Embattled President Biden could jeopardize Democrats running for House races even in blue New York if he remains on the ballot – with high-ranking Democrats from the Empire State saying he should step down and not seek re-election, it was revealed Sunday.
Manhattan Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Joe Morelle of Rochester, the top Democrat on the House Committee on House Administration, were among Democrats who said the party is better off with Biden off the ticket, media outlets including Politico, the NY Times and NBC reported.
But Biden’s weakness as a candidate in New York was known before his debate debacle.
A Siena College Poll released a week before the June 27 debate found Biden leading former Republican Donald Trump by just 8 points – 47% to 39% – largely on the strength of being 25 points ahead in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City. Biden defeated Trump by 23 points in 2020.
But Trump led Biden by 13 points in the city’s battleground suburbs – 48% to 35% – that encompass the districts where Republicans picked up seats in 2022 and won the House majority.
Biden also led Trump by just 3 points upstate – 45% to 42% – within the poll’s 4 point margin of error. And that was before his disastrous debate performance.
“If the election were held today and I’m a Democrat running in a marginal seat in New York, I’d be nervous,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.
“The findings should be very concerning to Democrats running for Congress and the state Legislature in swing districts,” added Greenberg.
Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on ex-President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, said Biden could make it difficult for Democrats to win the suburbs of the Big Apple.
“It’s called crime, chaos, the migrant crisis and Biden,” he said. “His disastrous debate performance will increase Republican turnout and hurt Democrats even in New York.”
Sheinkopf said if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the party’s nominee, the abortion rights issue would be more front and center, possibly helping Democrats.
A top New York union official involved in New York House races said it’s a second whammy against Democrats, who suffered downballot when Gov. Kathy Hochul ran poorly at the top of the ticket in the suburbs in 2022 against Republican.gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
Hochul narrowly won the race, thanks to a huge margin of votes in New York City.
“There’s no question that President Biden would be a drag on the ticket for down ballot races – especially New York,” the labor source said.
Nadler, through a spokesman, declined to comment on what he said in a private phone call with other House members.
Morelle declined to comment.
Three other New York Democratic House candidates in swing districts also declined comment – Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents the Third District in Nassau County and parts of Queens, Rep. Pat Ryan in the 18th District in the upper Hudson Valley, and candidate Mondaire Jones in the 17th District.
In 2022, first-term Republican Rep. Michael Lawler knocked off then-Democratic incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney in the 17th District and Republican Marc Molinaro defeated Josh Riley in the 19th District and now faces him in a rematch. In a bright spot, Democrat Pat Ryan won in the 18th District.
Meanwhile, first-term GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito flipped Long Island’s 4th Congressional district previously held by Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice, who declined to seek re-election.
Republican George Santos captured the Third Congressional District in Nassau-Queens but was expelled last year amid lies, ethical lapses and a criminal indictment.
Democrat Suozzi, who declined to seek re-election in 2022 in the Third District and instead ran and lost in the Democratic primary for governor, reclaimed his old seat in a February special election.
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, one of the House Democrats’ most senior members, disputed claims that Trump was steering the titanic in Democratic-leaning New York.
“I’m not concerned about that at all,” Clyburn told The Post early Sunday.
Another liberal activist predicted Democrats will be fine.
“New Yorkers are not going to vote for a madman,” Bertha Lewis, a co-founder of the Working Families Party and head of the Black Institute, said of Trump. “I have no worries whatsoever with Biden on the ticket.”
She said Democrats just need to get their voters to the polls.
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