House candidate Cait Conley supported the Trump administration's targeted strikes last year against nuclear development sites in Iran, and she agrees the country should never be allowed to wield nuclear weapons.
But she takes an unsparing view of the "stupid and reckless" war President Donald Trump launched against Iran in concert with Israel in February, which lingers to this day. She argues it created new problems in the Middle East and at home with no gains to show for the U.S.
"The way this war has been conducted has been counterproductive to America's national security objectives and long-term national security," Conley told The Journal News in an editorial board interview on Tuesday, Oct. 13. "We cannot mistake short-term tactical gains
for longer term strategic success."
Conley, the Democrat taking on Republican Rep. Mike Lawler for New York's 17th Congressional District, answered questions about the ongoing Iran war, immigration enforcement, tax cuts and more in an hour-long discussion. The Journal News interviewed both candidates separately as they enter their final three weeks of campaigning for a key House seat in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Conley is a West Point graduate and 16-year Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and later held national security posts in the Biden administration. She won a five-way Democratic primary in June and is taking on a second-term incumbent in a race that's rated a toss up by nonpartisan observers and that appeared very tight in an Emerson College/PIX11 News poll taken at the end of September.
Here are some of the stances Conley took in The Journal News interview:
Conley on tax cuts
Conley was asked for her position on the various tax cuts Republicans enacted last year in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which Democrats uniformly opposed due largely to the cuts in Medicaid and food aid spending that it also imposed. Those tax cuts are the center of Republican campaigns this fall.
Conley already has questioned one of her opponent's proudest feats: a raised limit for state and local tax deductions, hoisted from $10,000 to $40,000 as part of the tax law. (She argues Congress should have let the cap expire altogether.) But did she support its extension of lowered individual tax rates for all incomes that Congress set in 2017? Or the new tax breaks it created, including those for tipped income and overtime?
"I agree with lowering taxes, especially for middle and working-class families and people," Conley said, appearing to back the renewal of reduced tax rates for those income brackets. But it was unclear from her response if she supported allowing rates for top earners to revert back to higher levels in place before 2017.
She also agreed with waiving taxes on tips and overtime. The GOP law eliminated taxes on tipped income up to $25,000 and on a portion of overtime earnings (just the added 50% in "time-and-a-half" pay) up to $12,500.
Conley on the Iran war
Asked about the hobbling of Iran's military and nuclear capabilities, Conley gave no ground to the Trump administration. She blasted the decision to go to war "without clear military objectives, without an exit strategy, without the support of our allies, without congressional authorization for the use of force, and without the support of the American people." She raised a slew of concerns, including the damage toll and repair cost for U.S. military bases in the Middle East that Iran attacked.
"Look, I have no love lost for the Iranian regime," she said. "I have lost friends to Shia militia groups in Iraq. I want to see them held accountable too, in America's safety, long term. This was not the way. And that's what makes me really upset."
Conley on energy
Conley disagreed with her opponent on drilling and piping more natural gas to lower energy costs (part of an all-of-the-above approach for Lawler, along with nuclear and renewable sources). She argued for trying to reduce household demand on the power grid instead, such as through tax incentives for solar power and geothermal heating.
"We already have natural gas here in the Hudson Valley," she said. "That's not an issue. What is an issue is our continued dependence on just that and fossil fuels versus other cleaner, faster forms of energy generation that are happening right now in other places that we're behind on."
Conley criticized Republicans for repealing clean energy incentives in last year's tax law, and the Trump administration for stopping a major wind farm off Long Island that would have powered 1.2 million homes. But she also acknowledged that gas is here to stay as an energy source for the near future.
"Look, I believe the energy future, especially in the years to come, is going to be all of the above," she said. "And we have to be prioritizing the better, long-term solutions that also address nearer-term energy demand."
Conley on her tech jobs
Conley has come under fire — first in the primary, now in the general election against Lawler — for working as a consultant for two technology firms since leaving the Biden administration and starting her run for Congress. Lawler has suggested that work ties her to the artificial intelligence industry and the controversial data centers that are being built to serve it.
Asked about her work for Hidden Level and Primer, Conley said it follows her military career by "ensuring that our service members have the best capabilities possible." Hidden Level, she noted, is a Syracuse-based company that makes drone detection equipment, which she said was an important asset on battlefields where the dangerous use of drones is growing. It also plays a vital domestic role, she added.
"That means having drone detection systems on Yankee Stadium," she said. "So you don't have to worry about a terror group dropping a bomb in the middle of a Yankees game. Or a concert. That means have drone detection systems at airports."
She said Primer provides data analysis for the Defense Department and argued that work was consistent with her wanting "all companies to be providing the best capabilities to our soldiers and service members and our law enforcement."
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Cait Conley talks Iran, energy, tax cuts with The Journal News
