New York has not favored a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan’s 1980 upset, but that trend is likely to change, state Republican Party Chair Ed Cox told Fox News Digital in a Monday interview.
President Biden’s tenure is increasingly showing parallels to that of then-President Carter, Cox said, adding that while the Empire State is a blue state, it is truly “blue-collar blue, not West-Side-Manhattan blue.”
In that regard, Cox said, while the state has high-profile pockets of progressive strongholds, New Yorkers overall are “pragmatic” and are truly having déjà vu from the run-up to the last time the state shocked the country on Election Day.
“We have a lot of independents here in New York. And they’re the ones who are going to take a look, and they’re going to say, ‘Are we going to risk [it]?’” Cox said, underlining his belief Trump can win its 28 electoral votes.
OLBERMANN LEADS LIBERAL MELTDOWN AGAINST CNN CALLING TO ‘BURN IT DOWN’ AFTER BIDEN’S DEBATE PERFORMANCE
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Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower.(AP/Julia Nikhinson)
“New Yorkers take a look at what’s going on in the foreign arena and the weakness of [Biden].”
Cox said he had come to his conclusion prior to Biden’s disastrous debate performance, but added the forum did underline his case.
“It just shows again that Biden is just out of touch with what the American people want, probably because of his infirmities, whatever you want to say. But Carter was out of touch, too, if you take a look at his malaise speech,” Cox said.
“It’s not quite the same, but it still shows they’re out of touch with where the American people are while President Trump is in touch. It leads to other very interesting analogies.”
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STATE DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS RALLY BEHIND BIDEN AS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR SUGGESTS REPUBLICANS PULL TRUMP
Cox noted that Reagan’s “Are you better off than you were four years ago” remark was a game-changer against Carter, drawing a parallel to Trump’s rally reminders of his four-year record and saying that messaging will again resonate in New York.
Cox noted that Hispanic and African-American voting blocs in the state are shifting in Trump’s favor. He said he attended the former president’s recent Bronx rally and saw that assertion personified in the massive crowd at Crotona Park.
In 1980, New Yorkers were feeling the weight of “stagflation” under Carter and a floundering GDP in what was and is the business capital of the world, Cox said. The chair is also the son-in-law of another president from that era: Richard Nixon.
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“It was ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ then, and it’s ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ now,” Cox said.
While former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., came very close by New York standards to defeating Gov. Kathy Hochul, he still fell short.
Zeldin, too, was buoyed by a tough-on-crime message, while unlike the state’s last Republican governor, George Pataki, he had to prematurely expend resources in a costly primary.
When asked why 2024 would look different from 2020 in that respect, when Biden won New York by double digits, Cox returned to the pragmatism he sees in New Yorkers.
Democrats within New York also tend to support more populist candidates, he said, pointing to how New York Mayor Eric Adams trounced more progressive opponents in his primary before defeating GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.
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In making the case for Trump’s chances, Cox pointed to the state’s beginnings in present-day New York City:
“Go back to New Amsterdam. Why did people leave the Netherlands to come to the United States? Because Amsterdam was a wide-open city that judged people on their merit. Yeah, they smoked too much, they drank too much, this and that. But by golly, they were an energetic international city where people were judged on their merit,” he said.
“New York inherited that.”
In that way, New Yorkers are likely to judge Trump and Biden on their merits now that they have lived through four years of each, giving the former a better shot, Cox added.
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A Republican has not held statewide federal office there since Sen. Al D’Amato preceded Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., in 1998.
Fox News Digital reached out to several New York Democrats for comment, while Hochul’s office could not be immediately reached.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
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Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
The Parkway East’s Commercial Street Bridge is about to blow – but it’s not happening on Wednesday night.
PennDOT say they were going to bring down the bridge sometime between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, but around 8 p.m officials and security said the explosion was postponed.
The demolition will be shown live on PennDOT’s project page or 511 PA, which also has cameras placed along the project’s detour routes.
Watch the live stream here:
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A crowd of about 100 people gathered Wednesday evening at the Summerset at Frick Park residential development for a front-row view of the bridge demolition.
The atmosphere felt more like a neighborhood block party than a construction event. Families brought their children and pets, while groups of friends arrived carrying pizzas and coolers of beer. Lawn chairs lined the hillside as people in shorts and sunglasses settled in to wait for the explosion. Some spectators wore earplugs in anticipation of the blast.
A man with a ukulele strummed some folk tunes to liven the expectant atmosphere as police wrapped red caution tape around the edge of the hill, denoting the 800-foot security perimeter around the bridge.
Merav Amos, from Squirrel Hill, brought her family for a picnic, complete with books, lawn chairs and glasses of wine.
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Amos said she planned the trip when PennDOT released its expected demolition window, but realized then and there that there was one thing she had forgotten.
“I actually hope it’s not going to be too loud, because we don’t have earplugs,” she said.
Amos lives near the Parkway East’s local detour route, and has had to deal with traffic increasing near her home since the bridge closed on Friday. She hoped watching the demolition live would provide a satisfying payoff.
“The last few days were very rough,” she said. “I want to see some action.”
