Manhattan Republican Party
The Manhattan Republican Party is a regional affiliate of the United States Republican Party for the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York.Leadership
The Manhattan Republican Party is governed by its 500+ member New York County Republican Committee, elected from and by registered Republicans with residence within the borough. In addition, there is a party executive, that, since 2017 has consisted of:
- Chairwoman
- *Andrea Catsimatidis
- First Vice-chairman
- *Robert Morgan
- Second Vice-chairman
- *Peter Hein
- Secretary
- *Debra Leible
- Treasurer
- *Nick Viest
- Vice-presidents
- *Dr. Jeff Ascherman, Will Brown Jr., John Catsimatidis Jr., Margo Catsimatidis, Edwin DeLaCruz, Charles E. Dorkey, III, Bradley Fishel, Joyce Giuffra, Pete Holmberg, Troy Johnson, David Laska, Ken Moltner, Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil, Helen Qiu, Ashton Theodore Randle, Matt Rich, Todd Shapiro, Donna Soloway, Chris Taylor, Jackie Toboroff, and Frederic M. Umane.
- Political Director
- *Robert Morgan Jr.
History
Founded alongside the New York Republican State Committee in 1855, the party has never held control of the Borough, and has constantly been behind the Manhattan Democratic Party, however, the party has seen several prominent figures elected nationally despite this, including: Theodore Roosevelt, Fiorello LaGuardia, Frederic René Coudert Jr., Ruth Pratt, Jacob K. Javits, MacNeil Mitchell, Louis J. Lefkowitz, Stanley M. Isaacs, John Lindsay, Theodore R. Kupferman, Whitney North Seymour Jr., Bill Green, Roy Goodman, John Ravitz, Charles Millard, Andrew Eristoff, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and Thomas E. Dewey.
For the two decades from 1990 to 2010, the Manhattan Republican Party was very competitive with their Democratic counterparts, electing two mayors, Giuliani and Bloomberg, and maintaining a centrist and moderate outlook when compared to the rest of the Party, in line with Rockefeller Republican views. However, the party would decline as its leadership began to support Donald Trump and his policies, which resulted in the party's moderate and centrist voter base largely swinging to the Democrats.Executive Committee (1855–1890)
The party originally did not have a singular executive, but rather a committee acting as the party's executive. Mostly an extension of the New York County Republican Committee, the Executive Committee had the New York Committee perform most of the day-to-day operations for the party and only intervened when a deadlock was reached. Membership to the Executive Committee was largely ceremonial and reserved for the more senior members of the party. Throughout its existence, the Committee was filled with members who were bought and paid controlled opposition to William M. Tweed, allowing him to practically rule the city by decree until his downfall in 1871.Jacob M. Patterson (1890–1894)
Described as a political boss, Jacob M. Patterson ran an effective political machine in Manhattan to rival the power of Tammany Hall. However, voices within the party, led by Edwin Einstein, opposed the machine and boss politics. Patterson would enter a feud with Senator Thomas C. Platt, who had taken control of the New York Republican State Committee, when he voted for Benjamin Harrison at the 1892 Republican National Convention against Platt's wishes. Platt and his supporters was able to have a party convention called in 1894 which saw Patterson replaced, however, Platt's men where unable to take control of the party.In a highly contentious convention in 1894, the party elected William Brookfield as chairman defying Senator Thomas C. Platt who sought to take control of the city's party. Brookfield was supported by Patterson, and most of the older leaders of the Borough's Party, and his election resulted in violent protests by Platt men outside the hall which had to be repulsed by police. Brookfield was a member of the Committee of Seventy which nominated a fusion candidate to defeat Tammany hall in the 1895 New York City mayoral election. Platt, however, would not end his campaign for control over the city's party and was able to get another convention called in 1895 which saw Brookfield be removed from office.Attorney Edward Lauterbach, a Platt man, would serve as "temporary chairman" in 1895 until a new convention could be called to elect a new chairman.A Rutgers College educated Lawyer, Matthew Linn Bruce moved to New York City in 1890, working as a clerk for a law firm, and being involved in his local assembly's Republican politics. He was admitted to the Bar in 1894, and was elected chairman of the party in 1895. During his time as chairman, he sought to combat election fraud, especially fraud committed by fellow Republicans, earning him the ire of a contingent of the party. In December 1903 he was pressured to retire by Governor Odell, with his resignation coming in January 1904. He would go on to be elected the Lieutenant Governor of New York serving from 1905 to 1906 when he resigned to accept a seat on the New York Supreme Court.William Halpin (1904–1905)
