Mondaire Jones Announces Run To Reclaim HV House Seat

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Mondaire Jones, the former congressman for the Hudson Valley, announced Wednesday he is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the 17th Congressional District, joining northern Westchester County residents Liz Gereghty and MaryAnn Carr who are also seeking the nomination.

The district is composed primarily of Jones’s former seat, with 73 percent of residents included in the district he represented before it was redistricted. It is currently represented by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

Jones, who is 36 and a Rockland county native, said in a campaign video that he’s “never been Washington’s choice,” because “I stand up to corruption.”

The Sleepy Hollow resident vowed to push his party to fight harder for working people.

Jones said that Lawler won the race for the 17th Congressional District by only 1,820 votes, which was the smallest margin of victory in any New York congressional race, adding that Joe Biden won the district by 10 percentage points.

Chris Russell, a spokesman for Lawler, said Jones can try to run away from his previous record in Congress, but “nothing will change the face that Mondaire Jones is a radical progressive who is endorsed by AOC and ‘the Squad,’ supports the defund the police movement and New York’s disastrous cashless bail law, and voted for the reckless spending that saddled us with record high inflation.”

Patch reached out to former Bedford town supervisor and councilwoman MaryAnn Carr for a comment, and she said she welcomed Jones to the race.

“I look forward to a spirited debate about which candidate best reflects our New York values of grit, determination and community,” she told Patch. “As a Bedford Town Supervisor, I’m proud to have passed major infrastructure projects and help lead government reform efforts, always centering the needs of my constituents over the needs of any one individual. And I will stand that experience up against anyone in this race.”

Patch also reached out to Gereghty, but no response was immediately received.

Jones in his announcement said he has received more than 100 in-district endorsements from elected officials and party chairs.

Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D-New City, said Jones was needed back in Congress.

“From solving constituent cases to funding our local school districts and special projects like the new health clinic at the Rockland Pride Center,” he said, “Mondaire has delivered time and time again for our communities.”

State Senator Pete Harckham, D-South Salem, said he was endorsing Jones because he was “a champion for the people of the Lower Hudson Valley and our values, bringing home hundreds of millions of dollars for local and county governments, fighting to protect a woman’s reproductive health care, taking on Republican efforts to undermine our democracy and standing up to big corporations looking to exploit middle-class families.”

Gereghty is a Lewisboro resident who served recently on the Katonah-Lewisboro school board.

New York's 17th Congressional District is comprised of Rockland and Putnam counties and part of northern Westchester and southern Dutchess counties.