Cait Conley

Cait Conley's mother spent 48 years as a postal worker, her father worked construction, and her grandfather and great grandfather worked in the Montrose brickyard.¹ She attended Pine Bush High School and says watching the September 11 attacks as a junior prompted her to apply to West Point.¹

She became her family's first college graduate at West Point, later earning a public policy master's from Harvard and an MBA from MIT.¹² Her 16 Army years included six overseas deployments, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and military police and special operations leadership roles.³² She has described leading a military police platoon in western Baghdad during a tour of 13 months.³

Conley also served as the National Security Council's director for counterterrorism, helping develop policy against drone threats.² At the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, she was senior adviser to the director and oversaw election security support for state and local officials.² Her May 2026 disclosure reports salary and consulting fees from Hidden Level, and consulting fees from Primer.⁴

Her 2026 platform supports a public health insurance option, expanded Medicare benefits, protecting Medicaid and housing loans for teachers, nurses and first responders.⁵ She also backs banning congressional stock trading and requiring members to divest personal holdings.⁵ The Democrat is challenging Republican incumbent Mike Lawler for the Hudson Valley's 17th Congressional District.⁶