Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is a notable alumnus of Manhattan College—at least according to the Bronx liberal arts school’s Wikipedia page.
The congressman, a former state lawmaker who upset Democratic campaign chief Sean Patrick Maloney last year, may boast a resume that merits the honor. But it wasn’t the Wikipedia hive mind that put Lawler on the notable alumni list; it was apparently Lawler himself.
The edit, made two years ago, was far from a one-off. The longtime GOP operative was a prolific editor of his own Wikipedia content. Lawler made 26 changes in total—which earned him a warning from site administrators that he was violating policy by editing his own content, and, later on, an outright ban.
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The account’s username—MichaelVLawler—is the same username Lawler uses on his personal Facebook and YouTube accounts. He also previously used “@michaelvlawler” on Twitter before changing the handle.
According to open source Wikipedia records, the edits were all made in 2021, while Lawler was serving as a New York assemblyman. Beyond authoring his self-made jump to his alma mater’s notable alumni, he made several more straightforward changes to his Wikipedia page.
Lawler added electoral statistics from his victory in 2020 over a Democratic assembly incumbent, buffed up his resume to note that he “serves as the Ranker of the Government Operations Committee and as a member of the Aging, Banks, Education, and Housing Committees,” and changed his name on the page in one instance from “Mike Lawler” to “Michael V. Lawler.”
The “V,” of course, is for Vincent.
He also added some links—like one to his campaign website, and one of him giving a “valedictory address” at Manhattan College, per the description from his YouTube. (He graduated from the college in 2009.)
The edits might seem fair game, if a touch self-aggrandizing. But where Lawler ran into trouble with Wikipedia was editing information about himself, which the site dubs as a conflict of interest and a violation of official policy.
In May 2021, Lawler’s account was flagged with a warning of the potential conflict of interest.
“We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on the page Michael Lawler, you may have a conflict of interest (COI),” the notice stated. “Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic.”
Lawler was told not to make any more edits about himself, but continued to do so that August. His account was ultimately banned that same month from making any more edits to his page—or to any other page on the site. A number of Lawler’s edits were also reverted later.
The Daily Beast reached out to Lawler's office three times with questions about the account, but his spokesperson, Nate Soule, did not respond until after publication of the article on Wednesday.
In an email, Soule acknowledged the account belonged to Lawler and that it had been warned by Wikipedia administrators against editing his own content.
Citing a note published on Wednesday from a Wikipedia administrator, Soule said the ban was ultimately over Lawler not verifying his identity, which indicated he was the real Mike Lawler—a flag that only occurred after his account had been hit with a conflict-of-interest warning for self-editing.
After publication of this article, Lawler requested that Wikipedia administrators lift the ban on his account. In a Thursday email to The Daily Beast, Soule said the site ultimately did so on Wednesday night.
On Capitol Hill, Lawler is considered a rising star in the GOP ranks, after winning a difficult race in 2022 against a formidable opponent. His victory—along with a series of other flips in New York—was essential to Republicans taking the majority in the House. Since being elected, Lawler has positioned himself in the moderate wing of the fractured Republican conference, and has been a staunch ally to Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Despite Lawler’s ban, legitimate edits to his Wikipedia page have continued as his career and list of actions in Congress builds. The upcoming election cycle will be a pivotal one for him; as one of 18 Republicans representing districts Joe Biden won in 2020, Lawler is one of Democrats’ top targets.
Democrats are already lining up to challenge him. Former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) just launched his campaign to win back the district he held in the last Congress, before Maloney leveraged a redistricting shuffle to edge him out and run for a different seat in New York City.
Also in the running for the Democratic nomination is Liz Whitmer Gereghty, sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Perhaps fortunately for Lawler, he is not the only member of his freshman class to have a past Wikipedia habit—or the only member from New York, even.
In January, it was revealed that Rep. George Santos (R-NY) owned a Wikipedia account under the name “Anthony Devolder,” one of the congressman’s known aliases. The account bio alluded to past instances in which he performed in drag. At the time, Santos was actively denying the credibility of photos and videos that showed him in drag attire.
But in the self-written bio, Santos claimed he started “his ‘stage’ life at age 17” at a “gay night club” as a drag queen that won several “GAY ‘BEAUTY PAGENTS [sic].”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect Lawler's office stating he was banned from Wikipedia for not verifying his username, as well as with information about his attempts to revert the ban after publication.
