New York: Trump Paints the Town Red

‘Staggering’ is the word Gothamist uses to describe the Republican gains at New York City.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden October 27, 2024 at New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

When President Trump next has occasion to gaze at the New York City skyline from the penthouse of Trump Tower, he could well see a sea of red. That is because the boy from Jamaica Estates who made his fortune in the five boroughs just posted a hometown electoral showing that is nothing short of astonishing. Gotham did not make the 45th president the 47th, but Trump’s success in The City That Never Sleeps is an early alarm for Democrats. 

New Yorkers have long reserved a special disdain for Trump. His rally at Madison Square Garden, in the closing days of the campaign, was hardly on the social calendar of Upper West Siders and denizens of, say, Bushwick. Manhattan’s district attorney, Alvin Bragg, brought criminal charges against Trump. New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, secured her own civil verdict. The writer E. Jean Carroll was awarded millions for defamation. 

Even as these disdainers set themselves against Trump, millions  flocked to vote for him. The pollster Nate Silver writes that “almost no place has seen a bigger increase in Trump support than the five boroughs.” Take Queens. Senator Romney won around 20 percent of the vote in 2012. Trump notched nearly 40 percent on Tuesday. The Bronx, overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic, gave Trump more than a quarter of its votes.

While New York City voters still broke for Vice President Harris over Trump by a margin of 68 percent to 30 percent, the trends were all positive for Trump. Take the Bronx again. He garnered 35 percent more votes in the Bronx, where 71 percent of registered voters are Democrats, than he did four years ago. Across the city, he received more than 90,000 more votes than he did last time, and Ms. Harris collected around 573,000 fewer than President Biden.  

Gothamist calls the results “staggering” and notes that “every single county within the New York City metropolitan area moved toward Trump when compared to four years ago.” Every single one. The publication notes that Trump’s strength was “particularly pronounced in majority-Asian and Latino districts across south Brooklyn and Queens.” The only district Trump won at Manhattan is predominantly Chinese-American.

Jewish New Yorkers were hardly left out of the party. Fox News exit polls detected a 50 percent increase in support for Trump among that group relative to 2020, as his share of the Jewish vote grew to 45 percent from 30 percent. Republicans made enough gains from New York to California to cost one of those Jewish New Yorkers, Senator Schumer, leadership of the Senate. He was last heard asserting that antisemitism was a Republican problem.

Trump’s strength was flexed statewide as well. He lost New York by 44 percent to Ms. Harris’s 56 percent, a 12 point improvement on his tally against Mr. Biden. One Democrat from Queens, Jessica Ramos, cites “the Democratic Party’s inability to deliver on bread-and-butter issues.” One attorney tells Politico that driving around New York gives the sense that Trump is “the Yankees. No sports team has ever had the kind of merch this man has.”     

Trump’s success in New York was replicated from the condominiums of Miami-Dade to the Texas borderlands. It is not hard to see why. Runaway inflation and uncontrolled immigration have taken a toll everywhere. Democrats, whether they sit at Gracie Mansion or the White House, have failed the test of governance. Faced with four more years of the same, more New Yorkers than ever joined their nation to say “Fuggedaboutit.” 


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use