The subjects of both Trump and Biden are sensitive in these two fluctuating New York districts

NEW YORK — The top of the ticket is taboo to the contenders in two of New York’s most competitive House races.

Some candidates won’t even reference their party’s presumptive presidential nominee by name. All of them pivot as quickly as they can to their own elections.

After all, Donald Trump can be an anchor on down-ballot Republicans and, as of late, Joe Biden almost definitely is one for Democrats.

“I answered the question. I’m supporting the Republican nominee,” Rep. Mike Lawler said in an interview with POLITICO, even though he had, in fact, not answered whether he’ll eventually endorse Trump.

“I support him. He supports me. That’s the relationship,” Rep. Marc Molinaro told POLITICO. In contrast to Lawler, the upstate Republican went on to use Trump’s name and talk briefly about their cross-endorsement before bringing the conversation back to his district.

Democratic challengers Mondaire Jones and Josh Riley, meanwhile, declined requests for interviews to elaborate on their far-from-enthusiastic statements about Biden, whose debate stumbles two weeks ago have thrown his viability into doubt and his party into chaos.

Neither Trump nor Biden are very popular in 17th and 19th congressional districts north of New York City — perhaps most evident in how the candidates jump to tie their rivals to their party leaders but are reticent to talk about their own standard-bearers.

The two face-offs are among the six in the state expected to help determine who controls the House next year. But the dynamics are different than in other New York battleground races.

The Republican incumbents’ support for Trump is tepid, especially compared to GOP Reps. Nick LaLota and Anthony D’Esposito on Long Island.

And Democrats Riley and Jones — who are in their second and third campaigns for Congress, respectively — are somewhere between noncommittal and fatalistic on Biden, though the state’s most endangered frontline Democrat, Rep. Pat Ryan, has urged the president to withdraw for the sake of his country.

“Most of the voters I talk to wish they had different options, and they want new leadership. They’re not wrong,” Riley, the former U.S. Senate counsel locked in a rematch against Molinaro, had said in his statement. He notably did not give his own opinion.

“If President Biden is the nominee, I’ll be voting for him,” read the start of Jones’ statement, released as Lawler issued a press release pressuring his opponent for a response.

Jones on Thursday responded in an additional statement to POLITICO further excoriating Lawler for supporting Trump.

Lawler, who represents the lower Hudson Valley, said polling of his race and Biden and Trump’s shows he is the only candidate above water.

His election and Molinaro’s are shaping up to be among the most closely watched in the country, and they’re at a fundraising disadvantage as Democrats outpace them in the cash race.

Riley raised about twice what Molinaro did for his campaign in the past three months of the year. And Jones has been topping Lawler’s numbers for several quarters, though both are strong fundraisers.

“I was outraised by him two years ago, significantly, and we won,” Molinaro noted of the rival he has sought to portray as a Washington insider.

Lawler’s campaign raised about $1.5 million in the second quarter of this year, he recently announced.

He didn’t deny a hefty campaign war chest is crucial but he, like Molinaro, pointed to the red wave that ushered several New York Republicans into office.

“Think back to 2022, I raised $1.6 million total and took out the chair of the D-triple-C,” he said Thursday of then-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. “So money alone is not the determinant factor.”

A version of this story first appeared Friday in New York Playbook. Subscribe here.

AP TROIB News