Sign up now to subscribe!
A Dead End Job No More? Spitzer Takes the Helm Grannis Pushing Comptroller Bid Now For the Count: How many kids are sleeping on our streets? Editorial: By the Numbers Faso's HQ Burgled Bloomberg' Political Contribution Investments Come Up Short First Spitzer Transition Team Meeting Set Up in the Air, Up in the Sky, It's the Mayor of New York? Fight for Billboard Business Billions Reaction To Bell Shooting Highlights Lingering Council Tensions State of the Unions: DC Election Set for January Harrison Eyes Fossella Rematch Fossella Retools for Life in Minority New Legislators, Great Expectations Lanza Moves from Super Minority into Powerful Majority The XX Factor Back in the District: Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell
The Year in Pictures Predictions for 2007 Imagemakers: Source Communications New York Young Republicans Look for Young Blood Mixing Progressive Politics, and Drinks In the Chair: Bill de Blasio Editorial: A New Yorker in the White House Higher Salaries, Lower Ethics and Public Opinion by City Council Member Tony Avella The View from Albany: The Member Item Dilemma by Alan Chartock New General, Same Battlefield by Robert Polner
New York Young Republicans Look for Young Blood
The New York Young Republicans are old.
The organization, that is.
Founded in 1911, it is the oldest active Young Republicans club in the country.
Throughout its history, the group has had several members rise to political prominence. Former Mayor John Lindsay was once president of the club, and former Sen. Jacob Javits also belonged.
The club was originally formed by younger Republicans who wanted to be independent of the national party structure. For the first 70 years, however, the group remained officially tied to the national Young Republican organization. But in 1981, they broke from the national movement. They have remained independent ever since.
“Things had gotten too cozy, and there was not an activist sense within the club anymore,” said Robert Hornak, 41, current chairman of the club.
Today, the group’s philosophy could be easily summed up, Hornak explained.
“We are unapologetic Republicans,” he said, “and that separates us from a lot of other Republican organizations around the city.”
The group currently has approximately 350 members, with an average age in the early 30s, Hornak said. This is down from 550 in 2004. Hornak believes the numbers reflect a lack of political interest in a non-presidential election year, and said he expected membership to rise steadily as the 2008 race approaches.
To recruit new members, the club occasionally holds street fairs and voter registration drives, but relies mainly on prospective members coming to meetings or contacting the group.
There are difficulties in heading a Republican club in New York City. Hornak called it “self-isolating,” and said many Republicans were often reluctant to reveal their party affiliation because New York is so overwhelmingly Democratic.
“It’s almost like being in the closet,” he said. “And that is something we whole heartedly object to.”
The club’s independent philosophy has caused breaks within the party over political endorsements. In 2001, it was the first organization to endorse Herman Badillo in his Republican mayoral primary against Michael Bloomberg. While the group was strongly involved in Badillo’s campaign, he received just over 18,000 votes to Bloomberg’s 48,000 in a race that few ever expected to be closely competitive. Nonetheless, Hornak said the endorsement represented a “watershed moment” for the group in asserting its independence.
“It got a lot of the party establishment very upset,” he said, “because most people had fallen in line under the pressure to endorse Bloomberg that year.”
Looking forward, the group’s immediate goal is to encourage members of the Young Republicans to run for office. The group is currently grooming several possible candidates.
“In my lifetime, I would like to see one member of our club get elected to office at the local level,” Hornak said.