Fresh off Donald Trump’s second presidential victory, Bronx Republican and Conservative Party leaders are feeling increasingly confident that their candidates may actually start winning New York City and the borough.
In a borough where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 10 to one, leaders of the Bronx Republican and Conservative Parties say they are working to capitalize on momentum from Trump’s stunning win — and increase diversity in their membership — as they attempt to widen their reach into the Bronx, New York City and the state.
“I think we’re in for a party reset,” said Mike Rendino, chair of the Bronx GOP, in an interview with the Bronx Times.
Gonzalo Duran, vice chair of the Bronx Conservative Party, said he believed Trump could win New York in the Nov. 5 election. “We didn’t get what we expected,” he said. Nevertheless, Trump’s gains since 2020 across nearly every part of the city have boosted his party’s confidence that Bronxites are ready for conservative leaders.
While Trump did not come close to winning the borough following the Nov. 5 election, his stronger-than-expected showing in the Bronx — winning nearly 30% of the vote — has created a moment to build upon for conservative leaders.
Throughout Trump’s campaign, he pledged to increase his support among communities of color, with a special focus on Black and Latino men. He appeared twice in the Bronx, visiting a barbershop in Castle Hill on Oct. 17 and rallying supporters in Crotona Park in May. Those efforts appear to have paid off, as Vice President Kamala Harris did carry New York but with the smallest slice of the Democratic vote share since 2004.
Nationally, Trump doubled his support among Black voters from 8% in 2020 to 16% this year. Among Latinos, support for Trump grew from 35% to 42%, according to PBS News’ reporting of data from AP Votecast. The increase in support for Trump was especially pronounced along the gender divide: 24% of Black men and 47% of Latino men voted for him.
Trump’s support in the Bronx followed a similar trend, increasing across each of his three presidential runs. In 2016, when he first ran for office, he earned just 9% of Bronx presidential votes. But his support increased to 16% in 2020 — and this year jumped to 27%.
Rendino said these outcomes are a sign that the local GOP tent should open wider for diverse candidates to come forward and start winning — or at least putting up a fight — in the Bronx and New York City.
Gone are the days of the GOP being the party of old white men, said Rendino. “The Republican party is finally the diverse, blue-collar party that I’ve always dreamed of and we worked for.”
Not done yet
Unsurprisingly, the eastern section of the Bronx that elected the only Republican member of City Council — Kristy Marmorato, who is Rendino’s sister — turned out the strongest support for Trump.
The president-elect performed well in several East Bronx neighborhoods including Throggs Neck, Morris Park, Pelham Bay Park, City Island and Country Club.
Rendino credited Latino voters for much of Trump’s growing success in the Bronx. He said Latinos tend to agree with Trump on “kitchen table issues,” such as food prices, energy costs and immigration. He also said the lack of current Hispanic leadership in the local power structure — from Bronx borough president to mayor to governor — is putting Democrats out of touch with the rapidly-growing voting bloc.
As for the local GOP, Rendino said he welcomes new leaders to step in — especially women and people of color.
Rendino said Marmorato pulled off her historic win in the East Bronx District 13 because she appealed to voters as a conservative woman and mom. Her victory was the first for a Republican seeking elected office since 2004.
“Having women carry our message, people are more open to it, they listen to it,” he said.
Diversity will be key for the GOP in winning elections in the historically blue city and state, said Rendino. He said the party is looking to put up a Yemeni candidate for State Assembly within the next two years, and a Dominican Republicans club based in the Bronx is opening soon.
“The message works with other messengers,” Rendino said.
Small but growing
Despite the Bronx Conservative Party’s tiny numbers — just 3,208 out of 808,496 registered voters in the borough — it is growing little by little and finding ways to amplify its identity.
Many Bronxites are unaware that the Conservative Party exists separately from the Republican Party — but when they learn of the choice, many realize their values align, Duran told the Bronx Times in September. The two parties often overlap on issues and candidates but remain distinct under separate leadership.
The Conservative Party has been actively engaging in the community and increased its membership by 15% last year, according to Duran. Voter enrollment data shows the Conservative Party gained 241 members since November 2023.
This election season, the group found ways to make their support for Trump known in the borough. While Trump’s two appearances in the Bronx were welcomed, they were not connected with the local parties, said Duran. So, the party held its own “The Bronx is MAGA” rally in Morris Park on Nov. 2, which was attended by approximately 200 mostly-local people in a sign of growing support for Trump and his ideas, he said.
The party is not stopping with the top of the ticket. In the Nov. 5 election, Duran himself challenged incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, and although Torres won with 77% of the vote, Duran said he plans not only to challenge him in the future but will throw his hat in the ring for mayor of New York City in 2025.
For his small party, success begins with consistently putting up candidates to challenge Democrats — and, more broadly, to challenge the assumption that New York will always vote blue.
“If we don’t try, it’s an automatic loss for us,” Duran said. “Our presence has to be known.”
Dems pick up the pieces
In the wake of Harris’ confounding loss, some local Democrats came down hard on their own party’s failures to address many Americans’ biggest concern — their own pocketbooks.
In a post by Rep. Torres from his personal Instagram account, he blamed liberals for Harris’ loss.
“Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx’,” he said.
Though Harris did not run on a platform of defunding police and pledged continued U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza, Torres said Democrats’ priorities did not align with the concerns of everyday people. “The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far left is selling,” he said.
Harris’ New York win is of little comfort to local Democrats, who now begin the work of learning from this election’s missteps.
“We need deep reflection,” said Abigail Martin, a Democratic party district leader who serves on the executive committee of the Unity Democratic Club based in Riverdale.
The group coordinated with the Harris/Walz campaign to knock on doors, make phone calls and organize three bus trips to Pennsylvania to engage with voters in the nearby swing state. The most recent bus was overfilled and had to send about 35 people to leave from Harlem instead, said Martin. In all, the group’s 50 volunteers made approximately 4,000 voter contacts across five zip codes.
But those efforts did not lead to a Harris win for president — she failed to win Pennsylvania or any other swing state. And in New York, fewer voters chose Harris than Hillary Clinton, the first female major party candidate for U.S. president, in 2016.
With Trump having won the office and made significant gains throughout New York City, “Democrats need to sit with how uncomfortable that feels and reflect on how we can do better,” Martin said.
To Martin, the main silver lining in this election was the passing of Proposal 1, which enshrined abortion protections in the state constitution and expanded protections against discrimination. The club engaged in a targeted campaign since September in support of the proposal, which passed with 62% of the statewide vote.
Since Election Day, Martin said the club’s group chat has lit up with messages of togetherness and support — but she has already heard from community members who wish they would have done more to help turn out the vote for Harris.
Martin said her party will turn its disappointment into action: “I think this, as painful as it is, will lead to more people wanting to get involved and wanting to help Democrats do better going forward.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
