Allies of Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York have spent nearly $800,000 in last-minute donations over the past few days to help his campaign as polls show him losing to Republican candidate and New York Assemblyman Mike Lawler.
Filings with the Federal Election Commission show that Our Hudson PAC, a Super PAC supporting Maloney, has spent $178,485 across three payments for attack ads against Lawler since Thursday. In addition to his PAC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) – House Democrats’ official elections arm, of which Maloney is Chairman – on Monday spent $605,000 on a fresh attack ad. The DCCC’s official fund, from which the money was disbursed, includes contributions from Democratic Party allies, campaigns, and donors across the country, with Maloney being in charge of expenditures.
The spending comes as an Oct. 12 poll by McLaughlin & Associates showed Lawler defeating Maloney by 6%, greater than the margin of error, while, on Monday, the Cook Political readjusted its forecast for Maloney’s seat from “Lean Democratic” to “Toss Up”.
Were Maloney to lose the election, he would become the first DCCC Chair in over 40 years to do so. The last such loss was in 1980, when Democratic Rep. Jim Corman of California was unseated in a wave election that saw Republican Ronald Reagan defeat Democratic President Jimmy Carter in a landslide.
Much of the spending is funded by wealthy Democratic donors and interest groups, such as the National Association of Realtors, which gave $300,000 to Our Hudson PAC, along with employees of real estate and investment firms such as the Carlyle Group, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, and Altus Capital Partners, according to OpenSecrets, a campaign finance watchdog.
NEW: The DCCC has made a $605,000 ad buy in #NY17, where their Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney is running.
Cook Political Report rated seat as a “toss up”
CLF has spent $4.6M on ads here, one of their higher buys, according to AdImpact. Rs combined have spent about $6M.
The ad: pic.twitter.com/9FsijiQ8mD
— aaron navarro (@aaronlarnavarro) October 24, 2022
Maloney’s vulnerability stems from the new 17th district’s boundaries, which were adjusted by a judicially-appointed Special Master in May after the state’s top court threw out a Democratic legislature-drawn gerrymandered map. In response to the ruling, Maloney controversially displaced fellow Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones, whose former district overlapped more with NY-17 than Maloney’s, from running in the new district’s Democratic primary, which angered many voters in the district.(RELATED: Dem Donors Make Last-Ditch Effort To Save DCCC Chair From Republican Challenger)
“Sean Maloney’s selfishness knows no bounds,” Lawler spokesman William Francis Buckley O’Reilly told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “After what he did to Congressman Jones…Mr. Maloney is now robbing money from his fellow Democrats in a desperate attempt to save his own hide.”
Republicans, likely observing recent polling, have spent large amounts to unseat Maloney. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC aligned with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, has spent $4 million on the race, with other GOP groups bringing the total to $5.6 million.
Early voting in New York’s congressional races will begin this week, on Oct. 29. The Maloney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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