Trump Taps Two New Yorkers For Top Administration Posts

Photo Credit: Marc Gronich

At a news conference on a dairy farm in Glenmont, Albany County, calling for legalizing whole milk choice in public schools, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik campaigned with failed 2022 gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin in August 2022 to pass a measure pushed by the dairy industry. Stefanik and Zeldin are now up for appointments in the Trump administration.

Less than one week after winning an historic victory, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen onetime gubernatorial hopeful and former congressman Lee Zeldin (R – Shirley, Suffolk County) to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Zeldin has spent the past few years barnstorming the state on behalf of Trump and Republican congressional incumbents and challengers trying to make New York more red than blue. While giving it the old college try, New York lost two incumbent Republican congressional seats. Anthony D’Esposito, 42, lost to Democrat Lauren Gillen, 54. In a rematch from 2022, Gillen, who served as Hempstead town supervisor, defeated D’Esposito, a former detective with the NYPD and chief of the Island Park Fire Department by 6,100 votes, 51 percent to 49 percent.

In another race, State Senator John Mannion, 56 (D – Geddes, Onondaga County) defeated Brandon Williams, 57 (D – Sennett, Cayuga County). Mannion garnered 53.5 percent of the vote to Williams’ 46.5 percent, approximately a difference of 18,000 votes.

A third contest is still a toss-up, with Democrat Josh Riley, 41, of Ithaca, Tompkins County, ahead of the incumbent, Republican Marc Molinaro, 49, of Catskill, Greene County. Riley garnered 50.7 percent of the vote to Molinaro’s 49.3 percent, a difference of 4,855 votes, approximately the same margin by which Molinaro defeated Riley two years ago. There are more than 12,000 absentee and affidavit ballots outstanding that need to be tallied. Molinaro, who has not conceded the race to Riley, is holding out hope that the election will swing his way after all the ballots are counted.

“These ballots will decide the race, and we have to be sure every legal vote is counted,” Molinaro said in a statement. “Whatever the result ends up being, I will accept it.”

This race was one of the most expensive in the country, with $40 million spent by both candidates and political action committees, and prodigious fundraising by the candidates themselves pouring into the district. All the television ads, radio spots, mailers, and social media outreach came up a bit short for Molinaro. This campaign was dubbed the bellwether contest for keeping the House in Republican hands.

Molinaro’s money to saturate the airwaves in three television media markets as well as dozens of radio stations came from the Congressional Leadership Fund and National Horizon. Riley received outside money from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Meanwhile, with a strong, unified assist from Rockland’s large Orthodox and hasidic Jewish population, a bloc of votes that gave him a big edge in the race, freshman Congressman Mike Lawler, 38 (R – Pearl River, Rockland County) fended off a formidable challenge by former Congressman Mondaire Jones, 37 (D – Nanuet, Rockland County). Lawler received 52.4 percent of the vote to Jones’ 45.6 percent, a difference of approximately 24,782 votes. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently accompanied Lawler on a round of visits to the leaders of three hasidic sects, the Viznitz, Skver, and Satmar communities. The district takes in all of Rockland and Putnam counties as well as parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties.

The 26-member New York House delegation now stands at 19 Democrats and seven Republicans. That number could change depending who is officially declared the victor in the Riley-Molinaro race.

Another congressional seat will open up next year as North Country Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik has been tapped by Trump to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Accolades on the appointment from Republicans have been widespread, including from the New York State Republican Party Chairman, who called it “a wise and thoughtful selection.”

“As Ambassador, Elise will bring her deep understanding of complex international issues, her commitment to a strong national defense, and her clear-eyed vision of American sovereignty and strength,” party chairman Ed Cox said. “She is uniquely equipped to represent our country with the clarity and conviction that these challenging times demand. New Yorkers and all Americans can be proud of her as she steps into this critical role.”

Stefanik defeated her Democratic opponent 62.3 percent to 37.7 percent, by a margin of 83,144 votes. This solidly red district is likely to remain in Republican hands. A special election will be called by New York’s governor after Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. By law, Hochul has 90 days following the vacancy to set a date for the special election to replace Stefanik.

