The New York Democrats abandoned by their own party

Anne and Gillian Mccabe
Anne and Gillian Mccabe are distraught by Donald Trump’s victory - John Beck

Daniel Torres couldn’t bring himself to vote for Kamala Harris, she was a “terrible candidate” who cared more about posing on stage with Beyonce than coming up with substantial policies, he said.

So at the polling booth on Tuesday, the New Yorker filled in the circle next to Donald Trump’s name and posted it into the ballot box.

The father-of-three, who grew up in Manhattan and had voted Democratic for decades, felt the “ick factor” after voting for the Republican candidate.

“I wanted to fill it out in pencil instead of pen because I didn’t want to vote for him... I grew up with Trump in New York City, and I know he’s an idiot, I didn’t feel great about myself,” Mr Torres, 50, said.

Mr Torres is among scores of New York Democrats who on Tuesday held their noses and voted for Mr Trump, helping the former president make deep, red inroads in the once firmly blue Empire State.

Mr Trump, a born and bred New Yorker, had in recent years been rejected by the city where he once flitted between glitzy parties with the Manhattan social set.

Daniel Torres
Daniel Torres felt the ‘ick factor’ after voting for Donald Trump - John Beck

In 2019 he changed his legal residence to Florida, claiming he had been “treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state”.

In May, a Manhattan jury convicted him of 34 felonies, while scores of anti-Trump protesters rejoiced outside the criminal courtroom.

But this week swathes of New Yorkers signalled at the ballot box that they were ready to welcome the former president home.

Mr Trump raised eyebrows among some quarters by holding rallies in the Bronx, Nassau County and Madison Square Garden, given New York is a staunchly blue state.

But the momentum from these events was reflected in the election results.

Mr Trump, 78, saw his vote share increase by almost 6.5 points across the state jumping from 37.5 per cent in 2020 to 43.9 per cent. The president-elect narrowed the gap between the Republicans and the Democrats down to 11 points, this is the lowest since 1988.

His popularity surged most dramatically in the Bronx, where his vote share jumped by 11.6 points, likely helped by his surge in support among Latino voters. This was closely followed by Queens, his home borough.

Mr Torres, who relocated from the city to Long Beach, is among those who helped Mr Trump turn Nassau County in Long Island Democratic for the first time since 1992.

“My flip was basically because Kamala did not present any policies whatsoever,” Mr Torres, told The Telegraph.

“I voted blue for many, many years now, but I thought she was a terrible candidate. I’m not a Trump supporter, it’s just that I couldn’t support her.”

Speaking as he gently rocked his seven-month-old daughter in her pram on the Long Beach boardwalk, where Trump flags hang from nearby balconies, he added: “She was just more about hanging with celebrities.”

He added: “I hate to use the word woke, but it was a lot of wokeness.

“I don’t give a damn who the hell George Clooney is voting for. I don’t care who Taylor Swift’s voting for. What I care about is how you’re gonna affect, you know, this little baby’s life.”

But, Mr Torres said, he did feel “the ick factor” voting for Mr Trump because of concerns over his daughter’s reproductive rights. His wife, he said, voted for Ms Harris.

Lifelong Democrat Gregg Lapenna, who owns a beachside restaurant on Long Beach, also voted for Mr Trump in this election – the first time he has ever voted for a Republican presidential candidate.

Gregg Lapenna
Gregg Lapenna did not like Kamala Harris’s stance on the Middle East and the economy - John Beck

He was mulling over his decision down the wire, but at 8.15pm on election day he cast his ballot for Mr Trump because he did not like Ms Harris’s stance on the Middle East and the economy.

“I can’t tell my wife I voted for Trump”, he tells The Telegraph shortly after excitedly describing how he just saw two humpback whales breach the water.

“Harris got the women’s vote, you know, rightfully. But you know, someone said, four years where she could have made a change, she didn’t make a change.

“Do I like Trump? Absolutely not. Do I like his character? Absolutely not, but the economy took a dive.”

Wearing a backwards cap adorned with the Israel flag, Mr Lapenna said while Mr Trump is a “loose cannon” he believes he will have “more control” over the US’s finances and help small businesses.

Among those who feel left behind by the Democratic party is Thomas Hanovic, 49, a telecoms worker from Belmont, Nassau County.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat no longer”, he told The Telegraph.

Thomas Hanovic
Thomas Hanovic, a telecoms engineer who lives in Nassau County, feels left behind by the Democratic party - John Beck

Mr Hanovic voted for Mr Trump in 2020 and has not looked back. He feels the Democrats are no longer the party of the working man.

“I feel like the Republicans are the new Democratic Party... The Democrats say they support unions, but I don’t really feel like they do. I work for a union company and I’d say 90 per cent of the people I work with voted Republican for the first time in the last eight to 12 years.”

Mr Hanovic criticised the Democrats for trying to be “the cool party” with endorsements from stars such as Taylor Swift.

“Okay, you’re gonna have a young female population who support Taylor Swift.... I think there’s too much of that. There’s not enough of like, Lincoln standing on the milk crate in the middle of the street.”

He added: “I’m not a fan of Donald Trump as a person really... I think he’s cocky. I think he’s full of himself... He should keep his opinions to himself. Stay in his lane with his politics and stuff like that.

“That doesn’t mean I would never switch back to Democrat. It’s just the candidate has to be there, you know. I have to feel like my family is gonna feel represented.”

While scores of men The Telegraph spoke to in Nassau County voted for Mr Trump, only a handful of women said they had supported the GOP in the election.

Mother and daughter Anne and Gillian Mccabe were in tears all day after Mr Trump’s crushing defeat of Ms Harris.

Anne, 62, said she had noticed an abundance of Trump signs this year compared to the last election, and she had lost lifelong friends over their support of the Republican candidate.

“You can’t vote against my daughter’s rights. So your 20 cents off in gas is more important than reproductive health, the women that are in the southern states that are dying from miscarriages because they can’t get the appropriate health care to save their lives?

“Yeah, woo hoo. Good for you. You got your 20 cents off on gas.”

Democrat Josh Lafazan, a former member of the Nassau County legislature, said he believes the central issue which allowed Mr Trump to make gains across New York was the Democrats’ messaging.

“Average voters who work harder, longer hours for less pay, want to make sure they can put food on the table for their family,” he said.

“They don’t want to be chastised for using the wrong language, they don’t want to be told that they’re racist or homophobic or misogynistic because they like one candidate over the other, they don’t want to be lectured on morality, and Democrats have lost the plot.”

Despite their reservations, Mr Trump managed to tap into voter dissatisfaction and flip a significant swathe of New York’s electorate.

Now the Democrats have their work cut out to try and win them back.