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By: Ilana Siyance
New York City’s suburbs are shifting their support towards the GOP and Former President Donald Trump, as they focus on crime and the migrant crisis. As reported by Fox News, both Republican and Democratic insiders are saying that Trump is gaining speed in Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties. These well-to-do suburbs are traditionally split and went solidly red in the 2022 midterms, as backlash for the controversial bail-reform laws. “I think the real catalyst was the crazy way that the Democrats were managing both Washington and Albany,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, told Fox News Digital. “Now, when you talk about cashless bail, when you look at our insecure borders . . . we’re spending billions of dollars on people who have been here for 15 minutes rather than hospitals, infrastructure, schools. People are fed up.”
Democrats still outnumber Republicans in both Nassau and Suffolk, but voter turnout strongly favored the GOP in the 2022 local and congressional elections. In fact, even in 2020, Trump had narrowly won Suffolk County, beating President Joe Biden by just under 250 votes.
Per the Post, Trump’s message is resonating with suburban voters. “I think the Democrats are the ones that are helping us the most, and I think moderate Democrats and independent voters want to vote Republican now because they’re fed up with the policies of Biden-Harris,” Blakeman said.
Laura Curran, a right-leaning Democrat who opposed the bail reform law, said despite her positions, far-left policies forged in Capitol Hill hurt her campaign, leading her to lose her re-election bid to Blakeman in 2021. “Talking about who is the standard-bearer of your party is really, really important,” Curran said. “That’s why its good Biden is gone, and Kamala Harris is in.” Curran also pointed at Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul as another weak spot. A recent poll by Siena College revealed that Hochul’s favorability among New York voters has fallen below Trump’s. In her last election, Hochul had defeated former Rep. Lee Zeldin by less than 5%, even though registered Democratic voters in NYS outnumber registered Republicans by more than double. The polls show that today’s voters are focused on crime, the migrant crisis, taxes and the economy.
Trump’s overly-packed rally in Nassau County on Wednesday was proof of this. In Suffolk County, residents side with Trump for the federal involvement they experienced when the Justice Department helped them combat the violent MS-13 gang. “That was a gang that had a death grip on Long Island,” said Lou Civello, the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association (PBA) president. “It was a problem that needed more than just local policing,” Civello said. “We needed a federal partner, and President Trump made it a priority.” The Suffolk PBA became the first police organization in NY to endorse Trump earlier this year.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, counties saw renewed crime with the wave of migrants coming in from the borders and being flown into sanctuary cities like NY. The Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua moved in, quickly making headlines for a slew of robberies.
Per the Post, Trump has vowed to become the first Republican presidential candidate to win NYS in decades. Still, it wont be easy. True, recent Siena College polling shows that NY’s suburban counties slightly favor Trump over Harris, 50% to 48%, and he leads the Upstate region 50% to 45%.