The New York Trio Soon To Be Heading the Federal Government

One of the newsworthy developments to come out of the elections is that, starting in January 2027, all three main national elected leaders will likely be from New York. Barring any surprise leadership shakeups in Congress, we will have a New Yorker for president, a New Yorker as Speaker of the House, and a New Yorker as Senate majority leader.There have been several presidents from the state of New York (Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, both Roosevelts, and President Trump). Senator Chuck Schumer became the first Senate majority leader from New York in 2021. New York’s only House speakers so far were John W. Taylor (1820–1821 and 1825–1827) and Theodore Pomeroy, who served for one day, March 3, 1869.In this case, all three men are from New York City itself. For the rest of us non-New Yorkers, having all three top national offices in New York’s hands may seem a bit much.After all, there are only 8.6 million people living in the five boroughs of New York City, or about 2.5 percent of the American people. There are an additional 343 million Americans living outside New York City. That means there are roughly 40 Americans outside New York City for every person living inside the Big Apple.To give you some sense of how closely Messrs. Trump, Jeffries, and Schumer are geographically, Fortune Magazine reported that they grew up within 11 miles of each other. Mr. Trump grew up at Jamaica Estates, Queens. Both Messrs. Jeffries and Schumer grew up at Brooklyn — Mr. Jeffries at Crown Heights and Mr. Schumer at Midwood. While their geography is close, their ages span a generation. Mr. Jeffries is the youngest at 56. Mr. Schumer is in the middle at 75, and Mr. Trump is senior at 80 years of age.Messrs. Schumer and Jefferies attended high schools on Bedford Avenue at Brooklyn — although, to be sure, not at the same time. Their high schools are an eight-minute drive or a 36-minute walk from each other. Before going to New York Military Academy at age 13, Mr. Trump attended the Kew–Forest School, a 34-minute drive from Mr. Schumer’s high school. The two senior New Yorkers have ties beyond geography. According to Mr. Trump, the president played a foundational role in Mr. Schumer’s political ambitions.In a November 2016 interview, Mr. Trump recalled Mr. Schumer visiting Mr. Trump’s Brooklyn office, where Mr. Trump reportedly contributed the first $500 to Mr. Schumer’s campaign. He repeated the first-check anecdote at the Al Smith Dinner in October 2024, with Mr. Schumer present.Similarly, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries have now had years to work together wrangling Democrats in the House and Senate. Just remember that behind the posturing, the press conferences, and the harsh attacks from both sides, there are three New York deal makers trying to figure out how to get what they want from each other at the lowest possible cost.Do not be surprised if this concentration of experience at New York City leads to a couple of pretty good deals for the Big Apple.Given Mr. Trump’s history of helping to improve the city — such as his revival of the Wollman Rink at Central Park — I have a hunch Mr. Trump’s attitude is going to be the opposite of the 1975 front-page headline “Ford to New York City: Drop Dead.”Do not be shocked if a big enough deal leads to a ticker-tape parade with all three being welcomed by the Democratic Socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, as historic contributors to reviving and modernizing the city.It is too early to tell if having three New Yorkers running the government will lead to bipartisan deal making or a work-around for typical Washington gridlock. Yet I suspect it will mean some good things to come for New York City.

The New York Trio Soon To Be Heading the Federal Government

The New York Trio Soon To Be Heading the Federal Government

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