Anti-Trump former CNN anchor John Avlon was handily beat in his attempt to run for a U.S. House seat in the First Congressional District of New York, losing by more than 11 points to incumbent Rep. Nicholas LaLota.
With 98 percent of the district’s vote reported, the Associated Press logged 217,461 votes, or 55.7 percent, for LaLota over Avlon’s 172,700 votes, or 44.3 percent.
Avlon left his senior political analyst position at CNN on February 8 before announcing his bid for Congress two weeks later, the Hill reported.
The eastern Long Island district, which includes part of Suffolk County and the ultra-wealthy Hamptons area, has been represented by LaLota for just one term since he succeeded former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R), who left the House to run for governor before losing to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in 2022.
When announcing his departure from CNN, Avlon said it was to “defeat Donald Trump” and his “MAGA minions,” Fox News reported.
Avlon previously repeated the deceptive edit of the president-elect’s remarks following the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia riots where it made it seem like he called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” Breitbart News reported.
The former CNN analyst conceded the race just after 10:45 a.m. Wednesday morning:
“Democracy depends on respecting the results even if you don’t win. Patriotism means loving your country no matter who is president,” he wrote on X.
“I ran for Congress because I was so concerned about the stakes of this election for our country and our community. That still stands.”
