Donald Trump’s newly reorganized campaign team has notified its rattled New York operatives that despite a massive gap in the polls, it’s “full steam ahead’’ in Trump’s effort to carry the heavily Democratic Empire State.
The message Friday from Jim Murphy, Trump’s national political director and a veteran GOP strategist, came just minutes after the disclosure of the forced resignation of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who had replaced also-ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in June.
“Murphy said that Mr. Trump still wants an all-out, full-steam-ahead, top-speed effort in New York, he wants to win his home state, that nothing has changed as a result [of Manafort’s ouster] and that the resources will be made available,’’ said a source close to the Trump campaign.
“A full plan for the New York campaign — ground game, media, internet, direct mail, maybe some phone banks — is expected to be submitted to headquarters Monday or Tuesday,’’ the source said.
Murphy was acting at the behest of Trump’s new management team headed by Stephen Bannon, the Breitbart News website chair, and Kellyanne Conway, a longtime GOP pollster, the source said.
A Siena College poll last week showed Hillary Clinton with a 30-point lead over Trump in New York, 57 percent to 27 percent, leading the Trump campaign source to quip, ‘’We have nowhere to go but up, baby.’’
Trump’s New York campaign is being overseen by US Rep. Chris Collins of Buffalo, the first member of Congress to back Trump, 2010 gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino, state GOP Chairman Ed Cox and Suffolk County GOP Chairman John Lavalle.
The daily nuts and bolts are being handled by two former state GOP executive directors, John Sweeney, a former Capital District congressman and election-law specialist, and Brendan Quinn, a full-time GOP operative.
