In 2016, Donald Trump won Staten Island with 56% of the vote. Many will tell you that support among Republicans is still fervent. So could the president weigh in on the race for Congress there? Right now, it looks like he is staying out of it. Our Courtney Gross has the details.
Dan Donovan was carrying around a picture of the president this week.
"These two photographs ought to be in every post office."
He proposed legislation to require the post office hang pictures of the president and vice president in its offices, something those offices used to do.
"The post office has this ridiculous regulation that prohibits our two leaders from having their portraits displayed there," Donovan said.
The immediate reaction from observers was Donovan was working hard to get the endorsement of Donald Trump and prove to voters on Staten Island he is a big fan of the president.
"You're not going to fool them with the nonsense about being the curator for the Post Office and putting up pictures," said former Congressman Michael Grimm, who is running for the seat he lost when he went to prison. "It just doesn't prove that you support President Trump."
"Yeah I don't care what Michael Grimm says," Donovan answered.
Donovan faces a serious primary from former Congressman Michael Grimm in a borough that is known to be Trump-friendly.
As a result, they have both been boasting about their support for the commander-in-chief.
"President Trump deserves to be up in every one of our post offices and we are going to make sure it happens," Donovan said.
"He is our president number one, but he is also a Republican president and we need to have his back," Grimm said.
Right now, it looks unlikely the president will weigh in. When we reached out to the White House, we were told they had nothing to say about the race at this time.
Sources backing Donovan told us at one point the White House asked Donovan's team for venues — indicating there could be a possible trip to Staten Island in the future.
It is unclear if that will actually happen.
"I have not spoken to the president about it," Donovan said. "When I saw him at the state of the union address he pointed to me and said you got to win this thing. I said with your help i will. We got to talk to the president about it."
Donovan has other Washington support.
"I support Donovan," said House Speaker Paul Ryan. "Plain and simple."
As for the national party, the National Republican Congressional Committee is still weighing whether to get involved. In all likelihood, it will stay out of Staten Island until after the primary.
Both Donovan and Grimm told us they have not officially asked for the president's endorsement. So for now, they will just be singing his praises across the district.