George Conway files paperwork to run for Congress from New York as a Democrat

George Conway, a conservative lawyer turned vocal critic of President Trump, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Monday for a bid to represent New York City in the House.

The attorney who was once offered a job in the first Trump administration and was previously married to former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway became a prominent critic of Mr. Trump, and co-founded The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC, in 2019.

Conway's rebukes of the president helped him build an online following as his frequent criticism that came as his wife served as counselor to the president, spurring interest throughout Washington. The president once called Conway "a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell."

Conway, 62, enters a crowded race to succeed Rep. Jerrold Nadler in New York's 12th Congressional District. The district, which includes Manhattan's Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Midtown neighborhoods, is deeply Democratic and one of the nation's wealthiest districts. 

At least nine people are already vying for the Democratic nomination, including Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy, March for Our Lives co-founder Cameron Kasky and New York Assemblyman Micah Lasher, a protege of Nadler's. 

Nadler, 78, was first elected to represent New York in the House in 1992 and went on to chair the powerful House Judiciary Committee. He announced in September that he wouldn't seek reelection, citing a need for generational change in the Democratic Party. 

Days ago, Conway said on his podcast that he was leaving the show to do "either the stupidest thing I've ever done, or the best thing. We'll see." He wrote Monday about the coming midterm elections on Substack, saying the House has become "a kneeling gallery" to the president, while warning that "a handful of seats is all that stands between democracy and a president who answers to no one."

"We need Democrats to take over Congress — and not just any Democrats, but the most fearless and relentless ones," Conway wrote.