A Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won New York since Ronald Reagan in 1984, but President Biden reportedly has Democrats "panicking" that it could happen again in November.
Biden has faced an onslaught of questions about his fitness to serve another term as many high-profile Democrats have called for him to step aside in favor of a younger candidate. Biden, who insists he has no intention of dropping out, is facing a "steady erosion" of support in the Empire State that he dominated in 2020, according to an explosive Politico report.
Biden won New York by 23 points last time, but "elected officials, union leaders and political consultants" are "so worried they’ve been trying to convince the Biden team to pour resources into New York to shore up his campaign and boost Democrats running in a half-dozen swing districts that could determine control of the House," according to Politico.
"We’re still acting like this is a one-party state, which for pretty much 20, 25 years it has been… I truly believe we’re a battleground state now," Democratic Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine told Politico.
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Citing "private polls conducted in a swing New York House district and reviewed by Politico," the outlet noted that Trump is essentially tied with Biden. Recent public polls have also showed "an unusually narrow gap in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1," according to the news outlet.
Biden has spent much of his campaign appearances in traditional battleground states, rarely visiting New York aside from ritzy fundraisers and a June celebration of the LGBTQ movement at the Stonewall Inn.
"Now Democrats want Biden to get serious about the Empire State as they warn of the existential crisis to democracy posed by Trump’s potential return to the White House, according to interviews with 10 Democratic Party officials, consultants and political leaders," Politico reported.
But spending more time in New York would "cost him time and money he’d rather be spending on the country’s six swing states," the report added.
"The money that needs to be spent here will be subtracted from other areas he’s going to lose," ex-New York Gov. David Paterson told Politico.
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An anonymous "high-level New York Democrat" also sounded the alarm about Biden possibly hurting his party’s House candidates.
"It’s never been more important for a Democratic House member to focus on building their own local brand and to run on that," the anonymous person told Politico.
"Biden isn’t going to be handing out coattails no matter what," they continued. "He’s only got anchors."
The nail-biting comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul had to sweat out her election in 2022 against GOP challenger Lee Zeldin, winning by just six points. Four years earlier, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo crushed his Republican opponent by 23 points.
Other Democratic voices quoted in the report confidently predicted Biden would roll to victory in the state again.
