New York Republicans want to pump their political muscle in Washington now that homestater Donald Trump will be in charge next month.
Not since Theodore Roosevelt has a New York Republican served as president of the United States. Richard Nixon, who lived in New York when he successfully ran for the presidency in 1968 was considered a Californian at the time.
More recently, some have either brushed off the New York Republican Party as inconsequential or used them as a conduit to raise money by out-of-state politicians.
This year, times are different.
Trump Tower sits in Midtown Manhattan and has become known as the “North White House,” as visitors to Trump’s lofty office above 5th Avenue are now screened by not only local and federal law enforcement, but also a waiting press pool.
Similar to Roosevelt, Trump brings with him New York influences in his top administration choices.
His New York apparatus includes Treasury pick Steve Mnuchin, Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross and his most recent pick Vincent Viola for Secretary of the Army.
New York’s Republican influence in Washington does not stop there, however. On the foreign policy side, Manhattanite Kathleen Troia “KT” McFarland was chosen to be the deputy National Security adviser and New Yorker David Friedman was nominated to be Ambassador to Israel.
On the campaign side in Washington, New Yorkers Ed Rogers and Matt Walter fill the top leadership posts at the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican State Leadership Committee, respectively.
“New York is now the epicenter of national politics. It’s President-elect Trump’s home state, home to top talent and we expect President Trump to tap a number of New Yorkers to serve in the Administration. It’s also home to Senate Minority Leader Schumer and potential 2020 Democratic presidential rivals. While Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio fight each other over their national political ambitions, we are focused on defeating them in 2017 and 2018 to benefit the people of New York State,” New York State Republican Chairman Ed Cox told The Daily Caller in a statement.
Cox went on to say, “And now we will have the President of the United States by our side in the fight. We’ve had great successes on the local, state, and congressional levels and the groundwork for winning in 2017 and 2018 has already begun.It’s a team effort, working with a Republican administration and national Republican organizations, including the Republican National Committee and the Republican Governors Association. With hard work and team work, the next two years– like last year–will be a great time for the NYGOP.”
However, Trump lost his home state by over 2 million votes, but the results were not completely unexpected.
Democrats in New York City outnumber Republicans 8 to 1, and Democrats edge out Republicans in registered voters statewide nearly 3 to 1, according to the NY State Republican Committee.
Trump’s popularity, though, spread through the rural and manufacturing areas of upstate and Western New York, which secured counties for him previously won by Barack Obama.