Mike Lawler

Michael Vincent Lawler (born September 9, 1986) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 17th congressional district since 2023. From 2021 to 2022, he was a Republican member of the New York State Assembly from the 97th district in Rockland County.

Mike Lawler was born to Marie (née Fortino) and Kevin Lawler, and raised in South Salem, New York, and Suffern, New York. Lawler is Catholic. He is of Irish and Italian descent.

Lawler graduated from Suffern High School. He then earned his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and finance from Manhattan College in 2009 and was named valedictorian of his graduating class.

In October 2024, The New York Times discovered resurfaced photos of Lawler wearing a Michael Jackson costume that included blackface in 2006 at a Manhattan College Halloween party. In response, Lawler said that his costume was intended to be "truly the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to my musical hero since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my mom's kitchen. The ugly practice of blackface was the furthest thing from my mind." It was also reported that in 2005, J. Randy Taraborrelli, a Michael Jackson biographer, helped get Lawler, then a high school senior, into the courtroom for Jackson's trial.

In 2016, Lawler served as a Republican convention delegate for Donald Trump.

In 2018, Lawler co-founded the political communications firm Checkmate Strategies.

In 2020, Lawler was elected to the New York State Assembly for a two-year term, defeating Democratic incumbent Ellen Jaffee.

Lawler was the Republican nominee in the 2022 general election in New York's 17th congressional district, having won the August 2022 primary. He narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent and DCCC chair Sean Patrick Maloney in the November general election.