City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council)

November 17, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Why Republicans Had Such a Good Election in New York

Republican Joe Borelli, City Council minority leader and a major booster of Lee Zeldin for Governor, joined the show to discuss the New York GOP's strong showing in the 2022 elections — how it happened, what it means, and what comes next.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show

Republican primary debate in race for NY Governor (photo: pool)

The four Republican candidates running for governor have faced off in three debates ahead of the June 28 primary, each attempting to set themselves apart from the others and from the Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, who they want to replace. But in their appeals to the party faithful, three of the candidates have indulged in misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies about the 2020 presidential election, the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, the covid vaccine, criminal justice reforms in

Rep. Lee Zeldin (photo: @Congressman Lee Zeldin)

Republican leaders in nearly every county in New York have endorsed Long Island Congressional Rep. Lee Zeldin for governor in this year’s election, making him the perceived frontrunner for the party’s nomination. Zeldin, now in his fourth term in Congress representing New York’s 1st District, is forgoing a bid for reelection to the House of Representatives in order to attempt breaking the four-term Democratic hold on the governor’s office.

But, in order to have a shot at the governor’s office,

Andrew Giuliani (photo: Instagram)

Andrew Giuliani, Trump administration alum and son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is outperforming his rival GOP candidates in the polls early in this year’s race for governor.

Statewide, Republican leadership has dubbed Long Island Congressional Rep. Lee Zeldin the presumptive nominee, and Zeldin’s campaign has far out-fundraised the other candidates. But Giuliani is confident in his chances, and early polling is bolstering his case.

Just 36 years old, Giuliani is a first-time candidate for office and running on

Donald Trump is endorsed by the PBA (photo: Jim Waston/AFP/Getty)

The January 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington D.C. exposed deep liabilities within law enforcement. Cops and ex-military men and women actively participated in the insurrection. While some on-duty officers acted professionally, even courageously, others were clearly complicit with a violent, lawless assault on our nation's capital. Numerous politicians and pundits, including our new president Joe Biden, commented that if it were a Black Lives Matter protest, and not mainly a white mob, the law

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform met on Thursday to discuss data-processing errors that will make it impossible for the U.S. Census Bureau to deliver accurate state population totals by the statutory deadline of December 31. Those numbers are then essential to reapportionment efforts as the Census dictates how many seats each state has in the House and are used for redistricting efforts within each state.

During the hearing chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat representing New

Joe Biden (photo: Adam Schultz/Biden for President)

New York City's long-awaited election results were finally certified Tuesday, four weeks after polls closed and just past the state's statutory deadline, making the five boroughs one of the last jurisdictions in the country to finalize the 2020 count.

The results show that, in a year with significantly more ballots cast and massive changes in party alignments, the Democratic Party made barely any gains in presidential turnout, while the smaller, more progressive Working Families Party made huge strides as it

Rudy Giuliani at City Hall (photo: Kristen Artz/mayor's office)

As Rudy Giuliani melts down – at times literally – in his desperate crusade to steal the election for his soundly defeated First Client, there has been much speculation about how “America’s Mayor” could have deteriorated into this spectacle. 

Whatever may be going on with Rudy Giuliani personally, let’s be clear: while, for one brief moment in his career he served as a cheerleader for a devastated city and a shocked nation, the rest of Rudy Giuliani’s mayoralty was driven by a hostility

A New York City rally in support of asylum-seeking refugees (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

As part of a systematic dismantling of providing asylum to refugees in the United States, the Trump administration in October 2020 reduced the cap on resettling refugees in the country to just 15,000 for fiscal year 2021, which runs from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, down from 18,000 for fiscal year 2020, and from 85,000 in the last year of the Obama administration.

These reductions have a significant impact not only on those seeking refuge in the United

Voters in 2020 (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Despite concerns about how the coronavirus pandemic may affect voter turnout, more than 2.97 million New York City voters cast a ballot in the 2020 general election, an increase of about 7.5% or 210,000 more votes than were cast in the city in the last presidential election, in 2016.

By election night, more than 2.25 million New York City residents had voted in person, 1.1 million of whom cast a ballot in the nine days of early voting before Election Day. As expected, absentee voting

Brooklynites celebrate Biden's win, Trump's loss (photo: Ethan Geringer-Sameth/Gotham Gazette)

It was a great day for the Doppler effect Saturday in Brooklyn as a near constant stream of car horns trumpeted elation after it became clear Joe Biden had won Pennsylvania and clinched the 2020 presidential election. Throngs of New Yorkers took to the streets, plazas, and parks to breathe a collective, mostly masked, sigh of relief.

In New York, that sigh took the form of spontaneous dancing on sidewalks and in streets, clanging pots and pans, and uncorking

Joe Biden, with Andrew Cuomo (photo: governor's office)

The country will be watching, and voting, with bated breath on Tuesday as the most consequential presidential election in decades nears conclusion. More than 84 million Americans have already cast their ballots in early voting and turnout is expected to break records despite the lingering coronavirus pandemic. 

