Name: Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis Faces Backlash After Joining GOP Bid to Overturn Biden Win
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Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis Faces Backlash After Joining GOP Bid to Overturn Biden Win

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SHAREStaten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis often speaks of the violent upheaval that changed her mother’s life after a revolutionary government in Cuba seized her family’s gas stations.&nbsp;“I’m the daughter of a Cuban refugee, so when I hear someone talk about socialism it scares me,” the Republican , shortly after beating freshman Democratic Rep. Max Rose for a seat that also covers part of southern Brooklyn.&nbsp;“And I feel that it’s important that we have members in Washington who are going to fight back against it,” she added.&nbsp;Just two days after she was sworn in to Congress, Malliotakis had to be whisked to a secure location Wednesday after right-wing insurgents stormed the Capitol building in Washington in hopes of stopping a vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win.&nbsp;Thank you to the and all law enforcement for all they are doing to restore order at the Capitol and to keep us safe. I condemn in the strongest terms those who are participating in violence and lawlessness. They must be arrested and prosecuted!— Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis)Malliotakis condemned the violence and called for everyone involved to be arrested and prosecuted.&nbsp;But as other GOP members of Congress — including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia) —&nbsp; tried to distance themselves afterward from the rioters’ anti-democratic mission, Malliotakis stood with the 147 GOP House members who voted to overturn election results.A day before rioters invaded the Capitol, Malliotakis had tweeted about “rooting out fraud” in the election results — echoing the president’s false claims, which are blamed for helping incite the violence.It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 or 10k or 100k illegal votes. It doesn’t matter if it’s enough to change election results. This is about rooting out fraud, holding those who commit it accountable &amp; ensuring the integrity of our election system which is the foundation of this nation.— Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis)Some observers now say that even after less than a week in office she may be vulnerable to a challenge in 2022, while others believe her Trump-loyalist stand could help cement her power in the conservative heart of her district.Staten Island and Brooklyn GOP leaders didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday. Neither did Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, a top local Republican leader who is no fan of Malliotakis or Trump.Meanwhile, the political backlash from progresssive parts of Malliotakis’ district, particularly in Brooklyn, came quickly.The Bay Ridge Democrats are planning to stage a “25th Amendment Rally” at her Brooklyn office, as they called for her to join growing demands that Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet move to push President Donald Trump from office.&nbsp;Malliotakis’ office didn’t respond to requests for comment. But the freshman rep defended her votes on Twitter Thursday.&nbsp;“I voted against certification of the two challenged states not to ‘overturn an election’ but to highlight need for a proper hearing into unconstitutional rule changes, irregularities and alleged fraud,” .&nbsp;Some see her actions as a political calculation that encourages her political base on Staten Island, the only borough to go for Trump, giving him 57.5% of the 2020 vote.&nbsp;Malliotakis, who fell behind Trump in total votes in her own district, also will likely be running against Biden’s record in the midterm elections, a playbook that generally favors the political party in the minority.&nbsp;As a State Assembly member in 2016, Malliotakis didn’t support Trump’s first run for the White House, writing in Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) instead.But the 40-year-old politician waved the Trump banner in her Congressional race, portraying herself as a would-be leader of the right’s answer to “The Squad” — the band of young Democratic women of color associated with Queens and Bronx Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.&nbsp;Even as she seeks to build on a national profile that brought to her swing-district campaign, Malliotakis is banking on being politically insulated in her home turf, political observers told THE CITY.“Staten Island is a conservative place, they go for Donald Trump, so she reflects the electorate,” said Doug Muzzio, a professor of political science at Baruch College.&nbsp;No Democrat has captured Staten Island’s congressional seat in the past 40 years without winning the Staten Island side of the district. The borough increased its turnout for Trump in 2020, handing him 133,320 votes — an increase of about 32,000 over 2016.Nonetheless, some see the fallout from Wednesday as the potential start of the 2022 race.&nbsp;No Staten Island politician has shown public interest in challenging Malliotakis yet, including Rose, who slammed her in an interview with THE CITY Wednesday. Still, he recently dipped of this year’s mayoral race, leaving his options open.“She has to come out against this president of the United States who openly led the effort, exciting this, and encouraging it and pushing it,” Rose said after the attack on the Capitol building.Other Democrats called out Malliotakis on what they deemed her hypocrisy in voting against the election certification after criticizing the rioters who waged the unprecedented attack.“I’m glad you’re safe, but you are complicit,” Councilmember Justin Brannan, a Brooklyn Democrat whose district overlaps with Malliotakis’, at her Wednesday.The upcoming redrawing of Congressional districts by the Democratic-dominated state Legislature in the wake of the 2020 Census could entice moderate Rose and other more progressive Brooklyn politicians to challenge her, said Richard Flanagan, a political science professor at the College of Staten Island.“It just seems [Rose is] prime to run again if he wants to and it’ll be more of a Democratic district,” Flanagan said. “He’ll probably get flanked from the left in a Democratic primary. And if they really want to shove it to [Malliotakis] they can go into Sunset Park and then you have a whole raft of talented politicians who might want to run for Congress.”There was an error. Please try again later.Get THE CITY ScoopSign up and get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to you each morningThank you for your submission!Next Up InThere was an error. Please try again later.Get THE CITY ScoopSign up and get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to you each morningThank you for your submission!In case you missed itThe LatestDocuments show the mayor’s counsel readying to recruit pro bono legal staffing from private law firms, as low pay and strict work conditions leave hundreds of jobs vacant.A new report from the Board of Correction states that “a pervasive issue of insufficient supervision by correctional staff” was a factor in most tragedies behind bars.A mostly Latin immigrant workforce stepped up when COVID-19 threw the MTA for a loop and required more cleaning with less staff. As their time runs out, many are looking for more permanent, union work with the transit agency.New York’s first licensed retail weed establishments are expected to open in early 2023. But a slate of smoke shop robberies could point toward a cloudy future.NYCHA and the city still haven’t explained when they first became concerned about potential contamination, or why it took three days for the results to be made public.There was an error. Please try again later.Get THE CITY ScoopSign up and get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to you each morningThank you for your submission!

SHAREStaten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis often speaks of the violent upheaval that changed her mother’s life after a revolutionary government in Cuba seized her family’s gas stations.&nbsp;“I’m the daughter of a Cuban refugee, so when I hear someone talk about socialism it scares me,” the Republican , shortly after beating freshman Democratic Rep. Max Rose for a seat that also covers part of southern Brooklyn.&nbsp;“And I feel that it’s important that we have members in Washington who are going to fight back against it,” she added.&nbsp;Just two days after she was sworn in to Congress,...

Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis Faces Backlash After Joining GOP Bid to Overturn Biden Win

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