Former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones raised a whopping $1.75 million in the first three months of 2024 for his New York House comeback bid against GOP Rep. Mike Lawler.
He ended March with more than $3 million in the bank, according to campaign fundraising totals provided first to POLITICO. Lawler’s lower Hudson Valley district is a top target for House Democrats in their drive to reclaim the majority.
“While Mike Lawler was getting caught defunding law enforcement and blocking a bipartisan border security bill, our grassroots campaign has raised nearly $4 million thus far this cycle because of the incredible support from everyday people across the Lower Hudson Valley,” Jones said in a statement. “And unlike my oil and gas lobbyist opponent, I don’t take corporate PAC money.”
Lawler was outraised by Jones during the third and fourth quarter of 2023. He has not released his total for the first quarter of 2024. This is Jones’ highest fundraising quarter of this cycle.
Jones represented much of the current area of the 17th District last Congress but ran for a different seat after court-mandated redistricting scrambled New York’s congressional map. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) ran for reelection there and lost to Lawler in 2022.
Democrats avoided a bitter primary in the district this cycle when Elizabeth Whitmer Gereghty ended her primary bid last year and backed Jones.
New York will be the epicenter of the fight for the House majority. Several Republicans in districts Joe Biden carried in 2020 will face tough reelection battles, including Lawler.