By Serena Edwards
President-elect Donald Trump won against Vice President Kamala Harris by a majority of 312 electoral college votes, as opposed to Harris, who had 226 votes. New York, known to be a “Blue” state during elections, had an influx of more Republican-leaning votes in Brooklyn and the broader New York City area.
According to the “Election Atlas” by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, South Brooklyn gained 50% to 70% more Republican-leaning votes in 2024 compared to 2020. This was a big shift compared to 2020 when Biden had 76% of the vote in NYC. According to Spectrum News, Harris had a total of 68% votes in the city.
Former President Trump held a rally before the election in Madison Square Garden to appeal to New Yorkers and get them out to the polls, according to ABC7. Trump had many prominent conservatives join him at the rally, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his vice-president JD Vance. To analysts, this move could have helped sway voters to their side.
“The slew of speakers are unlikely to win over voters on the fence, but their presence on the trail could boost enthusiasm among Trump’s base and among less reliable voting blocs, such as young men,” said political commentator Brett Samuels in The Hill.
Another factor was undecided voters, according to The New Republic. Biden dropped out and handed his candidacy halfway through the race, causing voters to question Harris when she entered; there wasn’t enough time for Democrats to persuade enough people. According to The New Republic, a senior operative at the Harris campaign stated, “He stayed in the race too long, undecided voters viewed the post-Covid status quo and the very real pain of inflation only through the prism of their dislike of Biden.”
Brooklyn wasn’t the only place that saw an increase in Republican votes: there was an increase in Republican votes in both Queens and the Bronx. Voters voiced that they voted for Trump this election due to the current conditions such as inflation, the border crisis, the economy, and lack of job opportunities, according to The City.
Trump had an outreach of support mainly across predominantly Hispanic communities. A voter told The City he cast his first-ever vote this election, and it was for President-Elect Trump. “The economy is shot. We need more money out here spent in The Bronx. We got a lot of people out here that lost their jobs. You lose your job, you can’t go get a haircut,” he said.
Losing the election due to not securing the Latinx vote was posited by Democrats. Democrat U.S Rep Torres from the Bronx told Politico, “The frustrations of Latino voters, and may I add Asian voters and even perhaps some Black voters, is the Democratic Party’s inability to deliver on bread-and-butter issues.”
20% more points for Trump came from the Bronx and Queens compared to four years ago. Voters told The City that in the time of the Biden-Harris administration, “Nothing has been done for them.” A common issue of the cost of living being raised is an ongoing issue, and people have expressed feeling “tired,” according to Gothamist.
Manhattan was the only borough to stay Democratic, according to the Election Atlas. According to Politico, voters say that the Democratic party catered towards the upper class this election rather than the working class. In an interview with Politico, the president of the New York Young Republican Club, Gavin Wax, stated, “The Democrats became the party of the Manhattan liberal elite rather than their working-class base.”
While there was a shift towards Republican this election, New York City and the broader New York state remained Democratic with 55.8% of the votes going towards Harris, according to NY1.