Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) lauded Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and her last-minute endorsement of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) in Michigan’s Senate race — just as the New York Republican hopes to get Democratic voters to cross party lines in his suburban swing district, which has a large Jewish population.

Lawler, one of just three members of his party representing a district then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in 2024, greeted Stevens’ eleventh-hour defection from Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s camp with a post on X reading only “America.” The GOP congressman’s 17th District seat encompasses Orthodox Jewish towns in Rockland County as well as a range of Jewish voters in adjacent Westchester County, and has sought to win their votes by highlighting the ascendance of anti-Israel elements in the Democratic Party. 

Accordingly, Lawler criticized  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for calling Stevens’ turn to Rogers a “despicable betrayal” — and blasted El-Sayed,who sparred with Stevens in the days before she rescinded her endorsement over a wave of antisemitic TV ads.

“The only despicable betrayal is by Sen. Schumer, a complete Shanda, who has thrown the Jewish people under the bus in his pursuit of power,” Lawler wrote on X, using a Yiddish word for scandal or embarrassment.. “Supporting a vile antisemite like El-Sayed, because for Chuck Schumer being a Democrat matters more than standing up for the Jewish people.”

A spokesperson for Schumer did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Neither did Lawler’s opponent in Tuesday’s election, Cait Conley, a former Army major and centrist Democrat, who has also courted Jewish voters and distanced herself from her party’s left flank.

Several online commentators criticized Lawler, a Catholic, for his attack on Schumer, the country’s most prominent Jewish lawmaker. Both enjoy close ties with leaders of local Orthodox Jewish communities, who have largely endorsed Lawler in his race.