NEW YORK — Vulnerable New York Republicans are going all in on former President Donald Trump in the final sprint before the election.
On Saturday, Trump and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik held a tele-rally for Empire State Republicans in battleground seats. Trump made a pitch for freshman Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Marc Molinaro, Anthony D’Esposito and Brandon Williams. Trump also plugged GOP candidates Alison Esposito and Mike LiPetri, according to sources on the call.
And Sunday night, the entire House GOP leadership team attended Trump’s high-profile rally at Madison Square Garden, as we scooped last week. Stefanik and Speaker Mike Johnson both had speaking slots at the packed event. A ton of rank-and-file members, including Lawler and D’Esposito, were also in attendance. D’Esposito was even part of the motorcade.
“We’re about to grow that majority. And New York is going to make that happen,” Johnson said on stage. “You’re going to elect our incumbents here and our challengers.”
The calculation: It’s unusual for Trump to be campaigning in such a deep blue part of the country a week before the election. While Trump, a native New Yorker, insists he can win the state, let’s be clear — that won’t happen.
Yet New York has become the epicenter for the battle for the House. And Trump’s stump speech — well, at least the non-meandering parts — touches on issues that resonate in New York, such as immigration and crime.
Republicans are also betting Sunday’s rally will garner national attention while raising a boatload of money. And if Trump can improve his performance in some of these key districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020, that’s good news for New York Republicans fighting for survival in blue seats.
The risk: Still, it’s a risky strategy to hug Trump so tightly. New York Republicans in tough races have spent their first terms in office trying to carefully cultivate a bipartisan brand outside of the GOP.
Meanwhile, Democrats have hit these vulnerable Republicans over their ties to Trump, arguing they’ll be rubber stamps for the MAGA agenda.
And Sunday night’s hugely controversial rally at MSG showed the ugly side of Trump’s base.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a bunch of racist jokes, while other speakers used crude and sexist rhetoric to refer to Trump’s political adversaries, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
Hinchcliffe said he “carved watermelons” with a Black audience member, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made extremely vulgar comments about Latinos “making babies.”
Several Republicans from Florida, which is home to a large Puerto Rican population, condemned the remarks. And so did D’Esposito, whose mother was born and raised in Puerto Rico.
Trump’s camp also put out a rare statement distancing the campaign from the remarks. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” said Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser.
Trump’s speech, which ran for more than an hour, was more-or-less the same one he’s been delivering on the trail. But it did catch our attention that Trump declined an opportunity to name-check the lawmakers — including New York Republicans — in attendance. “That’s a lot of introducing, right?” Trump said. “Let’s keep going.”
However, Trump did offer some effusive praise for Johnson, predicting “he’s going to be around for a long time.”
We’ll have much more on these key New York House races while we’re on the ground here all week.
Stefanik news: We have some news about the looming House Republican leadership races. Stefanik has been telling insiders she plans to run for GOP conference chair again, according to multiple sources, even as speculation mounts that she’ll join the Trump White House if he wins.
Of course, Stefanik could easily step down from her leadership post if she gets confirmed to a potential Trump administration job. We’re told she’s got her eyes on the United Nations ambassadorship. But that process will take some time to play out, whereas the leadership elections will likely occur in November.
