George Conway
Coinciding with the five-year anniversary of the January 6 Republican U.S. Capitol insurrection, former Republican George Conway has announced his candidacy as a Democrat for the U.S. House in New York’s 12th Congressional District. Conway’s candidacy is sure to attract plenty of controversy, given his former high-profile status as a conservative lawyer helping the Republican Party, and husband of Kellyanne Conway during her term as advisor, campaign manager, and White House Counselor to Donald Trump before and during his first term (the Conways divorced in 2023).
New York’s 12th District is quite unusual and high-profile. Covering a chunk of Manhattan, it is simultaneously the smallest, one of the wealthiest, and one of the most Democratic of all U.S. Congressional districts. Obviously, it is also home to a number of news media headquarters and bureaus. The race this year in the district will be to replace retiring Democrat Jerrold Nadler, who was an outspoken member of his party. On the Democratic side, the contest has already attracted Jack Schlossberg, who is the telegenic grandson of President John F. Kennedy and daughter of Caroline Kennedy, as well as a slew of other candidates. Thus, the Democratic primary (which almost assuredly will yield the general election winner) promises to be a lively one.
However, another challenge for Conway is that, while he did live in the district decades ago as a corporate attorney in private practice, he has been a resident of the Washington, D.C. area during much of his time helping the Republicans and being married to Kellyanne. Conway just scrambled back to Manhattan recently to run for this House seat, and thus will be correctly accused by opponents of being both a recent New York resident and a recent Democratic Party convert.
Nevertheless, Conway has several things going for him. He is very bright. He is very experienced with appearing in the media. He knows his way around the political system. And he has been a harsh critic of Donald Trump, and MAGA Republicans, at least since co-founding the anti-Trump Lincoln Project in 2019, which is certainly helpful for any Democrat running for this House seat.
It is often said that reformed cigarette smokers become the strongest anti-smoking advocates. Now New Yorkers in the 12th Congressional District will get to decide if a reformed Republican is the best Democrat to represent them.
Photo by societyfortheruleoflaw, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/YA2CGr
