A liberal professor and a Republican strategist both agree that former President Trump and the GOP are taking advantage of disappointment with the Democratic Party’s leadership in New York.
“There are a lot more Republicans and dissatisfied Democrats in the state of New York than we’d like to admit,” City College of New York professor Christina Greer said. She recalled the surprising amount of support Republican Lee Zeldin received while running for governor in 2022.
“I don’t know if New York is definitely a blue stronghold. All states are red states, we just have blue cities in red states,” Greer said. “New York is the reason why Joe Biden didn’t have a unified government in 2022. We’re the ones who lost the four members of the house who went over to the Republican Party.”
Panelists on MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports” discussed Trump’s Thursday campaign rally in the South Bronx of New York City. They agreed New York is not turning red anytime soon but agreed Trump and the GOP are making surprising inroads in a famously liberal state.
“The real reason why Donald Trump is going to the Bronx is to say to the Democratic voters of the Bronx ‘Has Joe Biden been here?’ right? ‘You all keep voting democratically, but I’m the one who’s actually coming to visit you,’” Greer said.
“I don’t think he necessarily thinks he’s going to get Black and Latino voters to vote for him. The strategy is to get them to abstain from voting for anyone on the top,” she added. “That’s where it matters, not just in New York, it matters in places like Milwaukee, Detroit. Places where Joe Biden has less favorability.”
“Joe Biden needs to make the case to Black and Latino voters, and I should say Black male voters,” Greer said. “Black female voters tend to be immune to what the Republican Party is selling. We always see Black male voters voting a little bit more for the Republican Party than Black female voters. The real reason that Donald Trump wants this is to make sure he sort of suppresses the vote by Black male voters in the sense he’s not expecting them to vote for him.”
Republican strategist and MSNBC political analyst Susan Del Percio argued that Republicans have also won genuine support in the state, even if the state leans towards Democrats overall.
“The Bronx elected its first Republican last year to the city council, the first one in 40 years. So just putting that out there that a Republican won a seat for the first time in 40 years, and I’m not suggesting that Donald Trump is going to win New York. It’s not going to happen, but it goes to a bigger issue for the Biden campaign,” she said. “Donald Trump did seven percentage points better in the Bronx in 2020 than he did in 2016. Biden did worse in New York City in 2020 than Clinton did in 2016.”
“The narrative that’s out there, that these communities are not getting the attention that they probably should get from the Democrats if they want to increase turnout is very significant,” she said. “Donald Trump’s doing this rally not to win over votes but because he thought y’know it’s a good press hit, okay fine, he can have that, but there is a message for Democrats, not in New York City per se, but if it’s on the margins, those swing states, it matters.”
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