Free Republic

Assemblywomen Claudia Tenney, businessman Steven Wells, and history teacher George Phillips all hoping to earn the Republican nomination, and represent the 22nd Congressional District. In the end, it was Tenney who got the majority of the votes, but it was a victory several months in the making, and it wasn't always pretty. "I know this has been a tough presidential year, but this campaign was really brutal on a lot of voters,” Tenney said.

A group of Indian Americans against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was at the New York City India Day Parade Aug. 21 to hand out flyers against the presidential hopeful. Citing a deep concern of Hillary and former President Bill Clinton’s persistent anti-India record during the past 25 years, the group passed out about 800 of the flyers while asking Indian Americans to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. A member of the group, who goes by the name Arvind, said the Clintons have a long-standing anti-India record, adding, “You name it, they were involved in it.” The group...

With the news last week that Aetna — like UnitedHealth and Humana — is pulling out of most state exchanges, ObamaCare seems set to implode. Even President Obama seems to realize it: He’s preparing to launch a major push to draw in more people — preferably, healthy young ones — to his health-care marketplaces. In the meantime, there was grim tidings for New York: Roughly one out of every five companies in the state is hiring fewer workers thanks to ObamaCare. Companies say they’re shifting to more part-timers. They’re cutting workers’ wages and benefits and hiking prices. Those were the...

Trump meets with Hispanic leaders in New York City

New York’s Hispanic voters may have a secret soft spot for Donald Trump. A new poll pegs support for Trump at 40 percent among Latino registered voters in the Empire State. The results would be a major break from recent electoral history. Barack Obama took 89 percent of that demographic in his 2012 victory. And, in a sign of continued electoral turmoil, 20 percent of registered Democrats plan to vote for Trump — while 21 percent of registered Republicans say they will go for Hillary Clinton. Obama held on to 95 percent of New York’s Democrats in the last election....

In her presidential bid, Hillary Clinton has made job creation a centerpiece of her platform, casting herself as a pragmatist who would inspire “the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II.’’ Her argument that she would put more Americans to work has focused on her time in the Senate, when she took on the mission of creating jobs in chronically depressed Upstate New York. As her husband, former president Bill Clinton, put it recently, she became the region’s “de facto economic development officer.” But nearly eight years after Clinton’s Senate exit, there is little evidence that her...

Democrats have been using their convention speeches this week to make Hillary Clinton look like a can-do politician. On Tuesday, Bill Clinton flatly declared, “She’s a natural leader, she’s a good organizer, and she’s the best darn change-maker I ever met in my entire life.” We heard speech after speech about how Hillary cares about the children, about her innovative ability to solve problems. But there is a reason the speeches lack specific examples. Hillary wasn’t much of a change-maker in the U.S. Senate. Sure, being president is different from being a senator, but both jobs require making deals. Both...

Long Island congressman Peter King was the most prominent activist Irish American Congressional Republican politician at the just concluded GOP convention in Cleveland. Come to think of it, he was the only one. […] And while King is lining up behind the Trump candidacy, and has endorsed him, it should be remembered that back in the thick of the primary fight he endorsed Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio over his fellow New Yorker. But that was then and this is now. King sent this from the convention floor on Tuesday evening: “Dramatic night as Donald Trump goes over the top to...

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, is the apparent winner of a write-in vote for the Reform Party nomination for the 12th congressional district. According to the city Board of Elections, Trump received two out of the five write-in votes cast among eligible voters. Trump’s win was brought to my attention by Frank Morano, a radio host and civic activist who has sought to bring attention to New York’s at-times absurd campaign laws.

Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, had been supposed to host the first presidential debate. But on Tuesday it announced it was pulling out of hosting because of concerns it could not 'guarantee the safety and security' of campus. Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, New York, will now host September 26 clash which will be first between the rival candidates.

Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by 12 points among voters in New York, with the results driven by a 3-1 lead among New York City voters, a new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday shows. While but both presidential candidates continue to have negative favorability ratings, according to In the poll, conducted from July 13-17 of 1,104 New York state voters and carrying a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points: Clinton, 47 percent; Trump, 35 percent; Clinton favorability, 41-52 percent; Trump favorability, 32-61 percent. And in demographic breakdowns: Voters ages 18-34: Clinton, 53-18 percent; Ages 34-49:...

