President Trump is subtly giving a yellow light to Rep. Mike Lawler as the swing district Republican contemplates a run for New York governor.
Why it matters: Trump is taking steps to clear the Republican primary field for Rep. Elise Stefanik, bolstering an ally once poised to serve in his administration, Axios’ Alex Isenstadt reports.
- Said one Trump ally: “This is an all-out effort to make sure Lawler doesn’t leave the House.”
😈 Lawler is a public face in the brash fight to raise the SALT cap, which hits higher-income New Yorkers hard. (Stefanik’s also working to raise the cap.)
- “He wouldn’t have a f—ing gavel without the members of the SALT caucus,” Lawler said of House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) this week.
- “Shockingly the ‘Jewish Space Laser’ lady once again doesn’t have a clue,” Lawler told Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) yesterday after she accused him of undermining the MAGA agenda by threatening to tank the “big beautiful bill” over the state and local tax cap fight.
💸 But Lawler’s negotiating leverage — that the party wouldn’t have the majority without swing-seat Republicans like him — is part of why Trump allies are so worried about him running for governor.
- Republicans close to the White House are circulating a spreadsheet that ballparks it’d cost $14 million in TV advertising to keep Lawler’s seat if he didn’t seek reelection.
📲 Zoom in: Trump has not tapped out an ALL CAPS endorsement for Stefanik, who was supposed to be ensconced by now as his UN ambassador.
- But he’s endorsed two of Stefanik’s potential rivals for governor — Lawler and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — for reelection to their current posts.
- The moves appeared aimed at taking Lawler and Blakeman out of contention for governor, three Republicans close to the White House told us.
- Stefanik hasn’t asked the White House to clear the field for her, according to a person close to her.
— Alex Isenstadt and Hans Nichols – Axios