NEW YORK — Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) at least twice in the past month has missed or sidestepped opportunities to condemn racist language in public settings, POLITICO has learned on the heels of a New York Times report that he wore blackface in college.

The images emerged as Lawler, a first-term Republican, is locked in a competitive reelection fight for his congressional seat in New York's Hudson Valley.

For the first time since the blackface controversy for New York Congressman Mike Lawler surfaced, his Democratic opponent in the upcoming election offered his thoughts on the matter.