Trump makes major gains in borough he once called home
/
Former President Donald Trump saw major gains in Queens on Tuesday (map on right) when compared to his 2022 performance (map on left) in his home borough. Maps via Center for Urban Research/CUNY Graduate Center
By Jacob Kaye
Just as he did across the entirety of the U.S. on Tuesday night during his decisive comeback victory, former President Donald Trump made major gains in Queens, the borough he was raised in.
Though Vice President Kamala Harris ultimately won around 68 percent of the vote in Queens, Trump gained votes in nearly every election district in the borough. Overall, Trump performed around 10.5 percentage points better in Queens than he did in 2020. Only the Bronx saw a greater shift in support of the former president in New York City.
Though Trump’s gains in Queens were not exactly out of step with his performance nationally on Tuesday, they are particularly shocking given the borough’s attempts to distance itself over the past eight years from its former resident.
Trump not only beat out his 2020 totals in areas of Queens he won four years ago, but he flipped districts in Queens that voted solidly for President Joe Biden.
In 2020, Trump did not win a single election district in Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst or Jackson Heights, all of which are home to large populations of Latino and immigrant voters. On Tuesday, he won six election districts in the area and made double digit percentage point gains in dozens of others.
He also made double-digit gains in dozens of districts in Woodhaven, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Briarwood, Jamaica Hills and Jamaica Estates, where he spent the earliest years of his life.
Trump additionally saw boosts in areas of Queens he won in 2020, winning them again even more decisively this week.
He received double-digit increases in Jewish communities in Kew Gardens Hills, Hillcrest, Rego Park and Forest Hills, all of which he carried four years ago.
In Queens’ most consistently conservative areas, including in Whitestone, Beechurst, Howard Beach and the western portion of the Rockaway Peninsula, Trump gained anywhere from five to 15 percentage points in most election districts.
Harris, who did not campaign in New York City during the 16 weeks she was officially running for president, performed better than Biden’s 2020 campaign in only a handful of districts in Queens.
In Edgemere, Harris won 89 percent of the vote after Biden won around 84 percent of the vote there in 2020. Harris also outperformed Biden’s 2020 results in several election districts in Long Island City, all of which saw significant increases in the total number of votes cast there this week when compared to the last presidential race.
It all amounted to what could be an alarming trend for elected officials in the overwhelmingly Democratic borough.
“If I were a citywide official, or if I were a local official running for office next year, I'd be very careful in portions of Queens,” Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant, told the Eagle on Wednesday.
Whether or not Trump’s gains in Queens grow over the next four years remains unclear. The vote totals in even the most conservative parts of Queens – a borough where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one – were not enough to push Republicans running for local office over the edge on Tuesday.
And while Sheinkopf said the shift could play a role in next year’s mayoral contest – which will likely feature a handful of progressive candidates running against an embattled and somewhat conservative Mayor Eric Adams – it’s hard to say whether or not it holds until the presidential election in 2028.
“It all depends on the conditions of the four years,” Sheinkopf said. “Five minutes in politics is 20 years in anything else.”
