Congressional and Senate Races Heat Up Before Nov. 5

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Candidates for state and national office made their case for election at a recent forum organized by the local senior citizens club, held on Oct. 8 at the firehouse in North Salem.

Going toe to toe in the 40th state Senate race are Gina Arena, a Republican/Conservative from Somers, and the incumbent, Sen. Pete Harckham, a Democrat from Lewisboro who is also running on the Working Families Party line.

Vying in the very tight and closely watched 17th Congressional District contest are former congressman and Democrat Mondaire Jones of Sleepy Hollow, and incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican/Conservative from Pearl River.

Lawler is a former state assemblyman from the 97th district in Rockland County.

Jones, who represented the 17th District from 2021 to 2023, lost the Working Families Party primary in June by 90 votes to Anthony Frascone, a construction executive from Rockland County and a former registered Republican who hasn’t been campaigning.

Jones supporters accuse Frascone of being a “spoiler” who is running to divert votes away from their candidate.

Democratic Party leaders in Westchester and Putnam counties, and other plaintiffs, hoping to have Frascone’s name stricken from the ballot sued, arguing that Frascone’s having pleaded guilty in 2022 in an insurance fraud case disqualified him from running for Congress.

But state Supreme Court Judge Janet Malone issued a decision late Friday, Oct. 18, stating that the petitioners had failed to prove their case regarding the conviction, that the deadline for filing the lawsuit had expired on April 18, that the non-appearance of a defendant did not automatically constitute a win for the plaintiffs (It’s up to the judge’s discretion.), and, as far as allegations that New York’s Fair Campaign Code had been violated go, Frascone wasn’t obligated to run an active campaign.

The ruling means he stays on the ballot. It was unknown at press time if the petitioners plan to appeal. (Early voting begins on Saturday, Oct. 26.)

It could have an impact on who controls Congress. (Republicans currently hold an extremely narrow majority in the House of Representatives.)

Why Are They Running?

Arena ran twice for Westchester County legislator. This is her second try at unseating Harckham.

As “a mom on a mission,” Arena said she was prepared to work hard to get changes that are “greatly needed” such as making living in New York more affordable.

“So, what brought me here? My children,” said the mother of eight.

Arena has an autistic daughter, another who struggled with opioid addiction, and a young son who died of cancer. She also has a daughter who was a U.S. Army sergeant who served in Afghanistan.

“That’s what really brought me to the table. I had to advocate for each one of those situations while I was raising them,” she said, adding that she thought she could make “a real difference” for other people going through similar experiences.

Arena helped create the Foundation for Educating Children with Autism and the Devereux Millwood Learning Center.

Harckham served on the Westchester County Board of Legislators from 2008 to 2015.

First elected to state office in 2018, he emphasized his ability to provide funding for his constituents. 

Harckham pointed to $210 million that benefited schools and $280 million worth of road repairs.

“We have cut middle-class taxes five times. We cut property taxes. We doubled the senior property tax exemption so folks like many of you can afford to stay in your homes,” he said.

“We were able to get a grant to clear up the invasive species” that were clogging Peach Lake’s outflow and contributing to flooding in the North Salem enclave, said the chair of the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee.

Jones emphasized issues dear to seniors’ hearts such as Medicare, Social Security, and the high cost of prescription drugs, something he takes “personally” having witnessed his grandmother work past retirement age just to afford her medications.

“I would never vote to cut Social Security and Medicare,” he promised, saying he had “a plan to make it solvent that does not require raising the age or otherwise cutting benefits.”

Jones said he helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 federal law that aims to reduce the budget deficit, lower prescription drug prices, invest in domestic energy, and promote clean energy.

He also pointed to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 that brought “millions of dollars for schools, housing, and health care to the lower Hudson Valley” and his part in negotiating the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which funded road/bridge repairs, safe drinking water projects, and broadband infrastructure.

Asserting that he was “the only pro-choice candidate” in the race, Jones said he thought “women should have the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions.”

The claim that he wanted to ban abortion nationwide, including in New York, “is flat-out false,” Lawler said, adding that he opposes a federal ban on abortion and supports exceptions for rape, incest, and the life and health of mothers.

Lawler started by quoting late New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

“If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist,” he said, getting a laugh.

Lawler was voted the 4th most bipartisan member of Congress by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Bipartisan Index.

“My opponent, by contract, was rated 381st in the two years he was in office,” he said.

