BOROUGHWIDE — President Donald Trump took to his favorite form of communication, Twitter, to announce his endorsement of Republican Nicole Malliotakis for Congress, touting her as strong on fighting crime and securing America’s borders, and supportive of the Second Amendment and the nation’s military.
“Nicole has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump tweeted on Feb. 12 to let his millions of Twitter followers know which candidate he favors in the race in New York’s 11th Congressional District.
The 11th C.D. takes in parts of several neighborhoods in Southwest Brooklyn and covers the entire borough of Staten Island.
Democrat Max Rose won the seat in 2018 and announced his re-election bid on Feb. 8.
Malliotakis, a Republican member of the State Assembly, represents the 64th Assembly District, a seat that includes parts of Bay Ridge and Staten Island. She announced that she will not run for re-election to her Assembly seat but instead will concentrate on her run for Congress.
The Rose-Malliotakis contest is shaping up to be one of the most closely watched House races this November.1th C.D. by double digits, 54 percent to 44 percent, over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and he remains popular in many parts of the district.
“@NMalliotakis is running for Congress in NY, I know her well, we need her to defeat Max Rose, who voted for Impeachment! Nicole is strong on Crime & Borders, #2A, Cutting Taxes & she loves our Military & Vets,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
Malliotakis, who has been very vocal in her support of Trump’s re-election and recently posted a photo of herself with the president at the White House on Twitter, was quick to thank him publicly for the endorsement.
“I am honored by President Trump’s endorsement and his words of support, spoken directly to the American people through his social media. I plan to defeat Max Rose and return New York’s 11th Congressional District to common sense leadership. When I’m in Congress, President Trump will have a partner who will be a vocal advocate for improving security at our borders, making our neighborhoods safer, and continuing the strong economic growth our nation is seeing under his leadership,” Malliotakis said in a statement.
Rose seized on Trump’s endorsement of his rival. His campaign released a new ad on Wednesday, charging Malliotakis with hypocrisy and having done a complete turnaround from her previous positions.
“Now that she’s no longer trying to win votes in Manhattan, she’s pretending that she never supported sanctuary cities, opposed the border wall and wished Donald Trump didn’t become president. My constituents expect honesty and integrity from their elected officials, but lobbyist Nicole Malliotakis doesn’t believe in either,” Rose said in a statement.
Rose was referring to Malliotakis’ failed run for mayor against Bill de Blasio in 2017, a race that she lost by 38 points, 66 percent to 28 percent.
During her 2017 mayoral run, Malliotakis was quoted in a New York Post article as saying that if elected mayor, she would likely keep New York City as a Sanctuary City. But in the same article, she was quoted as saying that she would make major changes to the city’s sanctuary city approach and would crack down on undocumened immigrants who are dangerous criminals.
Malliotakis, who served as New York State chairperson for Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, told the New York Daily News that she voted for Trump in the 2016 election but that she had mixed feelings about her vote and wished Rubio had won the GOP nomination instead of Trump.
Rose’s description of Malliotakis as a lobbyist refers to her time as a public affairs manager at Con Edison where she worked prior to entering politics 10 years ago.
Con Edison required her to register as a lobbyist, despite the fact that she did no lobbying, according to her campaign.
Malliotakis hit back at Rose’s charges, calling him desperate on Twitter.
While Malliotakis is the presumptive Republican nominee in the congressional race, she still faces a GOP primary this spring in order to secure that nomination. Her opponent is Joseph Caldarera, a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn.
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