Trump Supporters Exult in the NYC Neighborhoods Where He Gained the Most

 

While nearly 600,000 fewer voters backed the Democrat than last time, some of the nearly 100,000 more voters who backed the Republican had a lot to say about their reasons and hopes

This article originally appeared in The City.

By Haidee Chu, Jonathan Custodio, and Gwynne Hogan

Follow @Bronxvoice1

NEW YORK - Support for the Republican presidential candidate grew in every borough and in nearly every neighborhood this year and declined even more dramatically for his Democratic counterpart. 

While 94,611 more New York City voters cast ballots for former President Donald Trump on Tuesday than in 2020, 573,618 fewer did so for Vice President Kamala Harris than had voted for President Joe Biden, according to unofficial election results with 97% of scanners counted.

That rightward shift has been spotlighted at Knockout Barbershop in Castle Hill, Bronx, since Trump visited as a candidate last month for a “Fox & Friends” segment.

On Wednesday, hours after the election was called for Trump, multiple TV and print reporters were there as proprietors Javier Rodriguez Senior and Junior were cutting hair.

“I’m tired of this,” another barber renting a chair there told THE CITY, mixing in some profanities. “Media’s been here all day.” 

Rodriguez Jr., whose father came to The Bronx from Puerto Rico, said that he cast his first-ever ballot this year, for Trump. 

“I hear the statistics that they've allowed millions of people to come in,” Rodriguez Jr., who owns the store now, said while sitting at a domino table in front of the shop. “People that are already here can't find work.”

Knockout Barbershop owner Javier Rodriguez Jr. says he voted for former President Donald Trump because of economic issues, Nov. 7, 2024.

“I don’t know Trump from a hole in the wall,” he continued as a passer-by congratulated him on the Republican’s win. “I just know what he did in his first term. When he came here I felt like, ‘Aight cool, I can have a conversation in real life time.’”

While Harris won 70% of the votes in Castle Hill-Union Port, Trump’s 27% this year more than doubled his 13% share in 2020. 

“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,” Rodriguez Jr. said, adding that the barber shop’s rent, which had been $1,200 a month in the early 2000s, was $3,500 now and would go up another $100 next year.

“We got to go out and get it. I can't leave my chair because I won't make money. Right now. I'm not making money but if you were working a government job you're gonna get paid regardless if you're working, if you’re sick. I can't take sick leave.” 

Rodriguez Sr., who voted for Trump this year, as he did in the previous two elections, said as he buzzed a client’s hair that his top issues were “the economy [and] security first. There’s no safety here no more.”

‘Stop These Wars’

One of the city’s sharpest rightward shifts came in North Corona, Queens, where Harris received 2,810 votes to Trump’s 2,505, eking out a six percentage-point win where Biden had won by 55 points. 

Put otherwise, 1,034 more people in North Corona voted for Trump this year than in 2020, while 2,303 fewer voted for Harris than had voted for Biden.

Sixty-five-year-old Moses Fernandez, who’s lived in this part of central Queens — where immigrants, mostly Spanish speaking, make up 62% of the population — said he had never bothered turning out until this election.

“I just wanted to vote because I want things to get back in place. We gotta stop these wars, all these killings,” he told THE CITY Thursday morning while passing time with friends at Corona Plaza. “The way the world is — it’s chaotic right now. It’s working its way up to World War III.”

Maria Sirena, 57, who moved to Corona from the state of Puebla in Mexico more than 30 years ago, said she’s voted for presidential candidates from both parties and went with the Republican this year.

Corona resident Maria Sirena, a 57-year-old immigrant from Mexico, said she voted for former President Donald Trump, Nov. 7, 2024.

“I like Trump — he’s good. The caravan — no good. The amnesty — I dislike it,” Sirena said as she handed out business cards near a bus station for the medical practice she’s worked at for eight years. “If they’re here, they need to pay their taxes — come on!”

Hector Tejada, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, said he’s heard good things about Trump around the neighborhood though he cannot vote as a green-card holder. 

