Hudson Valley drivers are paying the price for Rep. Mike Lawler’s loyalty to President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, one gallon at a time.
Lawler has voted six times against resolutions to end the war, most recently on Sept. 15, according to House records.
The war has killed at least 19 U.S. service members, including Sgt. Angel Rampersad of Ozone Park, Queens, and wounded more than 800, according to The Associated Press.
On Tuesday, regular gas averaged $4.66 a gallon in Westchester County, $4.62 in Rockland, $4.48 in Dutchess, and $4.47 in Putnam, according to AAA. All four counties sit at or above the statewide average of $4.47, which a year ago stood at $3.18.
Diesel has climbed even more steeply. It now averages $6.52 a gallon statewide, compared with $3.89 a year ago, a cost that trickles down into grocery and delivery prices due to transportation costs.
The surge began Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Just before, New York drivers were paying about $3 a gallon statewide. Within days, Westchester averaged about $3.20, the highest in the state, with Rockland close behind, according to News 12. A week later, prices in both counties had topped $3.50. By early April, Rockland, Westchester, and Putnam counties had all crossed $4 a gallon.
What votes did Lawler take on the Iran war?
The war powers resolutions Lawler opposed would direct Trump to end the war unless he got congressional approval to continue. He staked out that position before the first strike, announcing in a Feb. 20 statement with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) that he would oppose such a resolution. In March, he dismissed the first House vote as a publicity stunt, according to NY1.
“It would undermine our national security and our troops at the height of this operation to order an immediate withdrawal,” Lawler said. In April, as Democrats prepared to force more votes, he argued Trump needed room to negotiate. “He’s in the middle of negotiating,” Lawler told The Hill.
That was nearly six months ago.
On Sept. 15, the House passed a war powers resolution 220-204. Seven Republicans voted for it, including two Iowa incumbents in competitive races. One of them cited constituents paying too much at the pump. Lawler voted against it again. Nine days later, the Senate rejected a resolution the House had passed in July, 49-50.
On Monday, Trump blamed Ukraine and Democratic-led states for rising fuel prices instead of the war.
Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley, an Army veteran, in one of the country’s tightest House races. He is one of the few House Republicans representing a district that Kamala Harris carried in 2024.
Nationally, just 26% of Americans approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran, while 73% disapprove, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released last week.
An Emerson College/PIX11 poll released Oct. 1 shows Conley leading 48% to 46% in the district, a lead within the poll’s margin of error. The same poll found 52% of likely voters in the district opposed US military operations against Iran, including 44% of independents. Conley has made the war’s toll on household budgets central to her campaign.
On Tuesday, House Majority PAC, the leading super PAC backing House Democrats, launched an ad attacking Lawler over his support for the war. “We can’t afford lapdog Lawler any longer,” the ad says.
“Mike Lawler has voted five times to rubberstamp this reckless war of choice, as his own constituents struggle to make ends meet,” Conley said in an August statement to the USA TODAY Network, before his sixth vote.
Lawler’s office did not respond to Courier New York’s request for comment.
