Category: Elections

VOTERS BEWARE: ANTI-CHOICE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES MASQUERADING AS “PRO-CHOICE”!

These are toxic times for women in Westchester County.

FIVE MALE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR ELECTION CLAIM TO BE PRO-CHOICE BUT ARE ACTUALLY ANTI-CHOICE.

THEIR QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS PROVE IT – AND THEY ARE ALL RUNNING AS DEMOCRATS!

CHOICE MATTERS EXPOSES THE LIARS AND FRAUDS – regardless of party affiliation. And that’s exactly why you need us.

Three of these men – Michael Peppard, Wilson Terrero, and Daniel Guzman – unequivocally oppose New York State’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA) – the law that enshrined Roe v. Wade into our State’s legal code making NYS a beacon for women seeking reproductive care after Trump’s Supreme Court overturned Roe.

And the two others refused to submit their positions on abortion.

Michael Peppard is running for County Legislature in CDL 3 (North Castle, Mt. Pleasant, and part of Briarcliff Manor). Wilson Terrero is running for County Legislature in CDL 17 (Parts of Yonkers). Daniel Guzman is running for NYS Assembly in AD 94 (Westchester County: Somers, parts of Yorktown; Putnam County: Carmel, Kent, Putnam Valley, Southeast, Patterson).

These candidates are dangerous for women! They do not care about our rights. Help us expose them!

If you believe as we do that Women’s Lives and Women’s Rights are NON-NEGOTIABLE, PLEASE support us with a donation today. We need is your financial support to succeed! 

A Tree Crushed My House

During the horrific storm on the night of July 4th,  a tree fell on my house demolishing more than 50% of it. We were lucky. No one was home.

A devastating personal disaster, but also the perfect metaphor for the deadly storm brewing in this nation as it confronts its 250-year anniversary and an administration hell bent on destroying it.

Our country and Democracy, like my home, must be rebuilt from the bottom up. But unlike my house, our country has only 112 days left to pour the foundation. We must act.

On June 23rd – four years minus one day since Roe v. Wade was overturned – Democratic voters in NYS Congressional District 17* took a critical step toward rebuilding our Democracy. They elected ProChoice Voter-endorsed Choice Matters candidate Cait Conley to run against and DEFEAT MAGA Mike Lawler.

Cait Conley must win this critical seat if we are to take back the House and save our Democracy.

But candidates don’t win on their own.

They need voters like you – and all of Choice Matters’ other 80,000+ pro-choice voters! Together we are THE KEY to Victory. Please, if you believe in a country where constitutional rights are guaranteed and medical decisions are private choices, I’m urging you to please support our work so we can reach every pro-choice voter in the district. Every dollar will help us contact one more pro-choice voter who will help decide this election in November.

Choice Matters is fighting relentlessly to take back Congress with a critical win in CD 17 while also powering pro-choice NY state campaigns to victory. At the heart of this is a simple truth: we must build back better and stronger than every before.

We can come together to build a new politics where civil rights are not debated but instead guaranteed. We the people can come together to take back power, but only with your help. 29 million women of reproductive age are living in states with abortion bans. THEY ARE COUNTING ON YOU.

Cait Conley for the WIN!

ProChoice Voter proudly endorses Cait Conley for Congress. After meeting each candidate, carefully considering their records, and listening to their presentations at multiple forums, Cait is the woman who can beat MAGA Mike Lawler.

Cait Conley is an outspoken and proven leader who maximizes every opportunity to address the reproductive health care crisis, including abortion and contraception.

Cait zeroes in on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, national abortion bans, and the Big Ugly Bill’s horrific impact on Planned Parenthood and independent clinics. Cait has highlighted Anti-Choice Extremist Mike Lawler’s 11+ votes against abortion care and his support for the national abortion ban which prohibits veterans and their families from receiving abortion care or counseling – even in cases of rape, incest, or severe health risks.

Cait Conley was born and raised in the Hudson Valley. After the September 11th terrorist attack, high school junior Cait put country over self, applied to West Point, graduated in the top 2%, and literally put her life on the line to keep us safe.

At this time, when 25+ million women of reproductive age live in states with total abortion bans, we know Cait Conley is the warrior we need to defeat MAGA Mike Lawler. Given her Special Ops background, and election and national security experience at the highest levels in Washington DC, Cait will be ready on Day One to fight like hell to take back our rights and our Democracy!

VOTE FOR CAIT CONLEY ON JUNE 23RD!

Photograph: Cait Conley, Choice Matters: New York: The Front Line, 10/23/2025. Photographer: Betsy Franco Feeney

ALERT: MAGA Mike Lobs Lies at Democratic CD 17 Candidate

Looks like anti-choice extremist MAGA Mike Lawler (just like his mentor Trump) is once again playing 3-card Monte with the truth to distract from his own horrific record by spreading blatant lies about his opponents. 

