West Point graduate Cait Conley has secured the Democratic nomination in the race for New York’s 17th Congressional District, the Associated Press declared, defeating four opponents in what will likely be one of the more competitive U.S. House races in the state in the fall.
Conley defeated John Cappello, an Air Force veteran who grew up in Rockland County; Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator; Effie Phillips-Staley, a Tarrytown village trustee; and Mike Sacks, a lawyer-turned-television reporter, in Tuesday’s primary elections.
As of the latest unofficial results, Conley had 49% of the vote to Davidson’s 32%, Effie Guadalupe Phillips-Staley’s 16%, John Cappello’s 2% and Michael Sacks’ 2%, with 94% of the estimated vote counted.
Conley served 16 years as an active-duty Army officer, deploying six times to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. She also served as the director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council at the White House and served at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Conley will face Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler in the general election in November. Lawler has been a top target for Democrats since he is running for a third term in one of only three districts nationwide represented by a Republican that Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, according to an analysis by Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
Cook Political Report, the independent nonpartisan index and analysis group, has rated the district as one of the few “tossup” races in November in the partisan fight for control of the House.
The 17th District is made up of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and southern Dutchess counties.
Election Day is Nov. 3.