Windy weekend on the way as rain and snow showers end

Early winter storms brings much-needed moisture to the Hudson Valley

Scattered showers overnight into Saturday; cool and breezy weekend ahead

Community holds vigil for father, daughter killed inside Cypress Hills home

Drivers hit the road ahead of holidays in Canarsie

newyork

Tara Rosenblum

Katerina Belales

taralawlerwrapWCHV1230WA_2024-11-06-00-51-53

News twelve's Tara Rosenbloom joins us from the campaign headquarters of Mike Lawler tonight. And Kevin, this was actually one of the costliest house races in the entire United States to put that in perspective for you. But this race has concluded with a much bigger than expected victory for the incumbent republican, Mike Lawlor after a hard fought race that saw both of these candidates, Mike Lawler and Jones fighting to court independent voters in four valley counties for many, many months and the party now this victory party is going into the wee hours of the morning. Let me show you the scene. Mike Law is still here, greeting his supporters. There were many hundreds of people here. Law over the past few months fending off constant attacks from his opponent likening him to a maga extremists. But at the end of the day, Lawlor had a strong personal brand to fall back on. He portrayed himself as a bipartisan middle of the lawmakers spent a lot of time reaching across the aisle taking on moderate positions on hot button topics like abortion, but towing the party line when it came to public safety and things like the border and that appeared to be the balance that voters in this district were looking for a district where the Democrats outnumber the Republicans by 83,000. Shortly after his victory speech, we asked him how he was able to overcome those odds. One on one, I've won three times now in 2 to 1 democratic districts. And it's because I talk about the issues that matter to families and cut across party line. We go into every single community and do the job. And I think people appreciate the work that we do, whether they agree with me fully or not. As Ed Koch famously said, if you agree with me on nine out of 12 things vote for me. Now, Congressman Lawlor told us that he has not heard from Monza Jones after this race was called to concede, but that the two were in contact earlier today and he described their communications as cordial.

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gordon1130_2024-11-05-23-45-35

Certainly a different feeling here where we are. This is the Rockland Democratic headquarters. Give you a look at the room right now. You know, they've acknowledged at this point, right, as law gave his speech, essentially acknowledge, they recognize that this congressional race is over. We report a little while ago that we are just not expecting at this point, Monda Jones to make any type of statement here in Rock. And it sounds like maybe no public statements coming tonight. Uh It's one of those losing races, you know, the, the lead is big. Uh And, and it is, uh, it is one that did not fall the way that uh Democrats were hoping for. This was of course one of the races that, uh they were keeping an eye on trying to flip. This was one of the, the house races, they were trying to flip here. And so a bit of a mixed bag as well for other uh of the Rock, the Democrats sort of up and down the ballot. Uh You know, you have, uh, someone like Elijah Reich and Melnik, who unable to win this race tonight, uh taking the stage now is Pat Carroll, uh who did win and is uh essentially taking the place of an outgoing assemblyman Ken Zabransky. It's a bit of a mixed bag here in Rockland as well. Uh And look, you know, it's just, you can sense there is a little bit of, you know, happiness right now for this particular race, but when it comes to uh overall, uh what is going on tonight? Unhappy. And I'll tell you, Elijah relining, just gave up in his speech before said, you know, he is nervous for not only the future of this county but the country and he is just hoping that some things over the next couple of hours, the next couple of days, we continue to monitor that and monitor that. Of course. But again, you're getting sort of a very melancholy feeling here. Rockland de headquarters for a mixed bag. Of course, Monda Jones not coming away with the win tonight. We do want to check in in Westchester with my colleague Melanie Melanie. What is the very latest?

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lawlerpostinterviewWCHV12WA_2024-11-06-00-08-55

