The House Majority Runs Through New York

Plus: Utah Republicans expect Mitt Romney to run for reelection.

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Flanked by Reps. Brandon Williams and Nick Lalota, fellow New York Rep. Anthony D'Esposito speaks outside the U.S. Capitol on March 7. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Happy Wednesday! Freaked out by AI? Democratic campaign operatives say that’s too bad! “The Democratic Party has begun testing the use of artificial intelligence to write first drafts of some fund-raising messages, appeals that often perform better than those written entirely by human beings,” the New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher reports. “Inside campaigns, artificial intelligence is expected to soon help perform mundane tasks that previously required fleets of interns.”

Up to Speed

  • Add a new name to the list of potential Republican presidential candidates: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. He was in Iowa last week for a meet-and-greet hosted by the Story County GOP. Not every Republican invited to headline a GOP event in the Hawkeye State is a White House aspirant, a point aptly made by North Dakota columnist Rob Port. But a source in Iowa told Port: “I just completed an opinion poll by an agency clearly hired to see if the North Dakota governor can run for president.” Burgum’s campaign spokesman had not responded to a request for comment from The Dispatch at press time Wednesday morning.
  • Former Vice President Mike Pence must testify in front of a grand jury about conversations he had with former President Donald Trump in the lead-up to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, in the Justice Department’s broader investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Several news outlets confirmed the ruling, which is still under seal.
  • Two-term Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a video announcement Monday that she will run for reelection in 2024. 
  • The pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down nabbed another former Trump aide, Matt Wolking, to serve in a communications role, a sign that the Florida governor’s still unannounced presidential campaign is quickly emerging. Wolking will join a group of experienced operatives at Never Back Down, including former senior Trump official Ken Cuccinelli, former Trump 2020 communications director Erin Perrine, and coveted GOP strategist Jeff Roe, the architect of Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s victory in 2021. 

New York: Where House Majorities Are Won

ISLAND PARK, New York—Sitting in a small coffee shop in his hometown Saturday morning, GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito couldn’t stop smiling about his surprise victory in New York’s 4th Congressional District—a Long Island seat President Joe Biden carried by double digits two years ago.

In D’Esposito’s words, “nobody in a million years” predicted a Republican could win his seat. But he did—by 3.5 points.

“There’s always that thought that Republicans have to be so careful not to stand for their conservative values because New York is so Democrat, and I just don’t see that,” D’Esposito said in a wide-ranging interview with The Dispatch last weekend near his campaign headquarters in Island Park, a small village located in the southwest corner of Long Island. 

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Comments (24)
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  1. MikeS

    Kevin McCarthy will need to be careful not to force his caucus into Trumpy votes. New York Republicans in swing districts are actually pretty tired of him. Mainstream Republicans like John Faso who were elected to Congress in 2016 were swept out two years later in anti-Trump backlash. That could easily happen again, if McCarthy missteps.

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    Ben Connelly

    “ “You better have somebody on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump,” the Associated Press reported.”

    If he does get in, this is the ONLY thing I want Christie to do. Go to town on Trump. Maybe it’ll work.

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    JohnD

    Thought experiment. What if Romney had beaten Obama in 2012? Likely no Trump in 2016 at minimum? A better world perhaps???

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    1. Mark

      This is the timeline we didn’t deserve

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  4. J. Everett Schubert

    Mitt Romney is a good man. Proud to have voted for him not only in the 2012 general, but in the primary as well. He was my pick from the beginning. The fact that he is on the MAGA enemies' list makes me admire him all the more.

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    1. BadgerBill

      Last Republican presidential candidate I may vote for in my lifetime, after a lifetime (voted for Ford in’76) of voting Republican.

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    Marty

    Re "Notable and Quotable" -- Of all the political hypocrisy I've seen in my life (and there's been plenty), Republican hypocrisy about raising the debt ceiling is the worst and the most dangerous. They gave Trump two clean raises without a peep -- all while the federal debt rose throughout Trump's term. Now we have a Democrat president, and all of a sudden federal spending is a five-alarm fire, and the Republicans *must* refuse to raise the ceiling without spending cuts or the house will burn down. In point of fact, the house is going to get badly singed. Because the Republicans won't vote to raise the ceiling until the day before the U.S. would have defaulted on a debt payment, by which time our credit rating will already have been seriously damaged, along with our credibility as a reliable nation in general. And House Republicans will pay the price for that -- and deservedly so -- when the Democrats take the House back in 2024.

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    Scarlette Tarte

    "people don't want to be told their concerns are crazy or factually wrong".

    Sorry, but when they are crazy or factually wrong, everyone, including politicians, should not be afraid to say so.

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  7. Kaybmorrow

    Chris Christy has caused enough problems for the GOP with his antics with Rubio then being the first to endorse TRUMP. Get lost who would support him?

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    1. Jaybrown

      If he runs, I'll seriously consider supporting him, because no other R (so far) is of any interest to me. He has made some big mistakes (I think calling out Robot Rubio was not one of them), but I've always liked his style and his no-nonsense approach.

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  8. Jim S

    I think the GOP reps in NY should prepare for the big squeeze because they are going to get hit hard from both sides.

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    Carol May

    I live in Utah and I agree that Romney might make succeed at another run. Trumpsters have been incredibly hostile towards him, which is bizarre, because they eagerly voted for him during his presidential run — then suddenly turned on him for being “establishment.” But Trumpster are contrarians who will blow whatever way the wind takes them. Romney will likely need help from Dems, who have shown they are willing to vote for a moderate Republican in this uber red state where Dem candidates are pretty much doomed from the start.

    As for me: I’m neither a conservative nor a liberal/progressive. If these were normal times and political candidates were generally oriented in the same reality Romney might not get my vote. But these are not normal times and Romney is one of the few sane, capable, competent people left.

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      JohnM.

      I live right next door to you, and I always thought that many (most?) Utah Republicans with deep roots in the Latter Day Saints were disgusted by Donald Trump. Did I get that right?

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      1. Russell J

        The thought makes sense but then there is the Mike Lee situation which I can’t understand.

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        Carol May

        I’m LDS and indeed did/do find Trump to be reprehensible and loathsome, as did/do many others of my faith, though not enough of them, IMO. In 2016 Trump only won Utah with a plurality. The majority of Utahns voted Dem or various Third Party candidates. I’m ashamed to say that Trump did much better with Mormons in 2020, a testament to that little Alexander Pope poem:

        Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
        As to be hated needs but to be seen;
        Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
        We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

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          JohnM.

          Thank you, Carol. I really appreciate the poem, too.

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      3. J. Everett Schubert

        Yeah, Mormons as a general rule have never been fans of Trump's brand of crudity, immorality, and boorishness. They saw right through him. For that, they have my respect. They actually take their faith seriously.

        If only my tribe -- evangelicals -- could have been so discerning...

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        1. Russell J

          That makes two of us at least.

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    Pgrossjr47

    Re: Warren and Romney. Great! Two more politicians who will turn 80 in office if reelected. We either need age (and term) limits or make sure that congressional staffing is adequate for an assisted living facility.

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