DEBATING TRUMP’S HITLER REMARKS: The recent confirmation by John Kelly, former President Donald Trump’s one-time chief of staff, that Trump had made admiring statements about Adolf Hitler featured prominently Wednesday night in two House race debates. The new reporting via the New York Times and the Atlantic was the focus of the first question of a very contentious CBS New York debate between Rep. Mike Lawler and Mondaire Jones, who are vying for a Hudson Valley seat. “Hitler was arguably the worst person that has ever walked this earth. The president denies saying this, and ultimately, this is a choice for the American people,” Lawler, a first-term Republican, said before adding, “Obviously, I would condemn any rhetoric along those lines.” Jones, a Democrat and former House member, shot back, “What you just heard was obfuscation from Mike Lawler, who is supporting Donald Trump for the third consecutive presidential election cycle.” In the News 12 debate between Rep. Nick LaLota and John Avlon on Long Island, LaLota defended Trump and declined to condemn his remarks as relayed by Kelly. Avlon attacked first. “That seems pretty urgent,” the Democrat said. “That seems pretty relevant to the choices facing our nation and to the judgment my opponent observes because that kind of slander and slur to a man responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews and hundreds of millions around the world should not enter anywhere near the Oval Office.” LaLota in turn challenged Avlon’s credibility as a former CNN anchor. “Only a good journalist, an independent, honest, trustworthy journalist, would verify the fact before he spewed some sort of rhetoric, hearsay,” the Republican incumbent said. “That has not been confirmed. The campaign has denied that.” — Emily Ngo ADAMS IN BATTLEGROUND AD: A Republican super PAC has launched an ad attacking Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi for his ties to Mayor Eric Adams. The spot, which is the Congressional Leadership Fund’s first ad in NY-03 this cycle, opens with a fleeting image of a newspaper cover trumpeting Adams’ federal indictment. It then pivots quickly to a topic that impacts voters in Suozzi’s Nassau County and Queens district much more directly: taxes. Adams has been a bogeyman in Republican House attack ads as the face of a Democratic Party that the GOP says is corrupt and soft on crime and migrants. But none of those ads have focused heavily on the mayor’s criminal charges, at least in part because — as POLITICO has reported — Trump faces his own legal woes. The new 30-second ad targeting Suozzi cites him raising property taxes in Nassau County and the mayor saying he’s open to tax hikes on the wealthy in the city. Adams had said “everything’s on the table” to close a budget gap. Suozzi was once floated as a deputy mayor to Adams. And while he has called Adams’ charges concerning, he has not yet sought his resignation. The frontline Democrat faces Republican Mike LiPetri in a less competitive battleground race. (LiPetri will debut his second TV ad of the cycle this morning. It does not feature Adams.) Suozzi instituted a one-time property tax increase in 2002, his first year as Nassau County executive, but he’s credited for righting the county’s finances and improving its bond rating. “Congressman Suozzi knows how much high taxes are gutting Long Island families, and he has passed legislation three times in the House to increase the SALT deduction,” his senior adviser Kim Devlin told Playbook. “Republicans in the Senate killed the legislation, but Congressman Suozzi will pass a bill in the House again and this time will get it through the Senate.” — Emily Ngo AGREE TO DISAGREE: With his debate last night, Republican Senate candidate Mike Sapraicone had a chance to improve the odds of his longshot challenge to incumbent Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. He opened with an attack claiming the average voter couldn’t pick Gillibrand out of a police lineup but then spent much of the rest of the hour semi-agreeing with his opponent and praising her efforts in Congress. “Senator, thank you for taking those 3,000 guns off the streets, it’s great,” Sapraicone said. “Never in my 20 years did I take 3,000.” In a year of contentious congressional races across New York, the debate was, by comparison, far more tame, with Gillibrand and Sapraicone rehearsing party lines on abortion, immigration, SALT and the Equal Rights Amendment in perhaps the most civil terms of the state’s cycle. They even joked about attending the ticker tape parade for the New York Liberty together. After Gillibrand blamed New York’s migrant crunch on former President Donald Trump, who instructed Republicans to kill a bipartisan border bill, Sapraicone asked the junior senator why she and her Democratic colleagues, who hold a majority in the Senate, didn’t vote on the bill themselves and send it to the House. “The rules in the Senate is that you need 60 votes to stop debate on something. It’s called the filibuster. And so if you don’t have 60 votes… you need nine Republicans,” Gillibrand said. After realizing his mistake, Sapraicone pivoted to the families whose loved ones were killed by undocumented migrants. The two also disagreed on the Equal Rights Amendment. Sapraicone said, as the father of four daughters, he’s nervous the ballot initiative would allow students to play on sports teams corresponding with their gender identity. “What equal right is that giving my daughter, when a man can go into that locker room and say he’s a girl and going to compete with her?” Sapraicone asked. Gillibrand cast his concern as a red herring and accused Sapraicone of demonizing, “some of the most vulnerable children in youth sports in this country” for political gain. The latest Siena poll from last week has Gillibrand up by 26 points. — Timmy Facciola
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