“But my son, he voted — for Trump. For the economy, and for public safety,” Tejada said in Spanish while working at the bodega his family owns a few blocks north of Corona Plaza. “What I’ve heard is that the economy is gonna improve. It’s gonna improve. People are happy because they’re going to, supposedly, regulate immigration.” 

Crossing Over

Some voters in Southern Brooklyn also echoed that sentiment, including Jin Li from Dyker Heights, where Trump gained 13 points this year.

Speaking to THE CITY during the early voting period, Li said she and her husband had both supported Democrats previously, but voted for Trump for the first time this year — noting border security, public safety and economy as her top issues.

“He's more competent in terms of economics. That's what we want, as a working class, to improve, as the working class,” Li said. “A lot has been lost over four years.” 

Ivan Shatsilenia, a 40-year-old voter in Bay Ridge who’d backed Biden in 2020 but voted for Trump this year, said he was concerned that the criminal and civil cases against the former president were politically motivated — something which reminded him of the political dynamics in his native Belarus.

“I'm pretty disappointed with this administration and actually a majority of my friends also did flip. They were Biden and now they're voting Trump,” Shatsilenia said. “He seems to be more to the center, political center.”

‘Don’t Do It’

One Trump fan who didn’t end up voting for him is Miriam Illesca, who owns a jewelry store specializing in gold pieces on Roosevelt Avenue in Corona. 

“I’m gonna tell you the truth, I was wanting to vote for Trump but I keep telling myself ‘Don’t do it,’ so I went with the other lady,” said Illesca, who immigrated from Ecuador 40 years ago and praised Trump for his pro-business platform and tough-on-crime approach. 

Corona jewelry store owner Miriam Illesca said she changed her mind last-minute to vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris, but was happy about Trump’s victory, Nov. 7, 2024.

“I love him, and I was wanting to do that. But when I went to vote, I thought, ‘OK, I feel bad if some good people get sent back. I’m worried about the immigrants — I think some people are good people. They are honest people who are working very hard, paying their taxes and living good here. So I said, ‘OK, whatever.’”

Jose Antonio, a 43-year-old MTA worker who was taking a lunch break under the 7 train tracks at Corona Plaza, said he would’ve gone with a Republican candidate had it been someone other than Trump.

“And I had that discussion with my wife too, and she was like, ‘Maybe we should vote for Trump,” Antonio said. “I started out as a Democrat, but then maybe five years ago, I became an independent. I still haven’t voted Republican, but I would with the right candidate.”

‘Haven’t Done Nothing For Us’

Javier Flores, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Puebla, Mexico, who’s lived in Castle Hill for four years while working as a butcher, said that “I couldn’t vote but if I could, I would choose him.”

“They should remove everyone who isn’t supposed to be here — the bad people,” Flores told THE CITY in Spanish. “The people who have a bad record, you know, who have a criminal history.” 

MD Kabir, who immigrated to New York City from Bangladesh 20 years ago, has lived in Castle Hill for 16 years while working as a cab driver for the last six. 

Speaking to THE CITY on Thursday, he said he was hopeful Trump “can stop the war of the Middle East. He can fix the economy. He will not be bad. He will be a good president,” noting that “he has good relations with all the killers like Putin, Netanyahu and North Korean — this guy — Iranian. He can control all the killers. He has that ability.”

While Kabir voted for Harris, he considered voting for Trump, as he said his wife and son did. 

“I was thinking that I will go to Donald Trump. But, you know, New York City is a Democratic state, and I am a Democrat.”

Rodriguez Sr., on the other hand, said his relatives were coming around to his perspective. 

“All my family are Democrats. But all my family changed. Why? Because the Democrats haven't done nothing for us,” the barber said. “I had a restaurant business. All my taxes went up. Every time that I sell more, I gotta pay more taxes, more insurance.”

Knockout Barbershop founder Javier Rodriguez Sr. says he voted for former President Donald Trump because of economic issues, Nov. 7, 2024.

The other problem with Democrats, he said, was that the party no longer cared about the “traditional principles” he follows. 

“I want to plant the seed in my kids, in my grandkids. That’s why I don’t like the blue party,” Rodriguez Sr. said.

“My principles are my principles. The traditional principles — they all forgot about them. The fucking music. We don’t do cursing.”

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