If an embattled President Biden stays in the election, it could jeopardize Democrats running for the House of Representatives even in Democratic-heavy New York. – Senior Democrats from New York state have said Trump should resign and not seek reelection, it emerged on Sunday.
According to media outlets including Politico, The New York Times and NBC, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of Manhattan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Joe Morrell of Rochester, the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, are among Democrats who have said the party would be better off if Biden were not considered for the nomination.
But Biden’s weakness as a candidate in New York was known even before his debate debacle.
A Siena College poll released a week before the June 27 debate showed Biden leading former Republican Donald Trump by just eight points (47% to 39%), driven mainly by a 25-point lead in heavily Democratic New York City. Biden beat Trump by 23 points in 2020.
But in the New York City battleground suburbs, which include districts where Republicans could gain seats and win a majority in the House of Representatives in 2022, Trump leads Biden by 13 points (48% to 35%).
Biden also leads Trump by just 3 points in the North. – 45% to 42% – The poll was within four percentage points of error, and that was before his dismal performance in the debates.
“If the election were held today and I was running as a Democrat in a close district in New York, I’d be worried,” said Steven Greenberg, a pollster at Siena College.
“These findings should be extremely worrying for Democrats running for Congress or state legislature in battleground districts,” Greenberg added.
Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who worked on former President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign, said Biden could make it harder for Democrats to win in the New York suburbs.
“It’s crime, it’s chaos, it’s the immigration crisis, and it’s Biden,” he said. “His disastrous debate performance will boost Republican turnout and hurt Democrats even in New York.”
Sheinkopf said that if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the party’s nominee, abortion rights issues could come to the forefront, potentially giving Democrats an advantage.
A New York labor union official involved in state legislative elections said it was a second blow to Democrats, who struggled in 2022 when Gov. Kathy Hockal ran as the front-runner in a suburban district against Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
Thanks to an overwhelming margin of votes in New York City, Hawkle won the election by a narrow margin.
“There’s no doubt that a Biden presidency will undermine lower-division races, particularly in New York,” the labor source said.
Through a spokesman, Nadler declined to comment on what he said in the private call with House lawmakers.
Morell declined to comment.
New York’s three other Democratic congressional candidates also declined to comment: Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents Nassau County’s 3rd District and parts of Queens; Rep. Pat Ryan, who represents the 18th District in the northern Hudson Valley; and candidate Mondaire Jones, who is running in the 17th District.
In 2022, first-term Republican Rep. Michael Lawler defeated then-Democratic incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney in the 17th District, and Republican Marc Molinaro is currently in a rematch after defeating Josh Riley in the 19th District. On a bright side, Democrat Pat Ryan won the 18th District.
Meanwhile, first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito reclaimed Long Island’s 4th District seat formerly held by Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice, who declined to run for reelection.
Republican George Santos was elected to represent Nassau Queens’ 3rd Congressional District but was removed from office last year amid allegations of false statements, ethics violations and criminal charges.
Suozzi, a Democrat, declined to seek reelection in the 3rd District in 2022, instead running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary and losing, but reclaimed his old seat in a special election in February.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, one of the House Democrats’ most senior members, disputed the claim in heavily Democratic New York that Trump was steering the Titanic.
“I’m not worried about that at all,” Clyburn told The Post early Sunday.
Another liberal activist predicted that Democrats would be fine.
“The people of New York are not going to vote for a madman,” Bertha Lewis, co-founder of the Working Families Party and director of the Black Institute, said of Trump. “With Biden on the ticket, we have no worries.”
She said Democrats just need to get voters to the polls.