There’s much at stake for New York City in this election and it’s an understatement

Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis, left, & Rep. Max Rose face off in NY-11

Voting in the 2020 general election is set to come to a conclusion on Tuesday, November 3, Election Day. The full, official results won't be known for weeks.

The eyes of the world are on the presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, and it's unclear when a winner may be declared.

Though it's unlikely Trump can pull off an upset and beat Biden in New York, voters here have been going to the polls in large numbers, just

Attorney General Letitia James (photo: @NewYorkStateAG)

In blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to sabotage the 2020 Census, a California court last week handed yet another key victory to the Office of the New York Attorney General. And this is just the latest in a string of triumphs coming from the office of the Empire State’s top lawyer as the president pushes his election-year agenda.

While the president’s rhetoric often translates to the

President Donald Trump (photo: Joyce N. Boghosian/White House)

In January 2018, President Trump disparaged African countries and Haiti by referring to them as “s---hole” countries. He asked why the United States would want more immigrants from these debilitated economies. Given the president’s comments, there is some amount of irony in the fact that the United States appears to be on track to join the same list of countries that he referred to. As

Electors to the Electoral College voting in Albany (photo: governor's office)

President Trump (photo: White House)

In late April, I  wrote a guest column regarding President Donald Trump’s firing of a federal Inspector General, threats to other IGs and the rule of law, and how New York City’s inspectors general system is a model, with no city IG removed for doing their job. Over the last weeks Trump has escalated his war on the nation’s watchdogs as a way of “draining the swamp,” or, in reality, removing independent

Voting in New York is undergoing major shifts, with more possibly to come (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Amid reports that Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to allow or require voting by mail for all New Yorkers in primary and special elections set for June 23, government reform advocates have raised concerns that the measure could end up adversely affecting the election, while the State Republican Party has promised to sue if the governor follows through.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced several delays in the state’s election calendar and in-person voting

NYPD IG Eure, second from left (photo: @OIGNYPD)

During our national coronavirus crisis, two Inspectors General stories were reported – one federal, one New York City – concerning how IGs exercised their statutory duty. No doubt the stories’ significance was lost because our attention is diverted. But they’re important, and telling.

On April 3, President Donald Trump gutted the Inspector General Act of 1978 when he proclaimed “You’re fired!” Michael Atkinson, Inspector General, Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Forty-two years ago,

(photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

President Trump’s nonstop record of false claims (12,000-plus labeled false or misleading as of an August count in the Washington Post) received a brief respite recently when he tweeted that poverty and unemployment rates for black and Hispanic residents of the United States had reached record lows, which PolitiFact and other media outlets acknowledged as accurate.

While it’s true

Rep. Max Rose (photo: @MaxRose4NY)

Max Rose calls himself a “centrist populist.” The first-term Democrat who represents New York’s 11th congressional district, which spans across Staten Island and along the shore of Southern Brooklyn, appears set on trying to make that label stick, and in doing so earn a second term when voters head to the polls next year.

Rose’s pitch and politics seem to match the district well: he’s a moderate, center-left politician and military veteran with a no-nonsense but affable and energetic personality. His mantra is serving constituents above political

NY AG Letitia James (photo: @NewYorkStateAG)

For a company of only a few dozen employees, the Trump Organization has accumulated an astonishing rap sheet of fraud, crime, and other corporate misconduct over the years. And since its owner came to occupy the Oval Office, the company has sunk to new depths as a vehicle for influence and corruption by supplicants from corporate lobbies and foreign governments.

Now that federal prosecutors have ...

Nick Langworthy, left, with Donald Trump (photo: @NickLangworthy)

Anointing Erie County Republican leader Nicholas J. Langworthy as State Party Chair is an embarrassment for the New York GOP.

Under his leadership, Erie Republicans have been shut out of nearly every elected office countywide. They’ve lost the county legislature, lost Assemblymember Ray Walter, and lest we forget Congressional Rep. Chris Collins is still walking that long Green Mile towards resignation and life as a future convicted felon.

Recall, it was Langworthy’s last-minute

(photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

Last month, President Trump offered a cynical vision of the future with the release of his fiscal year 2020 budget. If enacted, it would deepen poverty and widen economic and racial disparities by denying millions health care and food, ramping up anti-immigrant enforcement, sabotaging the census, and disinvesting in housing and education. Meanwhile, the proposal prioritizes guns over butter by bloating the military budget and increases tax cuts to high-income taxpayers and heirs to very large estates.

FPWA

(photo: @RealDonaldTrump)

Well, it’s happened. The barbarians have finally sacked the city.

On February 1, Trump enthusiast Ian Walsh Reilly assumed the leadership of the Metropolitan Republican Club, one of the oldest Republican clubs in New York City. Like Trump, Ian’s the kind of guy who bumps elbows with high-profile racists and unrepentant misogynists like Gavin McInnes, founder of the alt-right nationalist group The Proud Boys.

Ian just couldn’t wait to get Gavin in front of his club’s membership last year, and this epic lapse in judgment resulted in a