On Monday, a “Lawler-friendly” reporter smeared a Democratic Primary candidate. BUT Candidate Cait Conley fought back! (See below.) 

Let’s all take a page out of Conley’s book and call out ALL of Lawler’s lies and deceitful actions AT EVERY TURN!  Thanks, Cait Conley, for setting the record straight!

P.S. Before you buy into any BS, please do your homework.


Friends,

You may have recently seen articles published by The Intercept and Politico Pro that deliberately misrepresent my counterterrorism and national security work. Let me make one thing abundantly clear: the lies and attacks are starting because Mike Lawler is scared. He is spreading deceptive misinformation to stop the momentum we are building because he knows that if I am on the ticket in November, his political career will come to an end.

Unlike Mike Lawler and his MAGA GOP cronies, I am beholden to the truth.

Here is the truth:

I advise two start-up companies focused on national security to help keep American families and American critical infrastructure–like sports stadiums, hospitals, our water supply, and our energy grid–safe from terrorist attacks.

My work focuses on how to counter violent tactics used by terror groups and drug cartels. Period. There is zero connection with ICE and its domestic immigration enforcement.

The companies I consult for do not have any involvement with ICE and its domestic immigration enforcement.

And although Mike Lawler has tried to spin up this lie, I do not work with Palantir. 

I spent 16 years putting my life on the line in the military to protect Americans, deploying six times overseas, including to combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, to hunt down terror groups. Since leaving the military, I have worked with a range of private and public sector entities, at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and as a consultant, to help keep American families and American critical infrastructure safe from terrorist attacks.

I have been and will continue to be an outspoken critic of this Administration’s weaponization of the executive branch. I am running to hold ICE accountable for breaking the law and violating the Constitution to protect the rights of Americans. Secretary Noem must step down or be impeached. Congress must pass legislation ensuring ICE operates lawfully like local law enforcement, including banning masks and requiring judicial warrants for arrest, and sending CBP back to the border where it belongs. The federal agents involved in the killing of Americans must be fully and independently investigated, and any leaders who oversaw or enabled these abuses of power should be placed on administrative leave until investigations are completed.

I will never back down from this fight. 

The fact that Mike Lawler is so scared of the momentum our campaign is building that he stoops to lies and misinformation just reaffirms that what we are doing is working. The fact that he is trying this hard and this early shows you how scared he is to face me in November.

We will never bow down to his lies or intimidation.

This campaign will keep up the fight honorably and with dignity. I am proud to be in the arena with each and every one of you.

With gratitude and fire,

Cait Conley

Chatzky’s Sexism Destroying NYS Democratic CD 17 Primary

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release,
1/8/2026
Chatzky’s Sexism Destroying NYS Democratic CD 17 Primary
WCLA – Choice Matters
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For a man who claims to be a progressive, Chatzky showed a different side of himself this week. Using some of the $5 million dollars that he gave to his campaign, Chatzky has portrayed a fellow Democratic Primary woman challenger as a “stereotypical female” unable to make her own decisions – just like many Republicans do when they say women can’t be trusted to make their own choices.

What do women have to do to be taken seriously? Let’s ask Democratic Primary Candidate Peter Chatzky who chose to introduce himself to the public with a sexist ad clearly mocking front runner Democratic Primary challenger Cait Conley –  a woman who graduated from West Point in the top 2% of her class, earned master’s degrees from both MIT and Harvard, served 16 years as an active Army officer, deployed overseas six times, was awarded three bronze stars, and then was Director of Counterterrorism on the National Security Council.

A person’s sense of humor often reveals a lot about their intelligence, character, values, and emotional state. What does it reveal about Chatzky that he needs to turn a powerful articulate woman into a floppy straggly-haired marionette, a punching bag? That sounds a lot like Trump.

Chatzky offered no specific criticisms of Cait Conley who is a fourth-generation Hudson Valley native. One can only wonder if he finds going head-to-head with female opponents emasculating.

This Democratic Primary must focus on picking the candidate best able to defeat anti-choice extremist, MAGA Republican Lawler, and all contenders must stop attacking one another. Women across the United States need a pro-choice candidate who can win back CD 17.

A Head-Spinning Week – a recap

Over the last week we’ve witnessed:

  • The Supreme Court hear oral arguments against Texas’ extreme 6-week abortion  ban;
  • The Supreme Court side with the Albany Diocese AGAINST New York State, potentially overturning health insurance requirements concerning abortion;
  • Ohio’s introduction of HB 480 that is a total ban of all abortions and is structured like the Texas law, making citizens vigilante bounty hunters;
  • Anti-choice Republican candidates, including the gubernatorial one, win across Virginia; and
  • Close to home, in Nassau County, anti-choice Republicans win everything.But here in Westchester, it was different. WE WON!

