It’s no secret that the political map in Queens, and across New York City, is a decidedly democratic one. Democrats in the Queens delegation of the City Council outnumber republicans 13-to-one, and that solitary elephant stayed red in the most recent special election by only 41 votes.Republicans have a larger share — though not by much — on the state level, while several local democrats are mounting serious campaigns there as well.
With current council members Joseph Addabbo Jr. and James Gennaro going after the state Senate seats of long-time incumbents Serphin Maltese and Frank Padavan, those Republicans would love to see a strong face at the top of the ticket to work some trickle-down magic.
The question is: does Arizona Sen. John McCain have what it takes to exert any positive influence in a part of the country as blue as Queens?
Vincent Tabone, executive vice chairman of the Queens County Republican Party, and Queens coordinator for the McCain campaign, says he does.
“In New York City, republicans don’t get elected exclusively on republican votes,” he said. “There’s a huge number of independents in these districts; it makes the races a much more complicated issue to figure out.”
Tabone thinks that because McCain holds such strong sway over the independent voter in this election cycle, he might have what it takes to keep the republican incumbents in office, and even give a leg up to a few of the newcomers, like Peter Koo of Flushing, challenging incumbent democratic state Sen. Toby Stavisky.
“You have a lot of Reagan democrats, and Giuliani democrats, who are going to become McCain democrats,” he said.
Tabone defined a Giuliani democrat as a democrat who was “less ideological than they are concerned about getting results.”
He believes the group that’s more pragmatic than progressive in the independent column would be the type to deliver down-ticket races to local republicans after casting their presidential ballot for McCain.
Maltese, for his part, thinks having McCain at the top of the ticket will be a boon in November, and he uses past experience as a bellwether.
“I’ve seen the effect that a weak top of the ticket can have,” Maltese said. “Two years ago we had John Faso for governor, and (John) Spencer running for Senate, and in almost my entire district, neither candidate got over 20 percent of the vote (in any polling station). ... So certainly, that had a very detrimental effect on my race.”
Maltese won reelection in 2006 by an uncomfortably small margin, defeating a virtually unknown opponent, Albert Baldeo, by less than 900 votes.
This time around, he feels more comfortable, in no small part because of what he feels is a strong draw at the top of the ticket.
“I’m certainly a heck of a lot better off this year with John McCain at the top of my ticket than I was two years ago,” he said. “The (presidential) choice is very stark, my district is a district I believe will be for John McCain over Barack Obama.”
With a higher profile candidate like Addabbo fighting to make the seat democratic, Maltese said he felt some real relief in the knowledge that the top of the ticket in 2008 would be a strong candidate who is attractive to independent minded voters.
Maltese added that a number of factors in Queens go in to make the top of the ticket extremely important in the borough, including the fact that Queens votes on a vertical, not a horizontal ballot, like much of upstate New York.
Ultimately, Tabone said, local republicans weren’t counting on getting help from higher profile races in November, but were running on their own records.
“They really do have stellar records of constituent service,” he said. Both have records of service in some ways similar to McCain — they’re both veterans — I think people are going to appreciate that in these difficult times.”
