‘Back to basics’: Democrat Rob Lubin looks to turn back Long Island’s red tide
The News
Democrats lost their national House majority in New York — especially the suburbs of New York City. They want to win that majority back with a hyper-focus on New York — and on Long Island. They were, nevertheless, surprised to see Donald Trump campaign there this week, warning that Democrats would turn the region into a "third-world country."
Earlier this year, Rep. Tom Suozzi flipped back one Long Island seat Democrats lost in 2022, and the party is contesting its three others . All were competitive in 2020, but all shifted hard toward the GOP in 2022, when Long Island's own Lee Zeldin demolished Gov. Kathy Hochul in the region. In the 2nd Congressional District, they nominated Rob Lubin, the 29-year-old founder of a sports fashion marketplace, in a seat Rep. Andrew Garbarino won by 21 points — but Trump had only ever won narrowly.
Lubin talked with Americana about the Trump visit and why Long Island had bucked the suburban shift left seen in most other states. This is an edited transcript of the conversation.
Q&A
Americana: What happened in 2022 exactly? Why did Long Island move so far to the right?
Rob Lubin: Long Island is an incredible place, it's a determined place, and I think voters are constantly looking for something new. Donald Trump offered that. He came with new ideas, a new way of speaking, a new way of connecting with voters. We are constantly battling the odds when it comes to fighting back on Republican messaging, and doing that takes a new approach.
Good teams have bad games. It happens. I feel like voters were reacting to a hometown guy like Lee Zeldin running for governor, and the Democrats that were running here, maybe, were a little too out of the box for Long Island voters.
Americana: What's your new approach? What are you doing that Democrats didn't do in 2020 and 2022?
Rob Lubin: I'm taking it back to basics. I focus on affordability, on healthcare accessibility, on clean drinking water. I'm a small business owner; I'm the youngest nominee for Congress in the state of New York. And I felt frustrated about how expensive things are, and how we lost SALT, and how important it is for us to be able to buy a home and raise our families here and enjoy our beaches that are constantly under threat from climate change.
Americana: You mentioned SALT; what did you make of Trump's speech?
Rob Lubin: When he sticks to his prepared remarks, he does a good job energizing the crowd, right? I think once he went off script and started making inflammatory remarks about people — look, I don't feel like Long Islanders fully agree with that. Long Islanders know that we lost SALT under his leadership. There's a famous Spider-Man meme — I'm not sure you've ever seen it, but it's Spider-Man pointing at himself. And who's the culprit in this case? It's Donald Trump and the Republicans. Typical Trump, right? Says one thing, does another. Promises you everything, and then at the end of the day, goes after women's rights, LGBTQ rights.
Americana: When Trump says: I want to do mass deportation, it's migrants who've wrecked our quality of life, it's migrants who've raised house prices... is that popular in the district? How do you respond to it?
Rob Lubin: I feel like it's draconian, and it's fear mongering. I appreciate figuring a situation out and actually taking proper, legitimate, possible steps to fix it. I thought the border bill does a great job of being able to get us in a position to create that kind of change — hire more agents, hire more immigration judges, fix the asylum-seeking process. Most people in the district do agree that there's a problem at the border. But we need to remember that we're talking about human beings.
Americana: What do you say if you're knocking on doors and you meet a voter who agrees with Trump on this?
Rob Lubin: I say to them, we've absolutely got to get your prices down. We've got to create more supply, so people have more opportunities to get houses. And we have to make sure that people are coming to this country legally and correctly, like my mother did.
Americana: Another question in prices: What was the effect of the governor delaying congestion pricing? Did that help you? Did you support it?
Rob Lubin: I was very vocal against congestion pricing. I thought it was very unfair to the residents of my district. It's already extremely expensive to commute, for work, into New York City. So I think the governor made a good decision delaying it.
Americana: I assume it wouldn't be very helpful if Governor Hochul came out and campaigned for you?
Rob Lubin: You know, people like Congressman Suozzi — they fit the bill. People that have a true love and respect for Long Island, people bring that common sense mentality. He gets it. We've seen other folks do extremely well here; Lt. Gov. [Antonio] Delgado is incredible and very well liked. People appreciate it when you come and you insert yourself in our community and talk about the problems that we're facing here on Long Island and how to fix them.
Americana: Do you agree with the Harris campaign's position on Israel? If I can sum it up: They want a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and they don't agree with activists who want an arms embargo.
Rob Lubin: I stand with Israel, I think Vice President Harris needs to stand with Israel, and I appreciate that she does. I feel the same way. They've been an incredible ally for us. They are a democracy in an area that needs that kind of leadership. And they are innovators, right? So many great ideas and companies come out of Israel because of the system that they have in place.
But I'm a human being, and I hate seeing folks in peril. I hate seeing children not have food, or children dying. I mean, everyone should feel that way. So I'd like them to work towards a ceasefire, but the ceasefire can only happen if hostages are back and Hamas lays down their arms.
Americana: Did you support the operation carried out this week — Israel blowing up pagers and walkie talkies? I've seen support for that from Democrats, while critics say, look, this is against international law, and there were civilian casualties.
Rob Lubin: My take on it is, we have terrorists that are out there operating amongst civilians in broad daylight, and they are continuing to plan out attacks on innocent people. We know that Israel has incredible military might — this is an example.
Americana: Overall, are you comfortable with what Harris is running on? Has it been helpful, answering cost of living questions on Long Island? Or does she need to do more when she's asked how she's going to cut prices right away?