Nikita competitive, not only in our region, but this was one of the most closely watched house races in the United States this election night and the big winner does join us. Now, Congressman, Mike Law or Congressman, should I congratulate you on the re election? The birth of your, you just became the Rockland GOP chairman. It's been quite the week for you. It's been a very fascinating and interesting week obviously on a personal level, becoming a father for the second time is what's most important. But I'm truly humbled by the outpouring of support tonight with a big win in one of the most contested races in the country. And you know, so I got to ask you about the math, right? The Democrats outnumber the Republicans in this district by 83,000, the national, the state party, they literally poured millions and millions of dollars into this race. You were out fund raised, in fact outmanned. What do you think brought you to the finish line? Look, I've won three times now in 2 to 1 Democratic districts. And it's because I talk about the issues that matter to families and cut across party line we go into every single community and do the job. And I think people appreciate the work that we do, whether they agree with me fully or not. As Ed Koch famously said, if you agree with me on nine out of 12 things, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 things, go have your head examined. The fact is we're not going to agree on everything. But what I've shown three times now is that we agree on a lot more than we don't. And by focusing on those issues, we can win pretty big. So let me ask you, I mean, take your pick, this race really became a microcosm of what we saw playing out on the national stage from women's reproductive rights to the migrant surge crime in the economy, public safety. Which among those, do you feel was the strongest motivator for voters in the 17th district to turn out today? Well, I think it was a few things. Obviously, the affordability crisis is the number one issue. People can't afford to pay their groceries, their utility bills, their housing bills. So that was the biggest driver. The migrant crisis was a major factor. Abortion was an issue. But I was very clear, I would never support a federal ban on abortion. And I think voters understood that despite the lies that were thrown out to the tune of millions of dollars. And I also think frankly my opponent's extremism on so many key issues including defunding the police cashless bail, open borders. All his previous statements came back to haunt him in this election. Has he called you to concede? Not yet? As far as I know, obviously, we came out and declared victory. Look Monday and I talked earlier in the day, we had a very cordial text exchange. I'm sure we will connect in the coming day. And again at the end of the day, this wasn't about him or I it was about the people of this district and the issues that matter to them. But you know what's going to happen now, I mean, you were already considered a rising star of the party, but now these results take things to a whole new level and I did not hear a small amount of people tonight questioning whether or not you'd be making a run for New York governor in the future. How seriously are you considering that? Obviously, we just had a big win tonight and I'm going to savor that victory. We'll talk about what's next. But you know, what's most important is getting back to work on behalf of the constituents of this district and that's what I'm going to do. But as I talked about in my speech, we have real challenges in this state and regardless of what position I hold or office I choose to run for in the future. The fact is we need serious change in New York and I'm going to hold Kathy Hole and the Democrat majority in Albany's feet to the fire to do better for our state here in New York. So we, I think the other big take away other than your victory for local voters to vote 2024 is really the early voting surge and vote by mail. And in your particular district it was over. I believe you'll correct me if I'm wrong. One out of three voters took part in early voting this year. What do you attribute that to typically that would break for the Democrats? Look, every time I've run for office, I've won early voting because we've made a big push on getting our voters out. I don't care how people vote, they can vote by absentee, they can vote early, they can vote on election day. The fact is we want them to vote and I think what you saw today and what you're seeing across the country, people are voting, they're taking advantage of early voting and that's a good thing. So I got to ask you quickly. OK, I'm getting the rap. So here's the last question for you. How you started your speech tonight? So you walked out to your victory speech. Beat it by Michael Jackson was of course playing. And the first words you said, let's see were what an absolute ass kicking. The Hudson Valley told Monda Jones to beat it. Was this you poking fun at the controversy that came up in your race. About your former Halloween costume? Absolutely. I mean, listen, any time you deal with situations you got to lean into it, embrace it and own it. And that's what I did when the news broke on that I owned it and we move forward. But I think voters gave a resounding answer tonight and they know who I am. They know who I am as a person and what I believe. And I think they gave the final answer on the issue. Congratulations to you, Congressman. There's only about 500 people waiting to congratulate you. So I'll let you get to it, enjoy your evening. And now I believe we're going to toss things over to Jonathan Gordon to see what Monda Jones had to say this evening. Jonathan.

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eddayinterviewWCHV11WA_2024-11-05-23-19-42

That's right. Kevin local elections lead to national change. And you heard first right here on news 12 that Mike Lawler won his re election battle against his democratic challenger on Jones. But let me just zoom out to the big picture because if you're a Republican and you live in Rockland County, boy, oh boy. Is this a sweet election night for you? Not only with the victory for Mike Law, but the master of ceremonies here, Clark Town Supervisor announced that Donald Trump also won by double digits here in Rockland County. And just moments ago, we saw Senator Bill Webber take the stage. So we're following a lot of pivotal races that race for Senator Bill Weber. That was a nail biter. It was his third rematch against the former Senator Elijah, right with me, but it looks like he eats out a win so clearly a big night for the Rockland County Executive day who joins us again. We're getting your first reaction to all these victories. Let's start with Mr Lawler heading back to Washington for two more years. You know, people want change and sending Mike back is a great thing nationally, but more importantly, in some respects what Mike has done for us locally and people need to understand something. If you like what I've been doing for the last 10 years to fix this county, I need partners and Mike has been an amazing partner as Bill Weber has also been Bill, you know, the best way to describe it is the bottom line is that we got ourselves a representative in the Senate who cares, he gives a damn about what we're doing here in Rockland County. And when I need help, I need a big gun up in Albany. Bill has always been there. So it's a victory for Rockland. Put the politics aside for a second. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. No pun intended. Do you think I'm hearing applause? Let's see who set out on the stage? No one yet. But I was told that my Lawler will be taking that stage around 1120 years to make a victory speech. So thank you for helping us fill the time. But let me ask you, I mean, this really does feel like it's been a night for the incumbents. Mi law Pat Ryan, make a victory speech. I just spoke with one of my colleagues in Long Island, a lot of incumbent victories there as well. What do you make of all of those? What I make of it? People have been paying attention to what's going on. They're not happy with the direction this country is going in. They want the best for their families and their kids and, you know, something they voted with their feet. It was as simple as that. Let's talk about Mike Lawler's political future. Should he run for governor next cycle? What do you think? Mr, what I think is doing a great job as a congressman. If he chooses to do something different, you know, it's up to him. I know being an elected official, it's not that easy to do. So I thank you. I know you're up for re election next year, but we'll get more analysis from you in a little bit for now. I'm told I have to throw things to my colleague, Jade Nash who's standing by in Bronxville with the future district attorney of County Jade.

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Republican Rep. Mike Lawler won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing New York's 17th district on Wednesday. 

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Mike Lawler wins reelection to House in 17th Congressional District

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing New York's 17th district on Wednesday.

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Windy weekend on the way as rain and snow showers end

Windy weekend on the way as rain and snow showers end

Early winter storms brings much-needed moisture to the Hudson Valley

Scattered showers overnight into Saturday; cool and breezy weekend ahead

Community holds vigil for father, daughter killed inside Cypress Hills home

Drivers hit the road ahead of holidays in Canarsie

Windy weekend on the way as rain and snow showers end

Windy weekend on the way as rain and snow showers end

Early winter storms brings much-needed moisture to the Hudson Valley

Scattered showers overnight into Saturday; cool and breezy weekend ahead

Community holds vigil for father, daughter killed inside Cypress Hills home

Drivers hit the road ahead of holidays in Canarsie

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