The New York GOP hauled in less than one million dollars with appearances by four major political attractions. On stage at the New York Hilton earlier this month was Texas Governor Greg Abbott; New York North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference and the fourth-highest ranking House Republican; former congressman and 2022 gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin; and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley. New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox was the emcee for the event.
Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Hecht, shliach of the Chabad of Ulster County in Kingston, N.Y., gave opening prayer:
“We pray for Israel. May the hostages be released, may the injured be healed and the war against evil reach its victory very soon. May its people be blessed with security, prosperity and enduring peace. Our G-d and G-d of our fathers, we invoke your blessing upon the men and women of the Republican Party of the State of New York. We pray to You, dear G-d that the outcome and actions of this assembly here this evening be guided by your wisdom and understanding. This party, which prides itself on being the party that cures one another and raises its neighbor up so he can stand on his own two feet, never losing the capability to dream as well as the ability to act. Grant the public officials, leaders and members of this party continued vigor of body and spirit. Clarity of vision and resolution of purpose, conviction coupled with compassion, courage to lead with the patience to listen. Almighty G-d, please protect the sanctity of marriage and family, the sanctity and dignity for human life and their property. Free us from all hatred and prejudice.”
Approximately 700 staunch Republicans attended the event. Not everyone paid and there were plenty of empty seats spread throughout the Hilton ballroom, signaling people who paid but did not attend or that there were more place-settings than needed for last-minute walk-ins. The cost varied depending upon whether one wanted a special VIP reception to hobnob with the hoi polloi as well as the rich and famous. The lowest-priced ticket per person was $1,250. The VIP reception attracted approximately 60 people, but some attendees were able to enter at no charge.
“There was a lot of networking going on. It was really just Republicans supporting Republicans realizing that with this next election, we may be coming into our own while we’re still in the minority,” Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R – Castleton Corners, Staten Island) told The Jewish Press. “We could, however, add a few more seats in Congress, take back the Senate and have a Republican president. The country is ready for a change because the Democrats have failed us.”
Governor Abbott’s remarks were all over the map. He bragged about how great Texas is since the Republicans took over the state after 100-year rule by Democrats. That inspired Republican members of the state Assembly and Senate to get out of the minority in their respective houses.
“I’m very optimistic we are going to be successful,” Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay told The Jewish Press after the dinner. “I think things are changing in New York and nothing lasts forever, so I’m optimistic we can win seats.” The Assembly Republicans lag behind the Democrats with 102 to 48 members. Winning another three seats in November and not losing what they already have would eclipse the supermajority threshold.
In a tear-jerker moment, Abbott told the story of how he became wheelchair bound.
“Some people had no idea that I was in a wheelchair,” Abbott told the audience. “What happened was, on July 14, 1984, I was 26 years old. I had just graduated from law school and I was studying for the bar exam. I took a break and did something I did every single day; I went out for a jog. While I was out jogging on this particular day, a huge oak tree crashed down onto my back. It fractured my vertebrae and my spinal cord, leaving me immediately paralyzed and never able to walk again. I see your heads shaking thinking how slow was that guy jogging to get hit by a falling tree?”
Abbott never answered the tongue-in-cheek joke. Due to the accident, he needed two steel rods implanted into his spine and underwent extensive rehab at the TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas. “In Texas we don’t lay around in a hospital bed. We get up, we get back to work and we get going,” Abbott said. According to Abbott’s website, “the recovery process reminded him of his life lessons including perseverance.”
Abbott continued to extol his state. “In Texas, as it concerns income taxes, we disdain income taxes so much, not only do we not have an income tax, we passed a constitutional amendment banning an income tax. We’ve ensured that we are passing property tax cuts.”
(“There is someone who is sitting around me who was on Zillow checking property in Texas,” Lee Zeldin revealed towards the end of the program when it was his turn to speak.)
Abbott spoke about how his state was able to cut through red tape to allow Elon Musk to have Tesla cars rolling off the assembly line within 18 months.
“In April 2020, Elon Musk came to me and said he needed to build a factory more than one mile long and have all the intricacies of a gigafactory in there, and he not only needed it completed but to have vehicles rolling off of it in only 18 months,” Abbott said. “In December 2021, Elon was rolling vehicles off that newly built factory floor. In 18 months, he was able to build a gigafactory larger than the Pentagon in Texas. Whereas in California he would not have even completed the permitting process. In Texas we move at the speed of business.”
