Comedian and Emmy-winning former journalist Mike Sacks (D) launched a bid Wednesday for a crucial House seat currently held by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), offering a candid-if-profane message for potential supporters: He wants to “unf‑‑‑ our country.”
“I’m running for Congress to tell you the truth, to fight for New York, and to unf‑‑‑ our country,” Sacks said in a two-minute introductory campaign video posted online, with the expletive bleeped out.
According to his campaign website, Sacks is a single father of two who has lived in the area since 2018. He graduated from Duke University and earned a law degree from Georgetown.
“We can’t do the same old thing with the same old people,” Sacks said in the campaign kickoff video. “In Congress, I’ll bring our bold ideas to save our democracy. We need to do this now, before it’s too late.”
The video took direct aim at Lawler, who has represented the Hudson Valley-based district north of New York City since 2023, with a viral clip of the congressman and ally of President Trump reciting a parody rendition of the Beach Boys song “Kokomo” that Lawler changed to support Trump’s push to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland.
“Lawler’s playing moderate up here, while voting MAGA down there — rubber-stamping this administration, thinking we won’t notice,” Sacks said in the video.
Sacks, 42, is the fourth Democrat to enter the race against Lawler. The district is one of 35 seats the Democratic Congressional Committee has targeted to flip in the 2026 midterm cycle.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the race as “leans Republican.”
Lawler reported this week that his reelection campaign raised $1.46 million in the first quarter of the year.
“Two years ago, Democrats cleared the field for a defund-the-police socialist in Mondaire Jones, and he got crushed. This time, their plan appears to be a bloody, expensive primary with an ever-expanding list of candidates fighting to see who’s the most radical liberal. Good luck with that!” Lawler campaign spokesperson Chris Russell said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday after Sacks’s announcement.
“Congressman Lawler is rated as one of the most effective and bipartisan members of Congress. He’s raising record amounts of money and remains very focused on his job in Washington, which is creating a more affordable, safer and prosperous Hudson Valley for everyone.”
