Beleaguered President Biden could endanger Democrats running for House seats, even in blue New York, if he remains on the ballot – On Sunday, it was announced that high-ranking Democrats from New York state have called on him to resign and not run for re-election.
Jerrold Nadler, Rep. of Manhattan and the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Joe Morelle of Rochester, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, were among the Democrats who said the party would be better off without Biden, media outlets including Politico, the New York Times and NBC reported.
But Biden’s weakness as a candidate in New York was known even before his debate debacle.
President Joe Biden could pose a threat to Democrats running for the New York House of Representatives. AP
A Siena College poll released a week before the June 27 debate showed Biden ahead of former Republican Donald Trump by just 8 points — 47% to 39% — thanks in large part to a 25-point lead in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City. Biden defeated Trump by 23 points in 2020.
But Trump held a 13-point lead over Biden in the city’s top suburbs — 48% to 35% — districts where Republicans won seats and the House majority in 2022.
Biden also had a lead of only 3 points over Trump – 45% to 42% – within the poll’s 4-point margin of error. And that was before his disastrous debate performance.
“If the election were held today and I’m a Democrat running in a marginal seat in New York, I would be nervous,” said Steven Greenberg, a pollster at Siena College.
“The findings should be deeply troubling to Democrats running for Congress and state legislatures in districts where elections are not contested,” Greenberg added.
Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on former President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, said Biden could make it difficult for Democrats to win the Big Apple’s suburbs.
“It’s called crime, chaos, the migrant crisis and 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, the issue of abortion rights would come to the forefront, potentially benefiting Democrats.
A senior New York union official involved in the New York House of Representatives elections said it is a second blow to Democrats, who suffered lower at the ballot box when Gov. Kathy Hochul performed poorly in the first place in the suburbs in 2022 against Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
Hochul narrowly won the race, thanks to a large majority of the vote in New York City.
“There is no question that President Biden would be an obstacle to the election at lower levels, particularly in New York,” the union source said.
Nadler, through a spokesman, declined to comment on what he said in a private phone call with other House members.
Morelle declined to comment.
Three other Democratic House candidates in swing districts in New York also declined to comment — Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents the Third District in Nassau County and parts of Queens, Rep. Pat Ryan in the 18th District in the upper Hudson Valley, and candidate Mondaire Jones 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 defeated Josh Riley in the 19th District and now faces him in a rematch. In a bright spot, Democrat Pat Ryan won in the 18th District.
Meanwhile, first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito won Long Island’s 4th Congressional District, previously held by Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice, who declined to seek re-election.
Republican George Santos won the Third Congressional District in Nassau-Queens, but was expelled from the district last year amid lies, ethical lapses and a criminal charge.
“There is no question that President Biden would be an obstacle to the election at lower levels, particularly in New York,” the union source said. SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Democrat Suozzi, who declined to run for re-election in the Third District in 2022 and instead ran in the Democratic primary for governor, regained his old seat in a February midterm election.
James Clyburn, a South Carolina representative and one of the most senior members of the Democratic House of Representatives, disputed the claim that Trump was in charge of the giant in Democratic-leaning New York.
“I’m not worried about that at all,” Clyburn told The Post early Sunday morning.
Another liberal activist predicted that the Democrats would be fine.
“New Yorkers are not going to vote for a crazy person,” Bertha Lewis, co-founder of the Working Families Party and head of the Black Institute, said of Trump. “I have no concerns whatsoever with Biden on the ballot.”
She said Democrats simply need to get their voters out to the polls.
