Republican Donovan Still in Close Contest in New York

With days to go before the voting on Nov. 6, Republican Rep. Dan Donovan is still locked in a tight contest in New York’s historically Republican 11^th District (Staten Island-Brooklyn).

According to a New York Times/Siena Poll released Tuesday, Donovan leads Democrat Max Rose, a decorated U.S. Army officer and former chief of staff at the Brightpoint Health organization, by only 44 to 40 percent districtwide.

The figures are particularly surprising because the 11^th has been firmly in Republican hands for all but two of the last 38 years.  Donovan is the lone GOP Member of Congress from New York City.

But this year political newcomer Rose has raised eyebrows by outraising the incumbent by 2-to-1. 

The uncertainty of the race is underscored, Times/Siena found, by the percentage of voters (15 percent) uncommitted to either major party candidate. Henry Gradel, perennial Green Party nominee, drew 1 percent of the vote in the poll.

Some seasoned Empire State observers were not alarmed by the poll or worried about Donovan. 

“Donovan has been a consistent vote-getter in race after race, whether its been in replacing a 20-year Democratic incumbent for district attorney or defeating his disgraced predecessor Michael Grimm in the recent primary or defeating a popular Democratic city Councilman Vincent Gentile to win election to Congress in the first place,” said David Pietrusza, author of the much-praised “TR’s Last Battle.”

And an authority on all things New York, “Combine that fact with the district's natural Republican leanings, and Donovan should win again, perhaps not by a landslide but probably by a comfortable enough margin. If it does prove close, however, the presence of Bardel can only syphon votes from Rose and assist Donovan.”

State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, 2017 Republican nominee for mayor of New York was skeptical about the poll and its findings.

“This is the same polling company that said Michael Grimm was beating Dan Donovan by ten percentage points a few weeks before the Republican primary,” said Malliotakis, who beat Mayor Bill de Blasio with 67 percent in the 11^th District.

“He ended up winning that race by nearly 30 percent.  He will win again on Tuesday.”

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.