NEW YORK — Republican Rep. Mike Lawler has received a much-needed boost of at least $500,000 from Elon Musk in the closing days of his reelection fight even as the world’s richest man reportedly has undercut Ukraine by throttling or cutting off access to the Starlink satellite system used to defend against Russian attacks.

The endangered suburban congressman, who is facing a tough challenge from Democrat Cait Conley, describes himself as a strong supporter of Ukraine and says Musk’s companies should do everything it can to help the Western ally protect itself against deadly attacks by Russian invaders.

“Congressman Lawler believes the U.S. and American companies should be doing all they can to help Ukraine win the war. That includes SpaceX,” Ciro Riccardi, a spokesman for Lawler’s reelection campaign, told the New York Daily News.

But Lawler’s campaign insisted the lawmaker wouldn’t disavow the support of Musk, whose super PAC has poured money into supporting him in the Westchester County-based NY-17 district that is a marquee matchup in the upcoming midterms, with early voting starting Saturday.

Lawler’s campaign correctly notes it has no control over the spending by Musk’s super PAC and is legally barred from cooperating with it.

Conley slammed Lawler over the Musk donation, which she calls an effort to buy the GOP lawmaker’s support for data centers, artificial intelligence and other Big Tech priorities, charges Lawler denies.

“Lawler has sold out to his trillionaire and corporate backers at our expense — voting to give them billions in tax breaks and footing all of us with the bill,” Conley tweeted.

Ukraine’s defenses have been hobbled in recent days by unexplained failures of the Starlink and Starshield satellite systems that are a crucial tool to protect civilians from incoming Russian missiles and drone attacks.

Trump denies ordering any change in the defense system or intelligence sharing even though he in recent days has praised Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and slammed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered the shift, a claim that was bolstered by statements from Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth blaming Musk’s SpaceX for any change.

Musk’s America super PAC spent heavily to back Lawler’s successful 2024 reelection campaign.

This year, he’s spent at least $267 million to help elect Republican candidates, most notably Ken Paxton, the GOP standard bearer in the Texas Senate race.

The SpaceX and Tesla mogul could still spend more in the final days of the midterms campaign as Lawler seeks to win a third term by fending off Conley, a military veteran and first-time political candidate.

Musk’s group has also spent about $500,000 backing Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., as he faces an even tougher reelection fight than Lawler in the swingy suburban NJ-07 district, federal campaign spending records show. Some Republican groups have stopped spending in Kean’s race because his race is widely seen as doomed to defeat amid a looming Democratic blue wave.

Lawler has long been in Democrats’ crosshairs, in part because his Westchester County-based district is one of only three in the nation to have elected Republican lawmakers while voting against Trump in 2024.

Even critics praise Lawler as a gifted campaigner, but he could still be dragged down by Trump’s deep unpopularity.

With the president’s approval ratings sitting at historic lows, Democrats and independents like the well-educated and affluent residents of NY-17 tell pollsters they want to use their congressional ballots to send the White House a message over issues like the Iran war and soaring gas prices.

Democrats need to flip just a handful of GOP-held seats to grab control of the House and install Lawler’s nemesis Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as the first Black speaker of the House.

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