'I've never seen anything like this': New York suburb overwhelmed by tight House race

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK -- When Republican Rep. Mike Lawler walked around a trick-or-treat event at Strawtown Elementary School in West Nyack Friday, he was mobbed by people asking for selfies, ecstatic that the first term lawmaker seeking reelection in a battleground district showed up.

Except none of them could vote. They were all children.

But after tens of millions of dollars have been spent here on a crucial House race, the kids still surprisingly knew exactly who he was -- or at least supposed to be, asking if it was really him or someone in a hyper realistic Lawler Halloween costume.

That's not to say the reaction was without value -- these kids' parents do vote, and in a tight race between Lawler and former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones, they could hold the key to the House majority in their hand.

And while the children were excited to see Lawler, their awareness underscored just how omnipresent the race had become here. Actual voters in this congressional district sounded a different note, though: fatigue.

"Who invited him?" one parent asked at the event when they heard that Lawler was coming to Strawtown.

Conversations with over two dozen voters here revealed a frustration with the explosion of campaign activity here this cycle, lamenting that they're getting bombarded. Having grown up here, I had never seen it like this before either.

Lawn signs are everywhere. Voters can't go on YouTube or turn on the television without getting blitzed with ads, fueled by tens of millions of dollars in campaign spending. When I came home, mail solicitations for both sides were laid out for me to peruse -- sent over just the past few days, there were enough to blanket half the kitchen island. Heaps more had already been recycled.

Such activity is typical during election seasons, chiefly in competitive purple states across the Rust Belt and Sun Belt. Here, though, people are still acclimating to the intensity.

Located in a state that's deep blue on the presidential level, this suburb was represented for a long time in Congress by senior Democrats like Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey, both of whom coasted to reelection with nominal opposition in older versions of this district.

Now, though, with Lawler's 2022 upset and a tight presidential race, the area finds itself at the core of the 2024 election cycle. And in an area politically divided, voters are united in their irritation.

"It is a bit bombarding, I would say, with the texts, I don't know how I got onto so many text lists," said Robert Zucker, an electrical engineer from Valley Cottage who's voting Republican down the line.

"When I get online, it's like that, it's on my phone, I turn down the TV. I don't want to hear the ads anymore from either side. I just don't want to hear them anymore. It's hard," added Shirley Lasker-Fox, an Upper Nyack Democrat.

Some voters grudgingly recognized the reason behind all the activity.

The contest is on the knife's edge, after all, and suburban districts like this are at the heart of both parties' paths to power in Congress. While it's not ideal, they said, this House race is important, and thus deserving of the attention it's getting.

But most residents were exasperated.

Peri Karkheck, a retired art teacher and Trump supporter, called it "nasty and disgusting."

"I've never seen anything like this," she said.

Beyond being frustrated with the flurry of activity, voters lamented that the political atmosphere in the area had grown tense. Nobody wanted to talk politics anymore, some said. Others told of relationships that had been strained over political differences.

Two lawn signs on Strawtown Road read, "YOU WANT TO SAVE AMERICA VOTE TRUMP OR YOU'RE THE ENEMY!"

This suburb by no means ever had a "small town" vibe -- it's still a populated neighborhood filled with New York City commuters. But tales of knocked-over lawn signs and graffiti on garage doors marked a far cry from the kind of atmosphere I remembered growing up.

Yet that was a time when elementary school students would've been hard pressed to recognize their congressman.

"This is the tensest it's ever been," said Kevin Riley, a Peekskill Democrat. "This is really a tight election. A lot of people are tensed up about this. I have couple of brothers that are going one side, and got another brother going with me. And so, the arguments, hopefully by Thanksgiving, we're all kissing each other."