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\n

SYRACUSE, New York \u2014 President Donald Trump came to New York on Friday to help a Republican win an uphill race for governor. But his visit was also a reminder of the complicated role he plays in his party\u2019s fight to keep control of Congress.<\/p>\n

Trump rallied alongside GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, calling on New Yorkers to fire Gov. Kathy Hochul and, referring to the state attorney general, \u201cher totally corrupt sidekick, Letitia \u2018Peekaboo\u2019 James.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour city and state are dirty, filthy places, and everybody wants to leave,\u201d he told some 5,000 attendees at a convention center in downtown Syracuse \u2014 which, he noted, was \u201ca short distance from the beautiful shores of Lake America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta get your act together, and I tell you what, Bruce Blakeman will get your act together,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

For Republicans, the president\u2019s appearance underscored a political dilemma that extends beyond New York: Even as Trump increasingly appears to be a drag on their ticket, they need his loyal supporters to energize their base. While voters have soured on the president\u2019s handling of the economy and costs, he remains a potent force in turning out MAGA voters \u2014 even in an otherwise Democratic-dominated state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe targeting of where the president goes is not a random exercise,\u201d Marist University pollster Lee Miringoff said. \u201cThey\u2019re looking to stir the base without stirring the opposition. They\u2019re picking and choosing, that\u2019s not uncommon. For him to come to New York to help the turnout upstate is a positive for the Republicans and his base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, hasn\u2019t distanced himself from the president \u2014 nor have most of the top officials in New York\u2019s GOP. Nearly every Republican running a competitive congressional race in this half of the state came to Friday\u2019s rally, eager to make their presence known.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always happy to be with the president,\u201d said Anthony Constantino, who\u2019s running in a nearby red district that\u2019s inched into toss-up territory. \u201cHe\u2019s the leader of the free world, and I\u2019m excited to have a great relation with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some GOP operatives, however, have quietly grumbled that their candidates need to start creating some distance from the president. Republicans from other parts of the state like Rep. Mike Lawler decided that campaigning in their districts was more valuable than trekking to be seen with Trump \u2014 as did several down-ballot candidates<\/u><\/a> in Central New York. Democrats, notably, have been just as eager to highlight the visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is supposed to be a swing district. And the feedback I get is that the president is very unpopular,\u201d said Democratic Rep. John Mannion, who represents Syracuse and the surrounding Central New York area. \u201cHe still certainly will have his core base of supporters, but I do think he\u2019s lost support here compared to what he had around the 2024 election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakeman, for his part, isn\u2019t worried about Trump\u2019s drop in popularity.<\/p>\n

\u201cKathy Hochul should be worried about her <\/i>drop in popularity,\u201d he said before taking the stage in Syracuse. \u201cShe\u2019s the most unpopular governor in the history of the state of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s visit came against the backdrop of a darkening political environment for New York Republicans.<\/p>\n

Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot a man in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, stirring fresh condemnation of Trump\u2019s aggressive deportation policies. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has a surprisingly warm relationship with the president, called on him to cease<\/u><\/a> all ICE activity in the five boroughs. Hochul stressed that the shooting took place with a five-year-old child present and demanded that federal authorities \u201cprovide answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration is one of several areas where Blakeman has hewed close to the Trump wing of the party throughout his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m outraged with Kathy Hochul for taking sides with somebody who was a convicted felon, someone who was an alleged drug dealer, a gang member,\u201d he said Friday about the shooting in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

While Trump\u2019s speech repeatedly careened back to the rhetoric one could expect from any of his rallies \u2014 boasts about the stock market, complaints about \u2018Dumocrats\u2019 \u2014 he did manage to seamlessly blend almost all of Blakeman\u2019s oft-used talking points into his stump speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Hochul took office, she\u2019s raised your utility rates 48 times, and energy prices in New York have skyrocketed 100 percent,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIf Bruce Blakeman gets in, he will cut your electric bills by 70, 80, 90 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The climate outside of deep blue New York City is also turning increasingly hostile to the GOP. Constantino, who\u2019s running to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik in upstate New York, trails his Democratic foe Blake Gendebien by 4 points, a Siena Research Institute survey<\/u><\/a> released Friday morning found. A Blue Light News poll showed<\/u><\/a> that nationally one in four Trump voters believe Republican candidates should break from the president in order to win in November.<\/p>\n

The wisdom of appearing with Trump has been debated by Republicans throughout the country at a time when gas prices are high and a foreign war drags on. And New York Democrats aren\u2019t viewing the presidential visit as a concern.<\/p>\n

Much of Hochul\u2019s messaging this year has focused on making sure New Yorkers know Blakeman and Trump are friends. Her most-aired TV commercial features a puppeteer saying one Republican would do the other\u2019s bidding.<\/p>\n

\u201cPuppets are my life. You tell them what to say, they say it,\u201d the narrator says. \u201cBut that\u2019s not what you want in a governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day during an MSNOW interview, Hochul dismissed the rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a very political event,\u201d she said. \u201cIt seems like a last-ditch effort to breathe some life into a campaign that\u2019s on life support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his low approval ratings with voters, Trump\u2019s visit stands to light up a Republican base that Blakeman will need to turn out next month to help him defeat Hochul.<\/p>\n

Polling has shown the governor leading the GOP nominee by as much as 18 points in this deep blue state. Yet some Trump supporters maintain the president can help generate much-needed enthusiasm for Blakeman, especially in areas of upstate New York where the Long Island native is not well known.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually have the ability to win these elections, but I just don\u2019t see the enthusiasm out there,\u201d Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar said. \u201cHochul has won the day as far as being a terrible governor, but now we\u2019ve got to get our people out to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning is still a tall order for Blakeman \u2014 especially in a tough national political environment where polls show GOP candidates in red states like Texas, Ohio and Kansas struggling against Democratic challengers.<\/p>\n

Republicans have not won statewide in New York since George Pataki secured a third term in 2002. Since then, the GOP has lost all levers of statewide power, and Trump\u2019s tariffs as well as his decision to launch a war in Iran have not helped him fulfill his campaign pledge of addressing voters\u2019 cost concerns.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s political woes aren\u2019t going unnoticed.<\/p>\n

Privately, Republican operatives grumbled that the president\u2019s visit put swing seat candidates in an uncomfortable spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of commiserating between folks within the party structure \u2014 why is this happening? Why is he doing this?\u201d said one Republican operative who was granted anonymity to freely discuss the dynamic. \u201cThen you\u2019ve got the blind loyalists who say, \u2018Yay Trump\u2019s coming\u2019 \u2014 people who are too politically dumb to understand the ramifications of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the head of the Republican party kept his message very much in line with Hochul\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease pretend I\u2019m on the ballot,\u201d Trump told Central New Yorkers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SYRACUSE, New York \u2014 President Donald Trump came to New York on Friday to help a Republican win an uphill race for governor. But his visit was also a reminder of the complicated role he plays in his party\u2019s fight to keep control of Congress. Trump rallied alongside GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, calling on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}