PEARL RIVER, NY — Rep. Mike Lawler endorsed fellow Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, his one-time potential primary rival, in the New York governor’s race Monday, elbowing out Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

The Hudson Valley rep formally threw his backing behind the prominent North Country congresswoman, who is running for the GOP nomination as she aims to take on Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul next year.

“Elise Stefanik doesn’t take s–t from anybody,” Lawler said at an event alongside Stefanik at the Pearl River Elks Lodge in Rockland County, where he also chairs the GOP committee.

Rep. Elise Stefanik with Rep. Mike Lawler on May 1, 2025. Hans Pennink for the NY Post

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is running for the governor of New York. Dennis A. Clark

“There’s a reason why Kathy Hochul spends every day attacking Elise Stefanik, because she knows she’s about to get her ass kicked next November,” he said.

“Elise Stefanik is a champion. She is a fighter for her district, for our state, for our country. She is someone who should not be underestimated, who has taken on tough fights, who ran when people thought it wasn’t possible to win.”

Stefanik has been increasingly solidifying the support of New York Republican Party officials behind her bid for governor as Blakeman has been eyeing potentially launching his own campaign.

The Long Island pol has been trying to court favor within the party, though Stefanik already boasts a significant amount of endorsements from 58 of the 62 county GOP chairs throughout the state.

Rep. Elise Stefanik with President Trump in August 2023. Facebook / Elise Stefanik

“I have a lot of respect for both Mike and Elise but the importance of the upcoming election requires the Republican and Conservative parties to pick the candidate with the best chance of winning for the benefit of the residents of the State of New York. Therefore, at the urging of so many business and community leaders I am continuing to explore a run for governor myself,” Blakeman said in a statement Monday.

Lawler himself had weighed a possible run, but announced in July he would seek another term in the House rather than continue entertaining a shot for higher office in Albany.

“Mike Lawler and so many of my colleagues on this stage will tell you, we work as a team,” Stefanik said of the two-term congressman.

“Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or independent, this is a large coalition of commonsense New Yorkers who are focused every day on saving our great state.”

Bruce Blakeman just won re-election as Nassau County executive. Michael Nigro

Lawler handedly defeated lefty former Rep. Mondaire Jones for re-election in the 17th Congressional District in the lower Hudson Valley last year and will be a key part of Republicans’ path to victory in New York’s battleground House races in 2026.

He was joined at Monday’s event by a slew of other Rockland County pols endorsing Stefanik, including Conservative Party Chair Sam Naemit, State Sen. Bill Weber, Assemblymembers Matt Slater and Karl Brabenec and County Executive Ed Day.

Stefanik also holds the endorsements of a number of members of the state legislature and now most of New York’s seven GOP members of congress.

At a nominating convention, Stefanik would have more than 75% of delegates, if each county followed their chair’s endorsement, easily placing her on the ballot as the party’s nominee.

State GOP Chair Ed Cox told reporters in September he expected his party to avoid a primary for governor and for Stefanik to quickly be anointed to lead the Republican ticket as the gubernatorial candidate.

Hochul, during an unrelated event in The Bronx, brushed off the new Stefanik-Lawler alliance, trying to claim that the two have moved to the right of President Trump after his cushy Friday meeting with socialist New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

“They’re willing to be more extreme than him. It’s a new chapter in politics in our state that’s for sure,” Hochul told reporters.