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City's Only Republican in Congress Backs Trump Despite Disagreements

By Nicholas Rizzi | May 23, 2016 3:55pm
 Congressman Dan Donovan said he planned to campaign for Donald Trump for president.
Congressman Dan Donovan said he planned to campaign for Donald Trump for president.
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DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

STATEN ISLAND — Donald Trump received an endorsement from the city's only Republican in Congress — who admitted he only agrees with "60 percent" of what the presidential candidate has said.

Rep. Dan Donovan said Monday he will campaign for the Republican presidential candidate front-runner, despite not totally seeing eye to eye with him.

"I don't agree with him on his positions on Muslims, I don't agree with his position on women and I don't agree with him on his position on immigration, but there are other things I do agree with him on," Donovan said.

"I think that he loves this country and he would be a better president than Hillary Clinton."

Citing former Mayor Ed Koch who said people should vote for candidates they agree with on most of the issues and see a psychiatrist if they agree with everything they said, Donovan said he agrees with "60 percent" of Trump's views.

He said that Trump "may not be everybody's first choice," but he got more than 80 percent of the GOP vote in Donovan's district of Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn during April's primary.

"I think the Republican's goal here is to make sure Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn't become the next President of the United States," Donovan said.

Donovan is not the first Staten Island politician to throw their support behind Trump. In March, Republican City Councilman Joe Borelli became the city's first elected official to support the candidate.

Assemblyman Ron Castorina Jr. and Staten Island GOP leader John Antoniello also backed Trump.