    We couldn’t have done it without you.

    On Election Day, 90% of WCLA PAC’s endorsed candidates, rated 100% pro-choice by Choice Matters, WON! The “wins” for County Executive and County Clerk were overwhelming, in both cases 62% to 38%. The legislative races were tight, with our pro-choice voters making the key difference between winning and losing. (YEAH YOU!)

    Candidates who ran on a pro-choice platform won, and anti-choice ones lost.

    We proved again that abortion rights is a defining issue. Help us to continue to drive home this truth as we move forward into 2022. Contribute.

    And in New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy proved that abortion rights is a core issue when he won re-election – the first Democratic governor in New Jersey to win a second term in 4 decades! And he won as proudly pro-choice, pounding the airwaves and mailings with ads that highlighted his opponent’s extreme anti-reproductive rights, anti-woman positions.

    This week must be a wake-up call for anyone concerned about reproductive freedom or access to abortion care. Our rights are under attack in Washington and in state-houses across the country. But that doesn’t mean we’re throwing in the towel.

    This is why Choice Matters, together with its two political action committees WCLA PAC and ProChoice Voter, is laser focused on electing pro-choice champions in our communities — locally, statewide and nationally. They are key to defending our reproductive freedoms.

    As we move forward, into 2022 and beyond, please know that we will stand with those who stand with us today and moving forward.

    Our champions must protect reproductive healthcare clinics, birth control, and science-based sex education. They must stand for access for all, not just some.

Marching Orders from Fair Fight!

Dear Friends and Allies,

I am forwarding to you directions and information from our Fair Fight allies in Georgia. The run-off election is just over 3 weeks away. There is not time to lose!

Remember: The holidays come every year, but a run-off election like this comes once in a lifetime!
__________________

Hello friends,

Thank you all for your support and work for Georgia families! We are now just 24 days from Election Day (January 5th, 2021) and early voting starts next week, on the 14th. There’s a lot of work to be done and we hope that you will join us or one of our partners in this work.

You can sign up to phonebank or textbank with Fair Fight here: https://www.mobilize.us/fairfight/

Sign up to volunteer with the Democratic Party of Georgia’s voter protection team.

Volunteer Directly with the Ossoff and Warnock Campaigns:

Interested in helping to turn out Latinos in Georgia? Volunteer with Mijente: https://www.mobilize.us/mijentepac/

Sign up to do in person volunteering in Georgia with America Votes

**Because of an increase in doxxing and threats of violence surrounding this election we strongly advise that IN ALL of your voter contact scripts you make sure to identify yourself and your organization at the start of every call/text/postcard, before asking for or providing any other information.**

There is a lot of disinformation going around right now and it’s important not to spread it. Please read our statement on disinformation

Other ways to be involved: 
Contribute to Fair Fight and the Ossoff and Warnock Senate campaigns all at once. 

Other Ways to Invest in Georgia

  • Donate to Jon Ossoff’s campaign
  • Donate to Raphael Warnock’s campaign

______________________
“Now we have a historic two-Democrat runoff for the US Senate. One candidate is Black—a candidate Georgia’s election runoffs were invented to disqualify, Ebenezer Baptist Church’s Rev. Raphael Warnock—and the other, investigative journalist Ossoff, is white and Jewish. It’s the combination the late Dr. King and Representative John Lewis saw as creating the beloved community in Georgia, a combination Warnock called “marvelous” the other day.” by Joan Walsh, The Nation, 11/20/2020 

Voting Third Party? Think Again!

By Charlotte Baron

Third-party voting may seem attractive because candidates can appear as a viable alternative. BUT, at the end of the day, they are not. The United States presidential elections are still a two-party fight, and the cost of a third-party candidate plays directly into the hands of the Republican Party – At least, the Green Party does. Why? Because the Green Party platform is far more closely aligned with that of the Democratic one than the Republican one. As documented by The New York Times, the Republican Party, and some supporters of GOP candidates, support Green Party candidates up and down the ballot so that they can syphon off votes from Democrats.

Four years ago, the Green Party candidate Jill Stein, got votes in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania that exceeded the margin between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  Many blame the Green Party for Clinton’s loss, because those voting third party made it possible for Trump to take these states by a very small margin.

