Newly cohesive Queens GOP heads into November election
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Queens County Republican Party Chairperson Joann Ariola is running for Queens Borough President with a newly united GOP backing her. Photo courtesy of Ariola campaign
By David Brand
A Queens Republican Party riven by internal conflicts limped into the general election for district attorney in November 2019. Their candidate, a popular defense lawyer and ex-cop, was also a party-switching former Democrat, a fact that alienated some members who wanted the GOP to develop its own candidates, particularly for the county’s top law enforcement job.
Just 10 months later, feuding factions and figures in the party have mended fences ahead of the election for Queens borough president and 25 state offices — not to mention the race for U.S. president.
Their candidate for borough president, Queens County Republican Party Chair Joann Ariola, says protests touched off by the police killing of George Floyd, a recent spike in crime and a progressive movement to cut funding to the NYPD have galvanized the borough’s Republican voters and alienated moderate Democrats who she hopes to win over.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a better opportunity for me as a candidate to become borough president,” Ariola said. “I believe the city is being destroyed.”
She said she would work closely with each NYPD precinct in Queens and look to “refund” some of the money diverted from the department in the city’s current budget.
The tangible powers of the borough president are limited, but the office does provide the county executive with a prominent bully pulpit. Ariola said she would use the office to denounce homeless shelters in residential communities, support landlords pinched by an eviction moratorium and call for relief for small businesses.
She’ll also have an open mind on land use issues.
“I will support any project that’s going to bring jobs to this borough,” she said. “The fact that Amazon didn’t come was terrible.”
Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 8-to-1 in Queens, making any GOP nominee for boroughwide office a distinct underdog. Hence, political observers have speculated that Ariola actually plans to run for city council in District 32 after term-limited Councilmember Eric Ulrich, the Queens delegation’s only Republican, leaves office next year.
Ariola said she did not to plan to run for Ulrich’s seat representing Howard Beach, Broad Channel, Ozone Park and the western portion of the Rockaways.
“I can’t run for District 32 because I’ll be running again for borough president,” she said. The winner of the November race, a result of former Borough President Melinda Katz leaving office to take over as Queens DA, will have to defend the seat in the regular 2021 election cycle.
Councilmember Eric Ulrich. Photo courtesy of Ariola’s campaign
Ulrich also downplayed speculation that Ariola, a close ally, sought his seat.
“She’s not running for borough president so she can run for city council. That’s what some people are saying to discredit her campaign and it’s not fair,” he said.
He said Ariola has succeeded in uniting the party in recent years and that he considers her one of the party’s strongest county leaders in recent memory.
“Fractures in Queens have been minimized. There’s only a small group of malcontents,” Ulrich said.
Ulrich pointed to his own success in the 2019 special election for public advocate to demonstrate how a Republican could perform in a boroughwide race. Though Ulrich came in a distant second to then-Councilmember Jumaane Williams, he won Queens.
“Besides the enrollment disadvantage that Republicans have, the people of Queens, the voters, have been very fair-minded when it comes to who represents them,” he said.
But Ulrich’s 2019 performance came in a special election with more than a dozen Democrats splitting the liberal and progressive vote while he secured the smaller conservative bloc.
To win a head-to-head contest with Democratic nominee Donovan Richards, a Far Rockaway councilmember, Ariola will have to turn out a huge number of voters in the borough’s Republican strongholds, like her hometown of Howard Beach and pockets of Northeast and Central Queens, while driving conservative and some moderate voters in heavily Democratic districts, too.
Democratic political strategist Martha Ayon said that is extremely unlikely to happen because the Republicans have failed to appeal to young and nonwhite voters in the borough for more than a decade.
“Historically in Queens, they have always had strongholds in places like Glendale, Maspeth, Bayside, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, but I also feel that they have not done a good job at bringing in new people,” Ayon said. “You never hear about a Queens Republican party event.”
Ayon has supported Richards for Queens borough president and said she sees no path to victory for Ariola or other Republicans in the borough.
“We’ve had a lot of new people in Queens in the last 10 years,” she said. “They have not grown with the 18 to 45 demographic we have in Queens.”
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: COUNCILMEMBER BOB HOLDEN, QUEENS GOP CHAIRPERSON JOANN ARIOLA, FORMER STATE SEN. SERPHIN MALTESE, CIVIC LEADER TONY NUNZIATO, QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT CANDIDATE JAMES QUINN AND ITALIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY LEADER CAV. TONY DIPIAZZA CUT THE RIBBON AT QUINN’S CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS IN RIDGEWOOD. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE QUINN CAMPAIGN.
Ariola has a few significant disadvantages in the race for borough president.
First off, Richards has outraised her 17-to-1, according to the most disclosure reports filed Aug. 28.
His spokesperson Thomas Musich pointed to another hurdle for a Republican running in Queens: President Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket and likely to drive high Democratic voter turnout.
"Our campaign has always been focused on celebrating the diversity of Queens and bringing those communities together,” Musich said. “The divisive and fear mongering rhetoric coming from our Republican opponent is right out of the Trump playbook. We anticipate Queens voters will reject that messaging just as they will Trump's in November.”
Trump’s presence has loomed over the Queens borough president’s race for months.
Former Queens prosecutor Jim Quinn ran a conservative campaign for the office ahead of a March special election that featured a field of five Democrats. Like Ulrich in the public advocate’s race, that differentiation in a wide-open special might have given Quinn a legitimate shot — until COVID-19 compelled Gov. Andrew Cuomo to cancel the special. Quinn did not file to run in the June primary.
Even among borough conservatives, few figured a Republican could win in November with Trump on the ticket.
But Joe Murray, the attorney who ran for district attorney on the GOP line last year, said it can be done.
Murray pointed to his own experience as an example of the kind of voters Ariola could win over. He was a Democrat until last year and said he knows many other Democrats who are fed up with what they see as the leftward drift of the party. Republicans are also activated in response to current events.
“I really do think were it not for COVID and George Floyd and the riots that Joann probably wouldn’t have a good chance, but that has motivated so many people within the party to put their differences aside and focus on the important issue of public safety,” Murray said.
“That is the fundamental issue and the Democratic Party has allowed things to get like this,” he continued, citing a spike in crime. He also focused on instances of looting that occurred following large-scale Black Lives Matter protests.
When Murray entered the GOP last summer, ahead of the general election for DA, he encountered divisions throughout the borough, he said. But the local party’s key figures have resolved their disputes for the most part, he said.
“The people that were averse to each other are working together and supporting each other and I’m glad to see that,” he said.
Still, it’s not all kumbaya in the GOP.
Queens Village Republican Club Vice Chair Joe Concannon said fundraising, enrollment and campaigning have all lagged under Ariola’s leadership.
“As a countywide organization, we talk about performance — putting candidates in positions to win, growing the county committee, the state committee, both of those should be thriving,” said Concannon, who has run against Ariola for party chair. “We’re not seeing any of that.”
Concannon said he frequently encounters Republicans who don’t even know there is a county party.
“Right now, the party is not doing well in Queens. And that’s why we’ve got one party in charge of the entire borough,” he added, though he said he still isn’t sure he’ll vote for Ariola.
“I know she’s working hard to get herself elected,” he said. “I’ll make that decision on election day.”
