"He's applauded me for my service in public, but then when it doesn't suit him politically, he criticizes vets, and it's wrong, it's hypocritical, and it has got to stop," said Max Rose, Democratic candidate for Congress.

 

 

 

"I have supported veterans my entire career," the Republican, Rep. Dan Donovan, said Friday. "So he doesn't know what he's talking about because he hasn't lived here long enough to know what I've done for veterans."

Rose, a former Army captain, is demanding Donovan apologize for remarks he made to NY1 on Thursday after we asked him about President Donald Trump sending troops to the southern border:

Donovan: I don't think my opponent has any idea about how to protect our borders.

Gross: You say he doesn't know how to protect our borders. However, he did serve.

Donovan: He was one of tens of thousands of people who served, but there are experts that know how to protect our southern border that have a lot more experience and a lot more knowledge about it than Max Rose does.

"I said the president will rely on generals and his military experts and Homeland Security experts. I don't know how Max Rose knows better than they would," Donovan said Friday.

It's the latest skirmish between the two candidates, who are locked in a tight race for the 11th congressional seat, which comprises Staten Island and a portion of south Brooklyn.

For years, the seat has been held in Republican hands, the only GOP member of the city's congressional delegation.

But Democrats hope Tuesday's election will mean the "Blue Wave" will hit the shores of Staten Island.

It may seem like Rose has an advantage, as registered Democrats outnumber Republicans — about 189,615 Democrats to about 112,135 Republicans — in the district.

But voters in the district have been known to favor the GOP, and it is considered Trump country.

Maybe a sign, since the 2016 election, Democrats has added about 2,500 people to its rolls since the 2016 elections; the GOP has snagged 6,272:

 

 

 

Of course, those numbers may not matter at all. What does matter is who will go to the polls on Tuesday.