The Republican Party has a history of financially supporting the Green Party in efforts to manipulate the outcome of state and federal elections. The 2020 election is no different. A G.O.P. Elections Commissioner from Wisconsin worked, unsuccessfully, to get Howie Hawkins, the Green presidential candidate, on the ballot there. Hawkins has acknowledged Republican aid but, whether out of hubris or plain ignorance, dismissed it as irrelevant. In an interview, Hawkins stated, “I’m aware that some of that’s been done, Republicans collecting signatures for Green Party ballot access. I heard about it after the fact.” Over the summer there were numerous signature collectors from California and Florida working in Pennsylvania to get Hawkins on the ballot. The NYT found that the company sending petitioners to Pittsburgh was brought in by L&R Political Consultants, a company run by Larry Laws who was joined by Tim Mooney. Laws and Mooney worked together in 2004 to get Ralph Nader on the ballot. Trump is polling behind Biden nationwide which may explain why Republican operatives are again funneling resources to the Green Party.

The GOP approach is truly a stealth operation. It is advocating for its candidates while pushing third-party options like Kanye West and Howie Hawkins to take votes away from the Democrats. And in some cases, to such an extreme degree that the third party knows nothing about what is transpiring, like in Florida in 2009, when the Green Party didn’t even know the candidates who got on the ballot.

Voting for a third-party candidate takes away votes from the two major parties; and that can lead to unintended consequences. There are five candidates on the presidential ballot in New York, three of those are third-party candidates. Before you vote, remember Jill Stein in 2016 and Ralph Nader in 2000. Nader won more than 97,000 votes in Florida. This was the race that made history, with less than 600 votes delivering the state, and the presidency, to Bush.

NO IDC in DC – The Action!

Grassroots activists have joined with ProChoice Voter, our federal political action committee, to  ask voters to join together to reject the candidacy in the NYS CD 17 Democratic Primary of IDC Co-Founder David Carlucci. (Please sign on to this letter by clicking here.)

Congresswoman Nita Lowey is not running for re-election and there are several highly qualified candidates running in the Democratic Party Primary to succeed her.  The IDC (Independent Democratic Conference) Co-Founder is definitively NOT one of them.

>As a founding IDC member, from his first day in office, David Carlucci aligned himself with the NYS Senate Republican Caucus and successfully blocked crucial legislation that the Senate Democratic Caucus tried to pass, including, but not limited to: the Reproductive Health Act, Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, NY Liberty Act, Dream Act, Early Voting, Climate and Community Protection Act, Full Funding for our Schools, Fair Pay Act, an initiative to appoint a monitor with veto power in the East Ramapo School District, and the Child Victim’s Act.

>His record proves that he is an opportunist; that “getting things done” means betraying Democratic principles, and that lying to his constituents about his role in the IDC was his modus operandi. From the very first day he took office in January 2011, he deceived the voters in his district and continued to do so for almost 8 years. He ran for office as a Democrat but sat with the IDC and enabled the NYS Republicans to control the NYS Senate. He also helped draw some of the most gerrymandered districts in the nation, effectively working to ensure Republican control of the Senate.

Not until after the IDC was forced to dissolve and 6 of the 8 its members were voted out of office in November 2018 did this candidate join the NYS Senate Democratic Caucus – all the while deceiving his constituents about his allegiances.

>Now he is asking Democrats to trust him with a seat in Congress. Carlucci didn’t fight for his constituents in the New York State Senate; he cannot be trusted to fight for his constituents in Congress. His years of betrayal to the voters cannot be forgotten.

Join together with these activists in rejecting the candidacy of IDC Co-Founder, David Carlucci, in the NYS CD 17 Democratic Primary.

You can add your name to reject his candidacy by click here, or by emailing our coalition. If you are signing on behalf of an organization, email your logo, if you have one, to [email protected] (Individuals as well as organizations are welcome to sign.) For more information and/or to volunteer, please email: [email protected]

Tuesday was a GREAT Day!

You Did It! You came out and voted, bringing your friends and relatives to Early Voting and on General Election Day, November 5th! And on behalf of Choice Matters, WCLA PAC & pro-choice voters everywhere, thank you for that!

November 5th was a good day for Westchester County. After thousands of phone calls, distributing tens of thousands of our bight yellow ProChoice Voting Guide and door-knocking, we have elected 13 pro-choice County legislators. Our endorsed candidates won in all 6 contested County legislative races. We now have a pro-choice super majority on the Westchester County Board of Legislators. We also have a pro-choice majority on the New Castle Town Board!

Also, In The BIG News Column, Virginia elected a government that, with more hard work, should pass a Virginian Reproductive Health Act! And Kentucky elected a pro-choice governor! 

PLEASE enjoy today and our successes because tomorrow we must work! 2020 is finally here. There will be no time to waste.  The election will not only be about defeating Donald Trump. It will be about protecting the gains we made in 2018. 

We must turn our attention to accessibility and reproductive inequities. ALL women must have access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare regardless of their economic abilities and geographic locations, because legal does not mean accessible.

Unite to fight. For our rights.