While New York state has the ninth-largest economy in the world, “Texas has the eighth largest economy,” Abbott said. “There are only seven countries in the world that have an economy larger than Texas. United States, obviously, China, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. The way the economies are growing, sometime over the course of the next year Texas will surpass France to have the seventh-largest economy in the entire world. We will celebrate in typical Texas fashion with a big backyard French fry eating contest.”
On policy, Abbott highlighted one additional point.
“I signed a law that will defund any city that defunds their police. In Texas we support our police officers. We back the blue – period – in the Lone Star State,” he said.
Then Abbott highlighted his state’s economy as a rallying cry to show New York Republicans what they can do.
“In spite of all these things, at least it leads to remarkable results. Texas is number one in America for the most new jobs. Number one, for the fastest-growing economy of any large state. Number one in a category that New York used to regularly rank number one in. Texas ranks number one for being the home base to more Fortune 500 company headquarters than any other state. We are the top state for Fortune 500 headquarters and home to 3.1 million small businesses, one in five of the nation’s Hispanic business owners, and one in ten of the nation’s Black business owners. We lead the nation in population growth, again gaining more people last year than any other state and surpassing 30 million in total population.” Abbott concluded. New York has 20 million people with a budget twice the size of Texas – $237 billion.
It appears the only problem Abbott has is the influx of migrants hitting his shores at an alarming rate. He also cleared up some misconceptions.
“We are getting people from more than 150 countries across the globe. More than nine million people have come in illegally just under Joe Biden. To put that in context, the equivalent of the entirety of the population of New York City have come across the border illegally just in the past three years,” he said. “What none of us know right now is how many terrorists on the watch list evaded detection and are working their way across the United States. Last month the FBI director said there is the possibility of a terrorist attack taking place in America because of the southern border. It’s because of reasons like this and because Joe Biden is not following the law.”
Abbott decided to take matters into his own hands under a section of the state Constitution using money from “the largest budget surplus in the history of our state,” to fund the border wall that President Joe Biden wanted to remove.
“Texas has the constitutional right to self-defense and we are going to defend our state and our country from an invasion. When you look at the miles of that border wall we already put up and the miles currently under construction, Texas is building more border wall in Texas than Trump built in Texas,” Abbott said.
Then Abbott took aim at New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“We know the chaos that is being sown by the governance of New York as a state and as a city. It’s repelling people. I hear it every day from people moving to Texas from New York. I’m saying that sanity can be restored in New York with Republicans regaining control of leadership positions in this state and in this city.”
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa was in attendance at the swanky gala dinner. He ran against Eric Adams for mayor as a Republican and there is no love lost between the two.
“Abbott basically told the story about how this whole [migrant] situation is destroying our state and destroying our country. New York is a sanctuary city and a sanctuary state so I’ll send them to you,” Sliwa recalled Abbott saying. “The mayor said, send us all you got because we’re going to roll out the red carpet. We’re going to give them more things than any other sanctuary city. He was bragging about it. This is all personal with Eric Adams and Governor Abbott. Adams gets beat every time. [Adams] can’t even get in the ring with this guy. Every time you attack him you just bring more migrants to New York City. You attack the guy, it’s a knee-jerk reaction instead of meeting with him.”
Abbott was snubbed by the Biden Administration early on in this process.
“Neither the border czar nor the president came to the border to see what kind of chaos they created,” Abbott said. “If they weren’t going to come to the border, we were going to bring the border to them. We started busing migrants to the sanctuary city of Washington, DC. I thought Kamala Harris, the border czar, needed to see this first-hand so we actually delivered them directly to the residence of the vice-president (at the Naval Observatory).”
Then Mayor Adams popped into the discourse, which riled Abbott.
“We were sending the illegal immigrants only to Washington, DC. Quite literally, out of nowhere, Mayor Adams starts criticizing me for sending them to New York City. We made clear, by contacting his office, saying we’re not sending the migrants to New York. I said that’s Joe Biden sending them to New York. The criticism, however, kept coming, kept coming, kept coming despite our denial. After a while, I figured gosh, if I’m going to get the criticism, I want to get the credit,” Abbott said in a folksy Will Rogers chatty voice.