Confidential polling data shows Hillary Clinton could lose the presidential election in heavily Democratic New York to Donald Trump as the GOP front-runner’s support grows to the point of being “surprisingly strong,” The Post has learned. The poll results, from Democratic and Republican legislative races, have surprised many leading Dems, virtually all of whom have endorsed Clinton, while confounding and energizing GOP leaders, many of whom until recently have been opposed to Trump. “There are some Democrats who think that Hillary can be taken if Trump mounts a strong campaign,’’ one of the state’s most prominent Democrats said. Most of...

New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long predicts that Donald Trump would make his state “very competitive” in the fall. “He’s running extremely well in Suffolk and Nassau Counties and upstate,” Long told me, citing “privilege polling” he had recently seen. “There’s a revolution against politics as usual taking place and, while winning New York is difficult for any Republican, Donald Trump is making it competitive. "In so doing, he can change the dynamics of the election this November.” Long underscored that support for Trump was “overwhelming” among the party’s 287-member state committee. With New York one of the five...

Congressman Charles Rangel was swift-footed and savvy enough to stay ahead of demographic and geographic shifts in his district during his 46 years in the House of Representatives—but in the end, he just didn’t have enough juice to anoint an heir. Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright lost his bid to replace his retiring 86-year-old mentor to State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who challenged Rangel in 2012 and 2014 but fell short. After a bitter Democratic primary campaign—one with heavy ethnic overtones—the Dominican Republic-born Espaillat beat the African-American Wright in the upper Manhattan-based district by approximately 1,300 votes. Former White House aide Clyde...

Nine candidates are vying for Rep. Charles Rangel's seat — a position he's held for nearly a half-century — but only one stood beside him as he cast his vote in Harlem on Tuesday. "For the first time in 46 years I couldn't find my name!" Rangel said as he stepped out of his polling site at Public School 175 on W. 134th St. "But I'm so glad I did find his name," he added, nodding towards Assemblyman Keith Wright, whom Rangel endorsed as his successor. New Yorkers in seven congressional districts in four boroughs — Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx...

Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel has found himself in a bit of a pickle. After years of allegedly thumbing his nose at pesky things like rules, his supposed misdeeds may be coming back to bite him on the proverbial hind quarter. A House ethics committee subpanel today found Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel guilty of 11 of the 13 charges of ethics violations against him. The panel, composed of four Democrats and four Republicans, emerged after private deliberation to announce their findings.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016: LIVE streaming coverage of Donald Trump’s speech at Trump SoHo in New York City. Coverage begins at 10:30 AM EDT. New York City SoHo, New York City

Next week, Democratic voters in Harlem and upper Manhattan will do something they haven’t done in a long time: vote in a congressional election that doesn’t include Rep. Charles Rangel. After more than 40 years, the lion of Harlem is retiring. Without an incumbent, the race in the 13th Congressional District is more competitive than usual, though it's still taking place somewhat quietly. Traditionally low turnout even in competitive congressional races means that each vote carries extra weight. No matter who wins, Rangel’s replacement will mark a shift for a changing district. A change in representation for a changing district...

It’s a sad day inside the Beltway, as a fixture of the New York Democrats’ political machine makes it official: Charlie Rangel will retire at the end of the current term. According to The Hill, Charlie has finalized a decision he hinted at last year primarily because he wants to exit the public stage at the same time as Barack Obama. "I wanted so badly to complete the last year with President Obama,” the 85-year-old Democrat said during a radio interview with WCBS 880. “And even though they never gave him a fair opportunity to do all the things...

Back in 2010, a group of Muslim investors wanted to build a mosque near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. This sparked outrage with millions of Americans who found it to be a slap in the face to allow a mosque to be built near such hollowed ground. The man behind it all was Hashim Elzanaty who along with eight other investors purchased the location and set the plans in place. But a famous billionaire New Yorker stepped in to stop the development. He did this by offering Elzanty $6 million to purchase the property from him — a dollar amount...