The Rye Republican candidates for mayor and city council have left off any mention of their party affiliation from their marketing and advertising, a move campaign leaders say is not meant to distance them from President Donald Trump but rather to reflect their focus on local politics.
The “All in 4 Rye” slate’s website and political advertisements that have run in The Record do not contain a reference to the Republican Party, and the same is true of their Instagram page — launched in early September and including close to 100 posts, a Record review found.
On the Nov. 4 election ballot, mayoral candidate Bill Henderson and council running mates Robin Jovanovich, James Fee, and Maria Shuck will only appear on the Republican line, after the group didn’t seek the Conservative Party endorsement — often a sure bet for Republican candidates.
It is unclear if perception of Trump’s presidency will have an impact on local elections in a county that has become a Democratic stronghold since his first term in the White House.
Matt Thomas, the Republicans’ campaign manager, said that with limited space and short voter attention spans, the campaign’s goal was to highlight the candidates’ qualifications rather than their political affiliations.
That approach, he said, reflects the way many Rye voters think about local politics.
“On the local level, especially in a town like Rye, it’s never been impressed upon me that people in Rye really think [in] terms of political parties,” Thomas added. “Everybody’s very accomplished in Rye, and I think they just kind of look for competence.”
The Republican slate did run a full-page advertisement in the Oct. 24 issue of The Record — with early voting kicking off the next day — encouraging voters to vote the Republican line. Thomas said the campaign also plans to send out an early voting mailer next week urging recipients to vote Republican.
Henderson, a current council member, said the slate sees itself as more of a bipartisan ticket, noting that his running mates include two ex-Democrats and an independent. He downplayed the omission, telling The Record that it was not meant to hide the group’s affiliation.
“It’s not like we’re trying to hide,” he said. “When I go knock on doors, the first thing I say is, ‘We’re the Republican ticket.’”
The Democrats, by contrast, display their political affiliation at the top of their campaign website, and include the word “Democrat” on their political advertising. Mayoral candidate Rick McCabe also mentions prominently on his campaign website that he is running as an independent.
Republicans in Rye and across Westchester face a growing voter registration disadvantage — so the tactic could also be an appeal to swing voters in what is expected to be a close race.
There are currently 4,800 registered Democrats in Rye. Another 3,746 registered voters in Rye are not affiliated with any political party, according to county Board of Elections data. That accounts for a larger swath of the city’s voting bloc than the 3,008 registered Republicans.
Thomas said Trump could have been an issue in another community, but he wasn’t concerned about that in Rye.
“Everybody knows that what goes on in Rye is so divorced from the national narrative,” he said.
Additionally, Henderson said he views Rye politics as separate.
“We don’t think that Rye politics should be partisan,” Henderson said. “We’re just running as individuals, for good people that want to help the community.”