Elected in 2022, Lawler noted that he’s “passed over 12 pieces of legislation through the House, five of which have been signed into law.”

“My opponent passed one: to name a post office,” he said, referring to the Sergeant Gerald T. Donnellan Post Office in Suffern. Donnellan was a three-time Purple Heart Vietnam veteran from Nyack.

Asked to respond to the comment, Jones’ spokesperson, Shannon Geison, sent Halston Media the following statement:

“Mondaire was proud to be a part of the most productive Congress in modern history. He took on the pharmaceutical companies, lowering prescription drug prices for thousands of seniors on Medicare in the Lower Hudson Valley. He negotiated passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is bringing billions of dollars to rebuild our roads and bridges, and passed the American Rescue Plan Act, which kept our small businesses open and brought hundreds of millions of dollars to the Lower Hudson Valley for schools, housing, and health care. Unlike Mike Lawler, he has a record of actually delivering for the 17th congressional district.”

A member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Lawler introduced legislation in 2023 to create a dedicated ambassador-level envoy for the 2020 Abraham Accords, which are bilateral agreements regarding Arab-Israeli normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain.

“Globally, we are in the most precarious place since WWII. The world is a tinderbox, and we have to stand up for our allies. We have to combat the threats from Russia, China, and Iran,” Lawler said.

He supports sanctions to “take on the illicit oil trade between China and Iran” and the extension of the Undetectable Firearms Act, which made it harder to sneak firearms past metal detectors.

Lawler has said Democrats have falsely accused him of trying to gut Medicare and Social Security.

His campaign material notes that he signed a House resolution that preserves and protects Social Security and was a co-sponsor of the Social Security Fairness Act, which prevents Social Security benefits from being taken away from those who receive pensions or disability benefits from other employers. 

Proposition 1 

Adie Shore of the Westchester League of Women Voters explained Proposition 1, a statewide ballot proposal that would amend the part of the New York Constitution that currently protects against unequal treatment based on race, color, creed, and religion to include “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes, as well as reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

It’s become a battleground in the culture wars.

Backers say it would strengthen rights such as reproductive autonomy while foes argue that its wording is vague and that it secretly aims to increase transgender rights for minors and take away the rights of parents.

Arena fears that Proposition 1’s passage will allow boys to play on girls’ sports teams.

Shore said Proposition 1 doesn’t “create” new protected classes but merely codifies existing anti-discrimination laws and statutes into the state Constitution.

“Luckily we live in a state that has very substantial laws that protect against age discrimination, against gender discrimination, but I think we’ve seen across the country that if you have a legislature that decides that they want to repeal some of these laws that could happen,” she said, adding: “If these protections are in the (state) Constitution it would be much harder to do that.”

Shore also said the Proposition 1, aka the Equal Rights Amendment, will not take away parents’ rights, that minors will still not be able to undergo things such as gender affirming care without their parents’ approval, and that it won’t “promote boys playing on girls’ teams.”

“We may not all feel comfortable with people’s lifestyles or how they identify, but I think we can all agree that people need to be respected, treated fairly, and not discriminated against based on who they are,” she said.

Audience member Linda Killian of Scarsdale was concerned about certain language in Proposition 1.

Namely: “Nothing in this section shall invalidate or prevent the adoption of any law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination on the basis of a characteristic listed in this section, nor shall any characteristic listed in this section be interpreted to interfere with, limit, or deny the civil rights of any person based upon any other characteristic identified in this section.”

“The way I interpret that – and others do too -- to mean is that it opens the door to reverse discrimination,” she said.

According to the LWV, in 2022 and 2023 the state Legislature passed the ERA, allowing the public to vote on the measure this year.

Resident Howard Hellwinkel asserted that it shouldn’t be on the ballot because it “was passed unconstitutionally.”

He was referring to a May ruling in a lawsuit filed in Livingston County Supreme Court that the Legislature had not followed correct procedure.

Attorney General Letitia James appealed. The LWV filed an Amicus Brief in support. In June, the Appellate Division ruled to put the ERA back on the ballot.

Law & Order 

Moderator Jinx Remson asked the congressional hopefuls to comment on the way they’re being portrayed in campaign ads, especially about their stances on guns and police.

“To quote from my friend on the other side: It’s silly season,” Jones said. “You’re seeing a lot of people spending millions of dollars to distort my record.”

Jones insisted that not only had he never voted to cut money for law enforcement, he’d actually voted “for record levels of police funding.”

He supported the return of an assault weapons ban and a universal background checks law.

