George Conway, a former Republican and longtime critic of Donald Trump, used the fifth anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot to officially launch his bid for Congress on Tuesday, releasing a campaign video that positions his candidacy as a direct challenge to the president and his political influence.
Conway, running as a Democrat in New York’s 12th Congressional District, filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on December 22, 2025, but waited until January 6, 2026, to make his campaign public. The timing and theme of the launch appear to serve as a deliberate signal of the political battle Conway intends to wage.
His announcement video opens with scenes from the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot — including footage of people rushing into the Capitol building and Capitol police holding riot shields. Conway appears on screen and says, “When we see it,” followed by a clip of Trump stating, “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol.” Conway continues, “hear it,” accompanied by a Trump clip saying, “we will give them pardons.” Then he adds, “read it, feel it.” The video then shows a series of images: negative Trump headlines; immigrants being handcuffed, taken away, and crying; Elon Musk making a hand gesture that the corporate media falsely characterized as a Nazi salute; and a Nazi flag. Conway concludes: “We find it hard to believe, but it’s real. It’s happening on the streets of New York City every day. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. It has to stop. We must make it stop.”
Conway characterizes Trump in the ad as “a corrupt president, a mendacious president, a criminal president whose masked agents are disappearing people from our streets, who’s breaking international law and he’s running our federal government like a mob protection racket.” He also argues that Trump has overseen an economy that benefits the wealthy while ordinary Americans struggle, remarking: “As for the economy, hey, it’s great for him — crypto watches, golden sneakers — but for everyone else, groceries, health care, prices skyrocketing and millions losing coverage.”
Conway portrays his opposition to Trump as both sustained and deeply personal. “I fought Trump publicly in every way I could. I paid a price. I’ll never regret standing up to Trump or for the victims he abused, helping E. Jean Carroll sue Trump for raping her and lying about it. Now Trump owes E. Jean Carroll $88 million.”
The announcement marks Conway’s first entry into electoral politics, placing him in a crowded Democratic primary for New York’s 12th Congressional District. The seat, which spans from Union Square to the Upper West Side, is currently represented by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who announced in September that he would not seek reelection after 34 years in Congress. Other Democrats in the race include Micah Lasher, Alan Pardee, Liam Elkind, Erik Bottcher, Alexander Bores, Jami Floyd, Laura Dunn, Cameron Kasky, and Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy.
According to his campaign website, Conway “cofounded the Lincoln Project to help defeat Trump at the ballot box in 2020: founded the Society of the Rule of Law, an organization of lawyers fighting Trump’s attacks on the justice system, and campaigned aggressively for President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
The site also highlights Conway’s departure from the Republican Party: “George is a former Republican, but when Donald Trump hijacked the Republican Party and twisted it into a scam for corruption, cruelty, and authoritarian power, George no longer had a home in the Republican Party.”
Conway’s campaign frames Trump’s personal attacks as evidence of his effectiveness: “Trump knows how effective George is at fighting back, so he’s lashed out, calling George a ‘stone cold LOSER.’ George wears it as a badge of honor.”
His campaign highlights a refusal to take corporate PAC money and promotes a grassroots strategy as central to his run, saying that big money ‘poisons our politics.’
Conway concludes his campaign ad, declaring, “This is no ordinary time, and I will not be an ordinary member of Congress. Let’s do this together.”
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