In Cleveland, NY GOP gets starring role
CLEVELAND — The New York GOP will be front and center when the Republican National Convention kicks off Monday in the Quicken Loans Arena — literally.
The 2016 GOP convention will begin Monday afternoon in Cleveland, where Republicans will officially vote to make businessman Donald Trump their party's presidential nominee later this week.
Trump's New York roots means his home state's delegation will have a starring role this week: The state's 95 delegates and their alternates will be seated directly in front of the convention stage. And their headquarters at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel is around the corner from the arena.
Compare that four years ago in Tampa, when New York's delegates had to take an hour-plus shuttle ride to get to the convention each day.
"Quite frankly, I think there's a lot more optimism about our chances of having President Trump elected after this election," said Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, an at-large delegate. "I think there's the proper and right messaging in terms of taking our country back."
The state delegation started convention week off with a breakfast Monday morning featuring a speech from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who urged party officials to make inroads in the most heavily Democratic areas of the deeply blue state — including New York City.
New York Republicans are counting on Trump to help drive GOP voter turnout in his home state this November, when all 27 of the state's congressional districts, 213 state legislative seats and a spot in the U.S. Senate will be up for grabs.
The odds, however, are against him: New York has twice as many enrolled Democrats as Republicans, statewide polls show him trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton and the state hasn't backed a GOP presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan won re-election in a national landslide in 1984.
New York hasn't elected a Republican to a statewide position since then-governor George Pataki won a third term in 2002.
But in the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel — the New York delegation's headquarters for the week — Republicans are sounding an optimistic tone about their chances in the state, even with the numbers stacked heavily against them.
"If we carry New York by the margin we should, we will have changed American history," Gingrich said.
Michael Lawler, a delegate for the state's 17th congressional district, said he's hoping Trump — whose off-the-cuff comments have repeatedly caused controversy throughout the campaign — will treat the grand stage of the convention with respect.
Lawler, who was Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino's campaign manager during his 2014 gubernatorial bid, said the state party knows that it has to "reach out and be inclusive in all groups" to strengthen its footing in New York.
"We have been working to reach out and to be inclusive in our party with minorities, with African-Americans, Hispanics," said Lawler, a Pearl River resident and aide to Astorino. "It's important that we do that as a party."
Jon Campbell writes for the Paste BN Network’s Albany Bureau. Follow him on Twitter: @JonCampbellGAN11