“Republicans will hold this safe Republican seat as part of a Republican majority in the House that will help deliver on President Trump’s historic mandate,” Cox concluded.

There was another statewide race on the ballot: Democrat incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand, 57, of Albany, easily defeated her Republican opponent, Mike Sapraicone, 68, of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, 59 to 41 percent. One political observer said that even though so much money was spent on other races, Sapraicone’s race experienced a financial drought.

“He didn’t have enough money. It’s very simple. He had all the issues on his side. I’ve been saying this for two years – Gillibrand has been invisible for the state,” former Staten Island Republican Assemblyman Robert Straniere, now a resident of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, told The Jewish Press. “Mike ran a good campaign, but it takes an enormous amount of money to get your message across. The issues could not be better in our favor.”

In the State Senate, one Democrat suffered a defeat while another race is still too close to call. Republican Steven Chan defeated incumbent Democrat Iwen Chu 55.3 to 44.7 percent, with a difference of 5,632 votes separating the two candidates. In the Central New York, Syracuse-area district, two Onondaga County elected officials squared off against each other. Democrat Chris Ryan of Geddes has 50.2 percent of the vote to 33-year-old Liverpool Republican Nick Paro’s 49.8 percent, with all the districts counted and 528 votes separating the two.

“One of the reasons we lost the Senate [in 2018] was because we really didn’t have a strong farm team in the Assembly,” Straniere said. “What happened over the years [was] Democratic Assemblymen were being elected, so when the opportunity came for the Senate seat, the better known candidate was the incumbent Democratic Assemblyperson rather than a Republican Assemblyperson. That initially eroded some of our suburban support.”

One of the attendees at the Republican gathering on election night is originally from Ukraine, is Jewish and now lives in midtown Manhattan. He’s expecting a lot from Trump’s second term as president, especially when it comes to Middle East foreign policy. “It’s a great day for America. It’s a great day for Israel. We should make sure that Jews are aware that Qatar is not a friend of America and Qatar is not a friend of Israel,” Michael Moskowitz told The Jewish Press. “We need to make sure that hopefully Trump is not impressed by their [Qatar] money. We need to remind him that Qatar is an enemy and we should treat them as such and to support Israel. We need to define the message in the Middle East that there is no such thing as the so-called Palestinians. Their whole identity is denying Jewish identity. They never existed. There’s no such thing. We also need to stop this nonsense about a two-state solution. It doesn’t work. We need to be strong in America and in Israel.”

In the state Assembly, two Republican incumbents were defeated and one race on Long Island is too close to call.

Assemblyman John McGowan, 59, of Pearl River, Rockland County, was defeated by Democrat Aron Wieder, 50, 52 to 44.5 percent, with a margin of 3,448 votes. Wieder is a member of the Belz hasidic sect and a Spring Valley resident. He attended the Machzikei Hadas Yeshiva before continuing his studies at a rabbinical college in Israel. The district encompasses parts of Ramapo and Orangetown in southern Rockland County. Incumbent Democrat Gina Sillitti, 46, of Manhasset, was defeated by Daniel Norber, 45, of Great Neck, becoming the first Republican to represent that seat in more than 50 years.

Norber is a former member of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. His grandparents survived the Holocaust and his mother escaped communism in the Soviet Union. Norber was born in the United States and raised in Israel. He was drafted into the IDF when he was 17, where he served as a staff sergeant in the military police. He is married with four children. Norber joins Queens Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, 38, a Democrat from Fresh Meadows and born in Jerusalem, as Israeli members sitting in the state Assembly.

A seat in western New York flipped from Democrat to Republican. Another Long Island seat now occupied by Republican Ed Flood of Port Washington Station, Suffolk County, is still being contested. Flood’s opponent was 35-year-old Rebecca Kassay. In September, Flood was disbarred as an attorney in connection with alleged actions he took while representing a client in his private law practice. He received his law degree from Western New England University School of Law. The race between Flood and Kassay is too close to call.

Overall, the Republicans had a net gain of two seats to break the supermajority in the state’s lower house. The count stands at 51 to 99 seats favoring the Democrats in the 150-member house.