During his daily series of tweets, President Donald Trump yesterday took the time to tweet his endorsement of incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-South Brooklyn, Staten Island), who is locked in a close primary battle with former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm (R).
The tweet was as follows:
The tweet also came as the National Democratic Congressional Committee has been both covertly and openly been supporting Grimm, who they feel would be easier to beat in a general election and thus flip the seat. Grimm, a former FBI agent, attorney and U.S. Marine is also a convicted felon involving income tax evasion from when he owned a Manhattan restaurant.
Thus Trump followed the endorsement tweet with another:
The Donovan campaign accepted the endorsement with gratitude, saying the Congress member has worked on behalf of the president’s agenda, and that the endorsement is just a confirmation of being on Trump’s side.
“We’re deeply honored to have President Trump’s endorsement. This is a huge boost to our campaign and a strong validation of the work Congressman Donovan has done in support of the President’s agenda. We’re incredibly grateful to him for throwing his full support behind our campaign,” said Jessica Proud, a campaign spokesman for Donovan.
Grimm countered that Donovan has failed to support the president with important parts of Trump’s agenda.
“All the endorsements in the world can’t change the facts: Donovan has failed to pass even one substantive bill into law, and has voted against President Trump every time it’s mattered, from failing to repeal Obamacare, to banning sanctuary cities, and even against tax cuts,” said Grimm.
On the other side of the aisle, frontrunning Democratic candidate Max Rose said that the president was choosing between two deeply flawed candidates in the race.
“The president chose a coward over a convict. Let’s be clear though: aside from Michael Grimm’s time in prison, Donovan and Grimm are two sides of the same coin. Both have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in Corporate PAC donations, haven’t done anything to fix our infrastructure crisis, nor make our healthcare more affordable,” Rose said.
Rose, who is looking to become the first post-9/11 combat veteran to win office in New York City, said it’s time for a new dance in Washington after both Donovan and Grimm had chances to represent the district.
“At the end of the day, Michael Grimm and Dan Donovan had their chance to change Washington. They failed. It’s time for new leadership,” Rose said.
