On Presidential Candidates, LaLota and Avlon Take a Different Approach

Republican U.S. Representative Nick LaLota and his Democratic opponent, John Avlon, took different paths in discussing their respective parties’ presidential nominees this week but missed no opportunity to jab at each other, two weeks after Avlon won a Democratic primary election to become his party’s nominee to challenge the first-term Republican for the 1st District seat.

In separate interviews on Tuesday, July 9, the Republican incumbent and his challenger discussed President Joe Biden and his opponent, former President Donald Trump. While Avlon, of Sag Harbor, stopped short of endorsing the president’s reelection, LaLota, of Amityville, was full-throated in his support for Trump’s campaign.

Avlon reiterated a statement he gave to The New York Times last week following Biden’s performance in a June 27 debate with Trump that was followed by some Democrats withdrawing their endorsement and searching for an alternative candidate.

“Panic is not a useful emotion, and neither is denial,” Avlon said. The president “had a bad debate, but has a great record. I think the debate in the party is a sign of a healthy political party, rather than walking in lockstep and excusing whatever Trump says or does, like LaLota has from the beginning.”

He pivoted to his own race for the House of Representatives. “I never thought this was going to be a top-down election, I thought it would be bottom-up. … Those of us who believe the stakes of this race are so high because of its trajectory-defining implications for the United States of America and our example in the world as a vibrant democracy, that’s definitionally bigger than any one person.

“The only thing that has changed is more people are aware of the urgency that should come with Democrats retaking the House,” where Republicans hold a narrow majority.

“I’ve been clear about this for months now,” LaLota said. “I endorsed Trump, he’s endorsed me.” The former president’s policies “put us on a track to economic success,” he said. “His border policies kept families safe.”

Biden, he said, “is not up to the job,” noting that several House Democrats have called for him to withdraw from the race, “and the party is in free-fall now, attempting to respond to a massive cover-up of cognitive decline, a cover-up by his party, by those in Washington and the national media who are choosing to … put politics before people.

“I wish my opponent weren’t so equivocal about all things, including this presidential race,” LaLota said. “Voters in New York 1, with whom he is not familiar, deserve a straightforward answer from both candidates.”

Asked about several instances of Trump’s conduct during and after his presidency, LaLota would offer no criticism of the former president, and sidestepped a number of questions.

On Trump’s first impeachment, in 2019, after his attempt to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine to announce an investigation into then-candidate Biden and tie that demand to military aid, the incumbent said, “I think when the commander-in-chief is exercising his or her authority on behalf of the United States, it ought to be in America’s best interest. I will continue to support policies consistent with that.”

On Trump’s second impeachment, in the wake of the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol, LaLota said that “everybody who broke the law that day must be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”

Asked specifically about Trump’s actions in relation to the event, LaLota said, “I’m happy to engage in a bipartisan analysis of a connection between political rhetoric and violence and law-breaking, but it must be a comprehensive, bipartisan analysis.” He spoke of “prominent Democrats” who incited what he called riots in 2020. “I hope as a society we can get to a point where our leaders don’t engage in conduct or rhetoric that incites people to violence,” he said.

Rather than discussing Biden, Avlon said that Republicans should rethink having Trump as their standard-bearer. “He is a convicted criminal who tried to overturn an American election on the back of a lie that led to an attack on the United States Capitol. Campaigning on an authoritarian platform, praising dictators, criminalizing abortion, giving more tax breaks to big corporations, gutting Social Security and Medicare. How about that debate? How about more focus on the lies and the authoritarian policies laid out in Project 2025?”

A compilation of policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 has recently come under scrutiny as it receives wider media coverage. Republicans, Avlon said, “have apparently decided to renominate someone who by any objective criteria would be unfit for office.”

Regarding Trump’s recent conviction for lying on business records to cover a 2016 hush-money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, LaLota did not address the matter, instead calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution “totally political” and said that “Americans should want a judicial system that does not favor any one political party” or “attack any one political figure in a party.”

Asked to address Trump’s actions, he said, “I like what I’ve seen more recently from Trump,” adding that the former president is “forward-looking, policy-oriented, trying to build consensus around reasonable people in Washington to address the nation’s most important problems, specifically regarding the border and inflation.”

Asked about Trump’s use of words like “vermin” and “scum” to describe people, and his reference to participants in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally as “very fine people,” LaLota said, “I don’t choose to use that sort of vernacular. When I describe problems like America is facing with illegal immigration that Biden has welcomed into the country, I choose to tackle it from a policy perspective and hope we get back to a point as a country where both parties respect the rule of law and immigration law.”

As to Trump’s answer to the Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would never abuse power as retribution “except for Day 1,” the congressman said, “I didn’t hear that. What I heard from former President Trump was, his best vengeance would be governing properly, instituting a proper rule of law on the border, instituting polices that could cure many economic challenges my constituents are facing. I don’t anticipate Trump retaliating.”

LaLota said that he recognizes that “there are people from the presidential nominees’ parties who are not with that party’s nominee,” including Trump. “Today, there are eight House Democrats who are not with Biden’s reelection,” he said.

“We’re 125 days out” from the November 5 election, Avlon said. “I’m focused on winning the race. That means I focus on the things I can control. But I never thought this was going to be a top-down race where Biden pulled us to victory.”