Rep. Max Rose was out at 6 a.m. shaking hands at Bay Ridge elementary school, hitting a few other spots along the way before arriving at the senior center of the Stapleton Houses, where he was greeted warmly.
Rose knows he’s in a tight race and his aides say they don’t think the election will be decided tonight, but he was nonetheless optimistic that the more than 40,000 mail-in ballots will favor his re-election. However, the former Army platoon leader who served in Afghanistan was taking no chances as he sprinted up Broad Street in Stapleton Tuesday afternoon, vying for every unaccounted vote he could find.
“We’re gonna win this thing — it’s historic turnout, historic excitement,” Rose said as he shook hands or embraced anyone who would listen. You feel it right out here already.”
Rose said he believed there were many more people who will be voting today, despite large turnouts for early voting this past week.
One voter gave him a fist bump and said, “voting for president is a bunch of bull — it’s really the local politicians who really count here. You can say it will make a difference with the president, but it really doesn’t matter — it’s this guy who matters.”
Bernadina Medina gave Rose a hug and went off to vote. When she came back, she said voting on election day was “more secure.”
“I didn’t really trust the mail-in ballots, a lot of things happen— or the early voting — I said I will wait for the day and so I feel it was just more secure,” Medina said waving to the candidate as she left the polling sites.
A young woman with her child took photos with the candidate — a lot of voters did, seeing Rose as a kind of celebrity because of his repeated advertising on TV.
“I feel great about voting today,” said Jessica Gonzalez with her son Troy. “I just want to make sure my voice is heard and we need a guy who hears us.”
Rose will make make several other stops in Staten Island, including a stop at 6:30 p.m. at PS 57 Hubert H. Humphrey School with Assemblyman Charles Fall, before holding his last press conference in the parking lot at El Greci’s on Forest Avenue. But few expect the election to be decided tonight.