“Thus began the busing of illegal immigrants to the sanctuary city of New York City. The complaining by Mayor Adams is nothing but stunning. What he has is a tiny fraction of what Texas gets every single day. What he’s dealing with is what America is dealing with and that is the fault of Joe Biden by allowing open border policies in the first place and by sanctuary cities existing in the second place. We are going to have to maintain this process until we get a new president this November who will secure the border for the United States of America.”
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of Schuylerville, Saratoga County, received the Jack Kemp Leadership Award.
“While it’s important to look back on our hard work together that got us here today, in the spirit of Jack Kemp I want to look forward to our fights on brighter days ahead,” Stefanik said to pump up the crowd. She ended on this down note: “Times are indeed dark but I know that you share this. We know that we must keep up the righteous fight to save New York, save America and save the American Dream. It is, we the people, who will save our great state and save our country. We the People will never give up on New York and we will never give up on the United States of America. This November, with your help, we will elect President Trump the 45th and 47th president of the United States, we will flip the Senate, we will win (more seats in) the House and we will soon have a [Republican] governor of New York state.”
Former gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin gave a fiery, uplifting speech to help rally the Republican troops through November. His opening salvo was about fighting antisemitism.
“There are friends and family who fear what used to be routine. Jewish New York City residents who have to take their yarmulke off when riding on the subway out of fear they may be attacked,” Zeldin, who identifies as being Jewish, said. We fear for our allies. Chuck Schumer stood on the floor of the United States Senate calling for regime change in Israel while they are fighting right now against existential threats on all sides. Senator Schumer claims that he is a lifelong friend of Israel. Chuck Schumer has not taken a lifelong pledge to be a friend of Israel. Chuck Schumer has taken a lifelong pledge to Chuck Schumer. We want judges to have discretion to weigh dangerousness when setting bail. We want those young Jewish kids to be able to ride a subway and be able to keep their yarmulke on. We know the space at this moment. We are prepared to govern and lead in January,” an optimistic Zeldin said.
“We can tell Chuck Schumer that he can take his pledge and move his offices over to the minority leader’s office because there is a Republican majority coming to the Senate to make sure that our ideas are being implemented. That a supermajority is being broken in the state legislature. That the Democrats are being put on notice that 2024 is just the beginning of a great comeback year in New York. We’re here. We’re fighting for our state. We are fighting for our country. We’re taking nothing for granted and we are all in to fight for and defend it and win it.”
New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox presented Ron Lauder in absentia with an award. Lauder is an heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetic fortune whose net worth approaches five billion dollars.
“Among Ron Lauder’s many philanthropic and other endeavors he has been president of the World Jewish Congress since 2009. Given the recent rise in antisemitism around the world, as a world leader against antisemitism it is understandable that Ronald Lauder is presently abroad and cannot be with us tonight. The New York party is grateful for Ronald Lauder staying in the good fight for so many years and for his many contributions to our party and its candidates for so many years. We are honoring Ambassador Ronald Lauder with the NY GOP’s Lifetime Achievement award.”
Cox also noted Lauder’s laudable merits during the 2022 gubernatorial campaign.
“When we determined in August of 2022 that our ad hoc group should do an independent PAC for Lee Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign, Ron Lauder agreed to match whatever we raised,” Cox recalled. “Together, we eventually raised and spent $17 million in the last six weeks of the gubernatorial race in support of Lee’s excellent campaign. His crucial role helped elect 11 New York representatives to Congress and flip control of the House of Representatives. It would not have happened without Ron Lauder.”
The messaging that evening resonated with at least one New York City Councilwoman who expressed optimism that the New York Council could add more Republican seats. The 51-seat council is split 45 Democrats to six Republicans.
“We turned my seat, which was held by Democrats for 100 years, into a Republican seat. We just got a seat in the Bronx,” Councilwoman Inna Vernikov told The Jewish Press. “Getting a majority (in the New York City Council) is absolutely doable. We just have to keep on repeating the message. We’re on the right side of history. The issues are on our side. We just have to do the work.”
