Swipe for the left?
A Democrat seeking to run against Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler is searching for votes — and political soulmates — on the dating site Tinder, The Post has learned.
People in the Hudson Valley were stunned to see candidate Mike Sacks, a divorced dad of two, show up on their Tinder feeds.
“I’m Mike Sacks running for Congress in NY-17. Looking for someone who believes in health care is a human right, housing should be affordable, and democracy is worth fighting for,” Sachs, who goes by Mike 43, said in his bio.
“Green flags. You vote. You care about your community, you think politicians should actually live in the district they represent.”
His red flag? “You’re Mike Lawler.”
“Swipe right if you want a congressman who will actually show up,” Sacks, 65, wrote. “Let’s meet up and talk about what matters to you. Ask me anything, let’s talk politics.”
Sacks, a father of two sons and Emmy-winning former TV journalist and lawyer, clearly identifies himself as a candidate for Congress on the dating app — unlike another hopeful who ran for the House of Representatives in 2018.
Suraj Patel, who was running for a Manhattan House seat, created bogus profiles with photos of attractive people on various dating apps, then attempted to pick up other users as voters in a practice that he called “Tinder banking.”
Campaigning for votes on dating apps is a sign of the times, and could be a cost-effective way to communicate, political analysts said.
“Dating apps are now part of normal life,” said campaign strategist Even Roth Smith, founding partner of Slingshot Strategies.
“We’re across the Rubicon of meeting voters where they are. Politicians are swimming upstream on how to reach voters.”
Veteran campaign consultant Hank Sheinkopf said Sacks might be “too clever by half” in a district where there is a significant ultra-orthodox Jewish population.
“The Hasidim aren’t on Tinder,” he said.
Lawler, the GOP incumbent, poked fun at Sacks.
“I’m guessing Mike Sacks’ Tinder account is the first time he’s ever swiped ‘right’ on anything in his life,” the congressman said.
“But if shared hatred of me gets him a date with some fellow left-wing fanatic, more power to him. I’m happy to play matchmaker,” Lawler said.
“If this fails, he can always ask Cait Conley and one of her DHS-aligned, AI profiling clients to help him out,” he said, in a shot at another Democratic contender.
Sacks told The Post the Tinder pitch was indeed intended to promote his campaign, but not romance.
“It’s for the campaign. We’re looking to reach voters where they’re at. It is not my intention to get dates,” he said Wednesday.
“It’s swipe right for Democracy. It’s another way to reach voters”
The Tinder pitch has been a hit, he said, landing 3,000 potential matches for meet-ups with the campaign.
But there have seen some snarky responses, he said, including one from a person identifying as Mike Lawler saying, “you’ll never win my constituents.”
