STATEN ISLAND — Hillary Clinton positioned herself as the candidate best able to reach across the aisle to get things done and Donald Trump got a mostly warm welcome as the two tried to win the votes of Staten Islanders on Sunday.
Both the Republican presidential hopeful Trump and Democratic contender Clinton visited "the forgotten borough" in advance of Tuesday's New York primary to try and win over voters from the fifth borough, the only two presidential candidates to visit Staten Island this year.
During his brunch in the South Shore at the Hilton Garden Inn, Trump, who was born in Queens, commented on his love of the borough and got a warm reception from voters in the Republican stronghold, the Associated Press reported.
"Staten Island is a great place," Trump said during the rally, according to the AP. While Trump doesn't own a piece of property on Staten Island, he recalled working for five summers on a project in the borough, the wire service reported.
"We have safety on Staten Island. We have great police, great people on Staten Island and I know it so well."
The AP reported that most of the crowd cheered, chanted and stood for the 25-minute speech by Trump, but one man did protest during and yelled, "Staten Islanders don't want hate on Staten Island! Staten Islanders don't want hate! Leave my island! I live here ... I was born here," before he was escorted out, the Staten Island Advance reported.
While Trump said the protester was a professional who was probably paid to be at the rally, he was actually John McBeth Sr., a deacon, community activist and member of Staten Island's Community Board 1, the Advance reported.
Across the borough on the North Shore, Clinton visited Snug Harbor Cultural Center and told the audience that, unlike other candidates, she would seek to unify the country and work with Republicans if elected to get things done.
"What I have found over all these years is you just got to get up every day trying to see whether you can find somebody who will work with you," Clinton said at the rally, according to a transcript provided by her campaign.
"Actually, when I have these jobs, Republicans say nice things about me. I’m a good colleague. I’m easy to work with. Because I tell them, look. I will seek common ground, but I’ll stand my ground. I think that’s the combination that you want in an elected representative."
During her speech, Clinton also thanked former President George W. Bush for approving federal aid to help families of 9/11 victims after the attack.
"When Chuck Schumer and I were in that Oval Office on the Thursday after 9/11 and he asked us what we needed, and we were just the two of us with the two senators from Virginia because the Pentagon had been attacked, and I said, 'We need $20 billion, Mr. President, to rebuild New York, to take care of families' ... He said, 'You’ve got it,'" Clinton said, according to the transcript.
"And despite intense Republican pressure to back down, he never did. So I publicly say, 'Thank you, President George W. Bush, for making sure we got the money that we needed to rebuild our city.'"
After Trump spoke Sunday, Staten Island GOP chairman John Antoniello officially announced he will step down from his post in November.
