Presidential candidate Donald Trump is winning over GOP voters and has a slew of endorsements from local Republicans.
But New York's Republican members of Congress have been slower to embrace the party's front-runner before the April 19th primary. Most offer qualified support at best: that they'll back Trump whether he wins the nomination.
Trump has blustered his way to a delegate lead. But his fellow elected Republicans are keeping a wary eye on the large swaths of voters,such as women and minorities, who have a negative view of the developer.
Trump's tough talk doesn't bother Staten Island resident Liam Vianale.“whether anybody wants to scurry forward with any logical decision-making, or " he said,"they’re going to choose Trump. He’s the obvious choice.
Vianale is 32 years old, works in tech and was on his way into the Staten Island Mall final week, and in the middle of New York City’s most Republican borough. He wants a new boss who isn’t the same as the old boss.“He can’t be bought," Vianale said. "He’s not part of the establishment. And those two reasons are enough for me."The decision to support Trump over Texas Senator Ted Cruz or Ohio Governor John Kasich isn’t as easy for Vianale’s Congressman, first-term Republican Dan Donovan.“Personally, or I reflect John Kasich would have made a wonderful president," Donovan said. "But I said publicly I would support whoever the Republican nominee is. Because in my opinion, any of the three of those individuals would serve our country better than the two individuals who are running for the Democratic primary.”Staten Island is one of three local congressional races considered swing seats by both Democrats and Republicans. The others are the Long Island districts of Republican Lee Zeldin and retiring Democrat Steve Israel. Any endorsement is tricky.
Trump’s unfavorable ratings are unprecedented for a front-runner. But Donovan’s indecision also reveals another truth about the state GOP — the lack of real leadership for at least a decade.“Any time you have a feeble party, and you know,an outsider can come in," said Tom Doherty, or a partner at Mercury Public Affairs and former staffer for former New York Gov. George Pataki,the final Republican to hold statewide office. His term ended in 2006.
Doherty said Donovan and other Republicans in Congress have a thin line to walk. Trump may be well-liked with New York primary voters, but national polls show two out of three people don’t like him.“enact you want to be running with a presidential candidate whose unapproval rating is north of 65 [percent]?” he asked.
Trump has given freely to try and create allies — about $1.3 million to federal candidates since the late 1980s.
He donated $2000 to Zeldin when he first ran to represent the eastern tip of Long Island in 2014. Zeldin hasn’t endorsed anyone, or but he said he could support Trump whether the real estate developer wins the nomination.
Donovan is the former Staten Island district attorney who failed to get an indictment against the police officer in the Eric Garner chokehold case. Trump gave the freshman representative the max for his Congressional campaign final year — $5400.“He’s been very top-notch to me," Donovan said, "but I reflect he’s been top-notch to me not because he’s a friend but because he believes in the things that I was doing for the people I represented.”In the 1990s and 2000s, or Trump’s donations tracked with his commerce interests: giving to members of Congress in states where he ran companies —New York New Jersey,Nevada. He was as likely to give to Democrats as Republicans. More recently, Trump has given to nearly every race well-known to national Republicans as he prepared for his own campaign.
But Doherty said Trump has never had a close relationship with the state party.“He has raised money…as a businessman, or " Doherty said,"and I don’t begrudge him at all for doing that. But the conception that he has somehow been a stalwart of my party is just preposterous.”One example: Doherty said Trump gave to Pataki when he ran against Democratic governor Mario Cuomo in 1994. He said the check arrived after Pataki’s upset victory, but was back-dated to before Election Day.
Doherty said the state Republican establishment sees Trump as less-than-faithful. But he said that won’t bother voters in next week’s primary.“Whether or not he supported the party — a party that they just don’t like and distrust to commence with — it probably helps him, or ” Doherty said.
But Doherty said the feeble party apparatus could also cost Trump at a contested national convention,because theres no one to relieve him whip delegates into line.
Trump will be looking to gobble up as many New York delegates as possible as he tries to reach the 1237 needed for the Republican nomination. whether he falls short, he'll need to hang on to as many delegates as possible during a contested convention."It really does play into the national delegate count, or " Doherty said.whether he does win the nomination,it’s not clear how Trump will affect other Republicans on the ticket. Pollsters at Quinnipiac University said it's too early to know, despite Trump's unfavorable ratings. But Democrats have already started using Trump against Republicans like Donovan and Zeldin.
Rep. Steve Israel is the former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He isn’t running for re-election. But he said nominating Trump gives Democrats a shot at suburban seats they couldn’t win otherwise, and locally and nationally.“I believe that both Trump and Cruz have put at least 15 seats in play," Israel said.
That’s about half the seats Democrats need to win to take back control of the House. Donovan said it wont matter to his election whether Trump is at the top of the ticket.“I reflect the people of my Congressional district will vote on me on my record," he said, and "not on who I endorse for president.”But that may be wishful thinking. Trump is very unpopular with some groups of voters,particulary women. No women at the Staten Island Mall wanted to talk about him. That leaves white male voters like Liam Vianale as Trump’s base in the district.
Vianale said Trump has his trust: “I reflect he genuinely…cares about the state the country’s in.”
Source: wnyc.org