Cait Conley, one of the latest Democrats to enter the increasingly crowded field of candidates running against Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), is hoping that her local roots and her background serving in a series of national security roles in the federal government will help launch her to victory.

In the 17th Congressional District, which encompasses northern Westchester County and Rockland, County Conley will be running against Rockland County legislator Beth Davidson, nonprofit executive Jessica Reinmann and former journalist Mike Sacks in the growing field. She has raised $335,000 since entering the race, according to campaign finance filings, a sign she’ll have the resources to mount an aggressive campaign.

Conley, 39, graduated from West Point and served 16 years as an active duty army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, later going on to serve as director of counterterrorism on the National Security Council and work at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency.

Conley spent significant time abroad in the Middle East and North Africa on counterterrorism missions, on the ground in places such as Yemen, Syria and Libya. She says her experience working to counter terror groups and Iranian proxies gives her a significant degree of firsthand knowledge and expertise on the crises in the Middle East.

“As someone who has spent my career fighting for democracy, I deeply value Israel as America’s strongest ally in the region, the only democracy in the Middle East and a safe haven for the Jewish people,” Conley told Jewish Insider in an interview last week. “Personally and as America, I believe we should be firmly committed to the safety and security of Israel.”

She emphasized that Israel is facing “existential” threats, mentioning the Oct. 7 attacks, and said that Israel “has an obligation to defend its people and to ensure their safety.”

Conley said that she saw personally during her service in the Middle East the value that Israel brings as an ally, assisting “some of our most sensitive military operations” and being America’s “staunchest ally” against Iranian aggression, at times putting its own security on the line to help protect Americans.

In the long term, she said she believes that a two-state solution “is the path that will provide the greatest security and stability.”

Unprompted, Conley raised concerns about officials appointed by the Trump administration who have urged the U.S. to step back from the Middle East and downplayed U.S. interests in the region, specifically naming Michael DiMino, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.

“No only do [his] statements show deep misunderstanding of complex and critical issues, but they’re definitely dangerous, especially when they come from someone empowered by this administration and that type of position,” Conley said. 

She said she has intimate knowledge of the severe threat that Iranian proxies pose to Americans and U.S. interests and that the U.S. must focus intently on countering those threats. Conley said the U.S. must work with its partners and allies to counter Iran’s actions and prevent its continued proliferation of weapons worldwide and prevent the further advancement of its military and nuclear capabilities.

“It would destabilize the region. It would pose an existential threat to Israel,” Conley said, of an Iranian nuclear weapon. “It would also pose a threat to American national security and interests … That cannot be something we allow. We have to keep all options on the table.”

Conley indicated that her preference would be to bring Iran into a negotiated solution but emphasized that any deal must include “the complete, verifiable and irreversible de-nuclearization.”

She declined to discuss specific tactics and strategies for countering Iran, saying she wanted to avoid delving into classified information.

“As somebody who has fought for this nation, for American values, for the American people, for our Constitution and what we represent, I firmly believe there is nothing more un-American than hate and this rise of antisemitism we have seen across this country is completely unacceptable,” Conley said. “We have to take this head-on. This cannot be something that we tolerate.”

Asked about the new government emerging in Syria, Conley said she’s “grateful there is a potential path” toward a safer and more stable future for the Syrian people, but said that the new government must allow the Syrian people to live freely regardless of their ethnic and religious backgrounds and continue to fight against ISIS, and that the U.S. must remain mindful of the terrorist roots of the new Syrian leaders.

More broadly, Conley framed herself as a strong advocate of a robust U.S. role in the world, and said that she saw the importance of America’s values and international image during her service abroad, which she said the U.S. needs to reclaim.

“Leadership of character and values matters,” Conley told JI. “America’s role in the world as a global leader, as an economic power, as a superpower, as someone who helps promote global stability and security and set those conditions for a more prosperous future — that is what we are about, and we’ve got to get back to that.”

She said that the U.S. has an “obligation” to protect both Americans and U.S. allies from threats.

At home, Conley pledged to be a champion in the fight against antisemitism and other forms of hatred as a violation of core American values, adding that the Jewish community “should be celebrated and protected.”

“As somebody who has fought for this nation, for American values, for the American people, for our Constitution and what we represent, I firmly believe there is nothing more un-American than hate and this rise of antisemitism we have seen across this country is completely unacceptable,” Conley said. “We have to take this head-on. This cannot be something that we tolerate.”

“I think what we are seeing is the guise of fighting antisemitism be the cover in which the Trump administration actually pursues their political targeting of opposition,” Conley said, adding that the Trump administration’s mass firings at the Department of Education are “kneecapping our ability to address the issue of antisemitism in our schools.”

She volunteered that she would support the Antisemitism Awareness Act, of which Lawler has been the lead sponsor in the House, as well as calling for continued funding for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights — which the Trump administration has gutted — to ensure that antisemitism in education is investigated.

Conley said she does not believe the Trump administration’s efforts to deport student visa holders and strip funding from colleges and universities are actually designed to combat antisemitism.

“I think what we are seeing is the guise of fighting antisemitism be the cover in which the Trump administration actually pursues their political targeting of opposition,” Conley said, adding that the Trump administration’s mass firings at the Department of Education are “kneecapping our ability to address the issue of antisemitism in our schools.”

Conley told JI she’s running for Congress because “we need more good people who are willing to fight the hard fights for the right reasons in government” and “we need new leadership” who “are going to put the American people first.”

Her key issues include affordability and economic prosperity, challenges she attributes to politicians who are “looking out for their own self interest”;  Conley named Lawler as being among them, specifically citing concerns about backing he received from an Elon Musk-linked super PAC.

When Conley entered the race, a Lawler campaign spokesperson said he’s happy to let the Democratic primary field “compete over who is the most lunatic, far-left radical in the race, while he continues to work with common-sense Democrats and Republicans to lower the cost of living, make communities safer, protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and secure the border.”

Conley said she’s the strongest candidate in the Democratic primary because of her local roots and “career in public service and federal service” that shows she can “fix things that are broken.”