Chairman for a single year. He had been selected chairman in 1904, and during his acceptance speech, he called the Manhattan Republican party too "self-centered" and urged the party to toe the national line and support William Howard Taft. Despite his backing from Taft, allegations surfaced that Halpin was corrupt, and a group of businessmen pressured for an election to replace him. Halpin would face off against two other candidates and lose.Herbert Parsons (1905–1910)
Coming from a long line of prominent lawyers, Herbert Parsons was a Yale Law School educated lawyer and was elected to the New York City Board of Aldermen from 1900 to 1904 when he was elected to Congress to represent the 13th district. Parsons was elected chairman during a period of intense infighting among the Republican committee, he was officially backed by Theodore Roosevelt and business interests, while the incumbent Halpin was backed by William Howard Taft, a third candidate, J. Van Vechten Olcott, would be endorsed by Senator Thomas C. Platt. He would serve as chairman until 1910 when he also lost his re-election bid for a third term to Congress and would return to his law practice. Despite his resignation, he continued to offer counsel and advice to the inexperienced Griscom on naming candidates.Lloyd C. Griscom (1910–1912)
A University of Pennsylvania Law School educated lawyer, Lloyd C. Griscom served in a series of diplomatic offices, as the secretary to ambassador to the United Kingdom Thomas F. Bayard and ambassador himself to Persia, Japan, Brazil and Italy. Upon his return to Manhattan in 1910, he became involved in Republican social circles. In 1910, the New York County Republican Committee chairman Parsons resigned, and Griscom was offered the office by the political boss and close personal friend Otto Bannard, who had unsuccessfully run for mayor in 1905. Lacking any experience or training, Griscom accepted the offer, as he described, in "fear and trembling." Shortly after becoming party chairman, Griscom would go on to help found the New York Young Republican Club along with thirty-one other Manhattanite Republican politicos. He would be the first member of that organization to serve as party chairman. As chairman, he had to find a suitable candidate for the 1910 New York state election and ended up choosing another lawyer and friend, Henry L. Stimson. This caused problems as incumbent president William Howard Taft opposed Stimson, while former president Theodore Roosevelt supported Stimson. Roosevelt ended up personally campaigning for Stimson, who ended up narrowly losing to John Alden Dix. However, the leader of Tammany Hall told Griscom after the election, if the campaign lasted another week, he would have expected Stimson to win. Griscom resigned shortly after the 1912 Republican National Convention, which he described as "the most painful situations I ever knew and led to my ultimate disgust with politics."Samuel S. Koenig (1912–1933)
A Hungarian-Jew immigrant and New York University School of Law educated lawyer, Koenig was elected the leader of the sixth ward and was a presidential elector in 1900. He was elected Secretary of State of New York in 1908, losing re-election in 1910, and in 1915 he was hand selected as the chairman of the party by Griscom when he resigned, serving until 1933.Chase Mellen Jr. (1933–1935)
Elected in 1933, defeating the incumbent Samuel S. Koenig, Chase Mellen Jr., a Harvard graduate, WWI veteran, and member of the New York Young Republican Club which helped him oust the incumbent Chairman Koening. Mellen ran an anti-establishment tenure of the party, insisting that "statesmen" and other career politicians had no place in the Manhattan Republican Party. In 1934, Mellen endorsed Joseph McGoldrick alongside the chairman of the Brooklyn Republicans to become New York City Comptroller, in an election where McGoldrick would win. Mellen would resign in 1935 after a period where seemingly all his endorsed candidates would either refuse to run for re-election or outright refuse his endorsement. His daughter, Marisa would go on to be the leader of the Republicans-for-Roosevelt in New York City.Kenneth F. Simpson (1935–1940)
A Harvard Law School educated lawyer and veteran of the Pancho Villa Expedition, World War I, and like his predecessor, also a member of the New York Young Republican Club, Simpson was a prominent Roosevelt Republican, he was elected the chairman of the party in 1935 and led the party through five of its most turbulent years. He successfully got Fiorello La Guardia re-elected, severely damaging the power of the Democratic Tammany Hall in the city and campaigned heavily for Thomas E. Dewey's 1938 bid for governor. Despite losing the election, due to his campaign efforts, Simpson was named to the Republican National Committee. However, Simpson and Dewey would have a series of clashes culminating in Simpson's resignation as party chairman over the rejection of the removal of David B. Costuma as one of the states electors in December 1940. He would be elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 17th district. However, he would die only 20 days into his term on January 25, 1941, from a heart attack.