Judge shuts down vulnerable GOP congressman's effort to control Dem primary ballot

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) has lost his legal battle to try to throw a Democratic rival off her primary ballot.

According to The Journal News, Lawler, who is facing one of the most difficult re-elections of any Republican in Congress this year, sought to have Effie Phillips-Staley, a progressive local trustee of Tarrytown, disqualified from the ballot on the grounds of fraudulent signature collection.

However, "in a 24-page decision on Wednesday, April 29, acting state Supreme Court Justice David Fried ruled that Effie Phillips-Staley's petition had enough signatures to be valid, discounting the idea that it was 'permeated with fraud' and should be quashed. Lawler's campaign had given the court sworn statements from 30 voters whose names were on the petition but denied signing it."

"The judge, who presided over a three-day trial, concluded that Phillips-Staley's petition had 2,058 valid, undisputed signatures, even with the removal of all 829 that were collected by paid canvassers responsible for the questioned names. That was above the threshold of 1,250 needed to run for a House seat," said the report. "Fried did dismiss as fraudulent all 501 signatures submitted by one 'rogue' worker employed by a contractor, and suggested the campaign should have scrutinized more closely the pages submitted by that worker, Dion McBean, records show. But the judge found no deliberate role by the campaign that could disqualify the entire petition."

With this decision, the primary remains at five Democratic contenders, who also include Cait Conley, Beth Davidson, Mike Sacks, and John Cappello, the report noted.

This comes shortly after Lawler, who is known for clashing on air with cable news personalities in defense of the MAGA agenda, was confronted with furious constituents at a town hall that turned hostile.