We have a plethora of important decisions to make over the next few days. Perhaps you have already voted or will cast your vote over the next few days leading up to Election Day on November 5.
The hope is that we take to heart what over 70% of Americans have told the pollsters, and that is that the U.S. is seriously headed in the wrong direction, which requires that we reroute our trajectory by making the important and critical choices.
And that means voting for Donald Trump as president and casting votes across the board for Republican candidates on the ballot in order to create an environment where our country can function properly and clean up the corruption that has taken root in so many of our government agencies, most notably, the Department of Justice.
The weaponization of the DOJ and the FBI by the Biden administration (and before that, the Obama administration) is the leading symptom and characteristic of a country headed at top speed in the wrong direction.
Photo credit: Sean Dudley
Photo Credit Yaakov Katz
To that end, we are urging our New York residents to vote for Mr. Trump and key Congressional candidates in our area so as to maintain a Republican majority in the House and hopefully the Senate as well so this country can finally be set on the right course.
Hopefully, most of us can agree that more of the same emanating from Washington would be a terrible mistake on so many levels going forward.
We don’t just need change, but drastic change, and that is what Trump and the down ballot Republicans have to offer us.
Back in 2022, not very long ago, the Congressional races in New York determined the balance of power in the House of Representatives. Back then, it was the election of Congressman Anthony D’Esposito in a region that includes the Five Towns, along with Mike Lawler in Rockland County, Marc Molinaro in Westchester County, Nick LaLota in Suffolk County, and George Santos in NY’s 3rd District of Nassau County that delivered a Republican majority in the House.
So, how did so many Republicans succeed in taking House seats held for many years by Democrats? The simple explanation is the strong showing by Lee Zeldin, the Republican gubernatorial candidate and how well he did against his Democrat incumbent opponent, Kathy Hochul.
If you understand how that worked, then you will also be able to grasp why President Trump has been spending so much time in New York rallying in key venues like Nassau Coliseum and the other night at Madison Square Garden.
Trump believes for some reason that he might have the ability and chance to score a win in New York, something that has not been accomplished by a Republican since Ronald Reagan won New York in his landslide victory in 1984.
To understand the calculus here, it is important to look back at 2022 and what Zeldin accomplished by coming up just 300,000 votes short of an upset victory over Hochul. All those voters in New York who were upset and disturbed by policies like the elimination of cash bail and the rising crime rate, voted for Zeldin and while they were compelled to vote Republican, did so down the line and that pulled others into office like the congressmen listed above along with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, also in Nassau.
Trump and the Republicans would love to win New York, and if that were to happen, it would indicate a significant victory—and vindication—for the former president.
But that doesn’t have to be the prime focus here. A better showing at the polls for Trump in New York would mean more votes and the difference between victory and defeat for many of the candidates here in New York and particularly on Long Island.
One of the more challenging congressional races is taking place in District 3, where incumbent Tom Suozzi is being challenged by former New York State Assemblyman Mike LiPetri. Suozzi won a special election earlier this year against Nassau County Legislator Mazi Pilip, who resides in the Great Neck portion of that district.
Suozzi is a reliable pro-Israel Democrat and indeed a popular personality in the Jewish community since his days as County Executive. But as I told Mr. Suozzi when we spoke last week that we feel compelled to encourage our readers to vote for Republican candidates and to do our utmost to wrest control of the House from anything even close to Democrat Party control. While we can count on Tom Suozzi today and in the future, one thing that has been made abundantly clear these last four years is that we cannot rely on the Democratic Party. We cannot rely with any security or assurance with Hakeem Jeffries as House Speaker or Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader.
That’s why it’s vital that if you reside in District 3, which includes large Jewish areas like Great Neck, that you cast your vote for Mike LiPetri for Congress. Mike understands the needs and priorities of the Jewish community here on Long Island and he understands well our attachment and connection to U.S. support of Israel.
And the same is true of the race in our home District 4, where former Town of Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen is challenging incumbent Congressman Anthony D’Esposito. Up until the D’Esposito win in 2022, this seat has been Democratic going back decades. But Anthony D’Esposito changed that, and he is one of Israel’s greatest supporters in the House and is a vote that can be consistently relied on when it comes to strengthening our U.S.-Israel relationship.
Laura Gillen might be a nice person who means well, but one thing we have learned over these last few years is that we cannot depend on a representative who could vote with the Squad and shares the same values—which she claims she has never changed—with Kamala Harris.
And the same is true in Rockland County, where Mike Lawler is facing a fierce challenge from the man he debated in 2022, Mondaire Jones. Lawler has been a gem in the House and has worked on vital and important issues with colleagues like D’Esposito and Mike LaLota as well as across the aisle with Democrats like Jared Moskowitz, a congressman from Florida who works on legislation combatting antisemitism on college campuses.
The Democratic Party agenda going forward if Harris wins on November 5th is a danger to this country as well as to the U.S.-Israel relationship. When was there ever an administration that threatened to cut off U.S. weapons to Israel at the height of a war being fought with a vicious and lethal enemy on seven fronts? That only happened in the Biden-Harris administration. Perhaps it was mostly rhetoric so as to curry favor with the anti-Israel Leftists, but even if that were the case, the words themselves pose a direct danger to Israel.
And this idea of calling for a ceasefire incessantly by both Harris and Biden is ludicrous. Since when does a terror group agree to a ceasefire? The day they do that is the day they stop being a murderous terror group. So, ceasefire can only mean one thing: and that is that Israel halts military action, which translates for a call by the Democrats for Israel to surrender and lose the war.
The latest reliable polls indicate that Trump will attract the largest portion of any candidate for president in over 40 years. A recent JPPI poll showed that those surveyed feel that Harris is less supportive of Israel than either Trump or Biden. Do we need that? The same poll indicates that Trump can draw as much as 37–40% of the American Jewish vote and the determining issue is U.S. support for Israel.
The sense is that with a few days to go, Trump has good momentum even in some states that were not expected to go his way. A few days ago, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, did something he almost never does: He endorsed and urged his followers to vote for Donald Trump. That is quite a few tens of thousands of votes right there, with most of them in New York. At this juncture, even The New York Times is saying that New York’s Orthodox Jewish voters could tip the battle for the House.
Regardless of what happens in New York, the country needs a Trump win along with a Republican majority in both the House and Senate. A trifecta of that nature will cleanse our country and return America to what our Founders intended it to be: a Constitutional Republic. We don’t need any Barack Obama-style “fundamental transformations.” Not now, not ever. More importantly, go out and vote. n
Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
