Ed Cox, New York state Republican chairman, is the man who, after noting that New York was the first state to cast more than 50 percent of its votes for Donald Trump, passed the microphone to Donald Trump, Jr., who proceeded to cast 89 of New York’s 95 delegate votes for his father — the votes that gave the man that most speakers referred to as Donald J. Trump a majority of delegate votes and made him the 2016 Republican presidential nominee.
“Over the top,” proclaimed the giant video screens overlooking the hall, as the audio played “New York, New York.”
It was a move carefully choreographed. The Trump campaign wanted New York to cast the decisive vote, but it wouldn’t have done so if all the states were called on in alphabetical order. So the Michigan delegation was told to pass on the roll call, and then when it came Pennsylvania’s turn, the delegation spokesman yielded to New York — a standard move at many national conventions.
This was the work, Cox said, of Rick Gates, “Manafort’s guy,” who from an undisclosed location has been directing the convention proceedings.
In an interview, Cox argued that New York cast the decisive votes not only at the convention but in the primaries — and by design. He worked with New York Democrats to schedule New York’s primary on a day on which no other state would be voting. He got agreement from the Republican leader of the Republican-majority state Senate and the Democratic speaker of the Democratic-majority assembly.
But just as the date was being determined, Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on corruption charges. So Cox sought cooperation from former Democratic Gov. David Paterson, and they settled on the April 19 date, two weeks after the Wisconsin primary and one week before the primaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut. The bill was passed in both houses and signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“We wanted New York to be the decisive primary, and New York was the decisive primary,” he said. You could dispute that and argue that Indiana on May 3 cast the decisive votes. But Cox was right when he noted that New York was the first state to cast more than 50 percent of its votes for Donald Trump, which was a big contrast to Ted Cruz’s 48-35 percent victory over Trump in Wisconsin April 5.
And one week after New York, on April 26, Trump won multiple big victories in the four Northeastern states voting that day.
Cox did not endorse any presidential candidate, but endorsed Trump when he won in New York — and, he says, was the first Republican state chairman to do so. He praises Donald Trump for not ousting Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, recognizing, Cox says, that “his weaknesses fit well with Priebus’ strength” in organization and fundraising.”
Cox is clearly in good odor with the Trump campaign. As I finished interviewing him, an official-looking woman came up and asked him if he wanted to sit in the Trump family seats at some point. Yes, he said, and thanked her, without bothering to tell her that, as Richard Nixon’s son-in-law, he has sat in a nominee’s family seats before. So for all the differences between this and all other Republican national conventions, there is also some continuity too.
