrats, who at this point may well look forward to Trump’s impeachment if their party wins back the House majority.
The pro-Trump flyer to Democrats also “attacks” Ventouras regarding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, migrants and healthcare — all sources of serious contention in Trump’s Washington. Along with Ventouras, flattering photos of Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are lampooned as “the socialist Mount Rushmore.”
Republicans aren’t announcing why their “Democratic” mailings from GOP headquarters in Albany do not also attack Chris Gallant, whom the national party has talked up for months as a potential star.
It’s none too subtle.
Clearly approving of the printed piece, LaLota recently told Newsday’s Washington bureau, “I wouldn’t dare tell a Democratic primary voter how to choose between two far-left candidates.”
But the mailings do suggest what Democratic operatives surmise: that the GOP wants to provoke Democratic defiance on Ventouras’ behalf and that LaLota prefers not to face Gallant. The GOP may think Gallant has the stronger chance in the general election. While Ventouras, 25, is taking a pause from his studies at St. John’s School of Law to run, Gallant, 37, is an Army veteran, trained Black Hawk pilot, former air traffic controller and a volunteer firefighter.
All this while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t even targeted the Suffolk County seat for campaign resources to flip it blue.
As GOP gambits go, this slippery propaganda is a small version of what GOP-tilted political groups are doing in CD17 in the Hudson Valley — a seat believed to be far more competitive.
One ad televised in that region comes from the so-called “Progressive Champions PAC.” It begins by attacking Trump administration deportation tactics. But the viewer soon learns the real target is Cait Conley, a Democratic candidate vying to oppose Rep. Mike Lawler. A decorated military veteran, she’s worked for drone and AI firms in recent years. The ad works that up into her having “pocketed over 300 grand from firms supporting the apparatus weaponized by ICE.”
“All signs point to [the ad] being linked to Republicans, who have meddled in a number of competitive Democratic primaries this cycle,” Erin Covey, a House race analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, told the USA TODAY Network in an interview. She said Republicans in the national races have more funds than Democrats to “do this sort of thing.”
The Conley critique tracks with comments from Rockland County Legis. Beth Davidson, who is her main primary rival.
Of the stealth ads, one Suffolk Democrat said, “This isn’t the only place it happens. It’s a smart move for them.” Will the effort work — or could it backfire?
Columnist Dan Janison’s opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