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Jim Christy, of Robinson, parked in the South Side and made the journey over on his bike to watch the explosion.
Christy frequently bikes through the Frick Park trails — some of which were restricted on Wednesday ahead of the demolition.
(WFSB) – The Connecticut Technical Education and Career System is under investigation by the United States Department of Education.
In a letter sent to the superintendent obtained by Channel 3, the nature of the investigation centers around the district’s handling of rape and/or sexual assault cases by school staff.
“Due to the District’s inaccurate responses to the rape and/or sexual assault data elements involving allegations against school staff of OCR’s 2023–24 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the directed investigation will examine whether the District has policies and procedures in place to ensure accurate data collection and reporting and that its handling of the sexual harassment, including sexual assault, of students by District teachers, administrators, and/or staff members is consistent with the requirements of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and its implementing regulation,” said the letter in part.
Read it in full below:
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The school system issued a statement in response to the investigation.
A poster of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, the man killed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is displayed at a memorial in Biddeford, Maine.Robert F. Bukaty/AP
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The day after hundreds of locals poured into the streets of Biddeford, Maine in protest of ICE’s killing of 26-year-old Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero on Monday, I drove through the former mill town. It seemed eerily still, as if in shock. When the horrors of Minneapolis and Houston come to your small corner of New England, what can you do?
In Mechanics Park in Biddeford, a small but diligent group presented one answer: you keep showing up.
“When I woke up this morning, I knew that this was the place I should go right to,” said Wayne Miller, 71, a retired pilot of 35 years and resident of Beverly, Massachusetts. “This is my backyard. This is my neighborhood.”
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He paused, then started to cry. “I’m ashamed of my country. I love the country. I’m ashamed.”
Miller was standing with a sign that read “Dissent while you still can” at the corner of Mechanics Park in Biddeford, where the protest and vigil for Guerrero had been held the day before. A nearby chain-link fence served as a memorial, lined with flowers, signs, and letters of grief and apology for Guerrero and his family. One read, “3-year-olds should be watching Bluey, not their fathers being executed.” Above a “No Trespassing” sign, someone had placed another: “Biddeford was built by immigrants.”
I spoke with Miller and others who had come out on Tuesday to continue expressing their grief for their neighbor, the second person killed by federal agents in less than a week.
“It’s one thing to see a news story from a distance,” said Tessa, 28, a waitress and resident of Biddeford. “But watching it happen close to home, it really recontextualizes the safety that you feel walking around in your neighborhood.”
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For Linda Henry, 27, a retired firefighter and Gloucester, Massachusetts resident, it was only a matter of time. “I know that it doesn’t matter where you live. It’s going to happen, you know. ICE is going to come.”
“I’m ashamed of my country. I love the country. I’m ashamed.”
Guerrero was a Colombian citizen who lived in Biddeford, Maine with his partner and 3-year-old daughter. He is one of at least nine people killed by federal immigration agents since the start of Donald Trump’s second term. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claims Guerrero “weaponized” his vehicle during a traffic stop. But similar claims by DHS have quickly fallen apart after video footage of shootings has come to light.
Reports say that not only was Guerrero authorized to legally work in the US, but he wasn’t the target of ICE’s operations that day.
Katie, a 48-year-old educator from New Hampshire, shared her anger. “A gun is not a license to kill. These agents have no business drawing their guns,” she said. “They aren’t judge, jury, and executioner, and they don’t have the right to be killing people the way that they are.”
“We were taught from the time we were little, ‘liberty and justice for all.’ We were taught that the United States was a place for everyone, and the current regime has changed that,” Katie continued.
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A sign at a makeshift memorial for Guerrero at Mechanics Park in Biddeford, Maine.
Most of the protesters were standing with signs on the sidewalk along the adjacent intersection, shouting “ICE OUT” while passing cars honked. Near the memorial, a man on a bike caught my eye. He was off to the side, alone, quietly reading the letters addressed to Guerrero.
He introduced himself as Diego, 30, a restaurant worker and Biddeford resident. “I knew the guy. He was always around,” he said. “I was working and I was about to cry, to be honest. Because it’s injustice, you know? I’m an immigrant, and this country was built for immigrants.”
“We work, we pay taxes. We also need rights, as everybody does,” he said. “It’s not about left or right. It’s not about a political party. It’s about human rights.”
He told me that while he’s never felt disrespected by his neighbors and the people of Biddeford are good, the government is not the same. He said he feels unsafe and his community of immigrants feels like it’s hiding.
“How many need to die for us to understand?” Diego said. “He’d got a kid, a little daughter. And that’s the most devastating. Because, you know, if I do something wrong, I can say ‘I’m sorry, I apologize.’ But he’s dead. There’s no apology that can bring him back, you know? He’s dead. I can’t even believe it, I can’t even believe this is happening.”
Letters, flowers, and signs lined the fence at Mechanics Park.
When I asked Diego why he had stopped on his bike, he said out of solidarity—for Guerrero, for his partner and daughter. And when I asked what he would say to his community, he said, “Thank you for all the solidarity of people. Thank you for all the understanding. And I hope we can stop the violence.”