Calling U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) the “most extreme speaker of the House in modern history,” Jones said he’d “never allow a floor vote on a universal background checks law.”

Republicans currently have majority control of the House of Representatives.

“That’s why it’s so important that we flip the House, which we have the ability to do here in this swing district,” he said.
Lawler shot back that not only did Jones say he supported defunding the police, he “supports the disastrous cashless bail law.”

“He called cops racists and white supremacists. He called ICE agents terrorists. He wanted to defund border patrol,” Lawler said. “He voted for an amendment that would actually allow cop killers and rapists the ability to vote from prison. That’s his record, not mine.”

Jones responded by pointing to a “bipartisan” border security bill pending in the U.S. Senate, the Democrat accused Republicans of “doing the bidding of Donald Trump by not passing that legislation so they can keep it a live campaign issue.”

Jones said he’s never “described an institution as terroristic” or painted all police officers “as racist.”

Blaming the crisis on the Biden administration, Lawler said that 10 million migrants had crossed the southern border – “most of them illegally” -- over the past three years.

“Ninety percent have been released into the country,” he added.

The border security bill that “Mike Lawler and his favorite speaker, Mike Johnson, said would be dead on arrival if it ever passed the Senate” would, Jones stated, allow the hiring of more border patrol agents, help judges “to more quickly adjudicate claims of asylum,” and create “new authorities for the president to shut down the border in the event it becomes overwhelmed.”

“It is absolutely the case that there are plenty of people who claim asylum who are not eligible and they should not be in the United States of America. I agree with that. I suspect all of the people in this room (would too),” Jones said.

Social Security 

Lawler pushed back against Jones’ claim that he’s trying to gut Social Security.

Economists predict that the trust fund will peter out by 2032 and suggest that there are two ways to deal with the shortfall: raise the retirement age for 100 percent benefits to 69 from 67 and up the income limit on which Social Security taxes are taken.

Calling the age route “a cut,” Jones said his approach to making Social Security solvent would focus on raising the payroll tax “so that people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos pay their fair share.”

“The reality is that if nothing gets done with Social Security or Medicare over the next decade, both programs are going insolvent. Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that,” Lawler said, adding that raising the cap on “FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) taxes in the immediate may be a necessary solution.”

“But long term – I’m 38; Mondaire’s 37 – people like us who are going to be working for the next 35, 40 years? Yeah, we may have to look at age as an issue,” he said, assuring current Social Security recipients or those who are close to retirement they won’t be impacted.

“You were promised those benefits,” Lawler added.

Gun Control 

On the gun control issue, Lawler noted that he’d introduced legislation to extend the Undetectable Firearms Act that had been signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

It bans guns that have less than 3.7 ounces of metal, thereby making them harder to sneak past detectors.

“That matters for our schools, public arenas, airports,” he said, adding that, when a member of the state Legislature, he voted to ban ghost guns, to expand background checks, and to pass a “red flag” law that addresses mental health issues.

Lawler said the bail law gives those charged with gun crimes the chance to reoffend.

Tackling the problem “starts by prosecuting criminals,” he added, accusing Jones of criminalizing “law-abiding gun owners.”

Referencing the mental health crisis, Lawler said he’s introduced legislation that would ensure that guns are stored safely and out of the hands of those who might misuse them.

While a legislator, he supported Alyssa’s Law, which requires schools to consider using silent panic alarm systems when developing safety plans.

(Alyssa Alhadeff was killed during the Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High School massacre in Parkland, Fla.)

Jones said that when the nationwide ban on semiautomatic assault rifles was in place from 1994 to 2004, gun violence went down. Due to a 10-year sunset clause, the bill expired in 2004 and wasn’t extended.

“There’s no reason weapons of war to be out and easily accessible to people. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just look at how often they are used in mass shootings. It’s horrifying,” Jones argued.

He also reminded voters that he’s on record as backing a “dangerousness” standard in the cashless bail law, which he called a “state legislative issue” that “a member of Congress has nothing at all to do with.”

Parting Words

In his final pitch, Lawler spoke of the country as being “deeply divided.”

“Look, whatever comes out of this election district it’s going to be very tight majorities and we have to have a proven track record of reaching across the aisle to get things done. I have that,” he said.

Also appealing for votes, Jones said: “I’m really excited about the prospect of taking back the House so we can end this national nightmare we’re having of chaos, extremism, and incompetence under Mike Johnson and the MAGA Republican majority. But I can’t do it without your help.”