Candidate questionnaire · New York, District 17 U.S. House (2026)

Mike Lawler

Thank you for taking part. Every candidate in this race gets these same questions. For each bridge issue, tell us whether you agree with WePublican's bridge position, disagree, or agree with changes, and add a comment if you like. We publish your answers on your scorecard word for word, with the date. It takes about 10 minutes.

1. Immigration

WePublican bridge position: Deport people who commit serious crimes. Keep a pathway for Dreamers, long-settled residents, and families with American ties. Reject mass deportation of everyone, and reject open stay. Evidence

2. Energy and climate

WePublican bridge position: Build solar, natural gas, and nuclear. Do not pretend coal is the future. Do not spike household bills in the name of purity. Nuclear is the least-polarized source we have. Evidence

3. Crime

WePublican bridge position: Fund police. Treat addiction and serious mental illness as part of public safety. Do not put troops in American cities as a governing model. Evidence

4. Fairness without racial preferences

WePublican bridge position: Diversity is a good. Racial plus-factors in admissions and hiring are not. Evidence

5. Artificial intelligence

WePublican bridge position: The country is not with either party's AI story. A majority thinks the technology is moving too fast and does not trust government to regulate it. Slow the frontier enough to be competent. Do not strip every rule in the name of a race. Evidence

6. Data centers

WePublican bridge position: A national technology strategy is not a blank check on the local grid. Communities may refuse installations that raise their power bills and drain their water. Evidence

7. Housing

WePublican bridge position: Build more. Incentivize zoning that allows supply. Pass a bill. Evidence

8. Social Security

WePublican bridge position: Do not cut benefits. The public's preferred fix is to tax high earners, including lifting the payroll cap. Evidence

9. Health coverage

WePublican bridge position: Keep the Affordable Care Act. Restore the premium credits Congress let expire. Fight drug prices as the bipartisan issue they already are. Evidence

10. Guns

WePublican bridge position: Universal background checks. Age 21 for assault-style rifles. No confiscation. No handgun ban. Evidence

11. IVF

WePublican bridge position: Protect access. Laws that treat every embryo as a legal person in a way that collapses IVF are a political project, not a public mandate. Evidence

12. Food and chemicals

WePublican bridge position: Regulate dyes, additives, and pesticides more tightly. Removing fluoride from water and legalizing raw milk are not majority positions; we will not pretend they are. Evidence

13. Public lands

WePublican bridge position: Do not sell them. Western voters, including many Republicans, reject land sales and review-stripping for extraction. Evidence

14. The One-Sentence Answer

In one sentence, what will you do for the people you'd represent that voters of both parties can hold you to?

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