The man tasked with keeping Democrats in power in the U.S. House of Representatives is in the fight for his own political life back home.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is at risk of losing his grasp on New York’s 17th Congressional District, located just north of the five boroughs.

In 2020, Joe Biden won the district — which stretches from Rockland County to Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley — by roughly 10 percentage points." But just recently, prominent election prognosticator Cook Political Report rated the race as a “toss-up.”

That is no small development, since Maloney chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, meaning he is in charge of trying to keep his party in the majority in the House.

It is a role that has made him a big target.

A Super PAC affiliated with House GOP leadership has sunk millions of dollars into this race, looking to flip the district. A GOP win here would amount to a symbolic victory, given Maloney’s leadership role.

Democrat-aligned groups have responded in kind, throwing well over $1 million into the contest in the past few weeks. And over the weekend, First Lady Jill Biden and former President Bill Clinton stopped by to campaign with the congressman.

Maloney’s opponent, Republican state Assemblyman Mike Lawler, said he entered this race clear-eyed about the challenge of taking on someone in House leadership. But, he says, he has lived here his whole life.

“I know the people here. I represent many of the people here. I understand the challenges because I live them too — and unfortunately my opponent doesn’t understand them,” he said in an interview.

Lawler is taking a page out of his party’s playbook, hitting his opponent — and the Democratic Party at large — on crime and the economy.

“We need to increase domestic energy production. And that will help bring down costs of both gas prices and home heating costs, as well as the production of goods,” the Republican said.

Maloney, meanwhile, is touting policy wins on Capitol Hill, such as getting oil barge anchorages banned on the lower Hudson River.

He is also trying to paint Lawler—  who he has dubbed “MAGA Mike,” a reference to Donald Trump’s campaign slogan — as out of step with the mainstream, including on abortion.

Lawler opposes abortion rights, with certain exceptions, though he also publicly opposes a national ban on the procedure.

“When Mike Lawler says, ‘Let the states decide,’ that means he’s fine with states banning abortion,” Maloney says in response.

Maloney’s decision to run here in the first place was met with criticism from some fellow Democrats.

Maloney currently represents New York’s 18th District, but after redistricting, he opted to run in the more Biden-friendly 17th District instead.

Although Maloney lives in his new district, the move effectively forced freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones to seek election elsewhere. Jones would ultimately lose the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Lawler argues redistricting and Maloney’s district change ends up helping him.

“He doesn’t have that built in advantage that a normal incumbent does because this is a redistricting year,” Lawler said.

Maloney, meanwhile, says tight matchups are nothing new to him.

“I’ve always been in a competitive congressional district. That makes me a little different than some people who serve in the Congress. I’ve got to go out and earn it every two years,” he said.

Whether he will earn it this time could come down to the wire.