Collins endorsement shows Trump’s appeal in Upstate
‘ Private sector guy’ is first member of Congress to support the candidate
What did U. S. Rep. Chris ColNEW YORK lins, the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president, see in Trump that most of his Republican House and Senate colleagues did not — and apparently still don’t?
First, he saw himself. “I’m a private sector guy, and so is he,” Collins says. “The next president has to have chief executive experience. … We’re electing a chief executive, not a chief politician.”
Second, he saw someone who knew what to blame for the economic fall of western New York. “There’s only one solution to the problem,” Collins says. “Fair trade.”
Collins represents the region between Buffalo and Rochester, which has suffered from one of the nation’s biggest industrial declines. But if the U. S. renegotiates advantages enjoyed by Chinese and other foreign companies, he says, “our jobs will come back. Every toaster you use and pair of jeans you wear can be made here again.”
Last year, Collins’ definition of chief executive was expansive enough for him to support Jeb Bush’s presidential candidacy until the former governor — “Florida’s chief executive,’’ as Collins puts it — dropped out after the South Carolina primary.
Then he endorsed Bush’s archenemy — “a really big leap,” says Kevin Hardwick, an Erie County legislator who supports John Kasich but was a Collins ally when he was county executive.
Most Republicans were surprised. “Either Chris Collins sees something nobody else sees, or everyone else sees something that Chris doesn’t,” Anthony Gioia, a GOP contributor and former U. S. ambassador to Malta, told the Buffalo News.
Yet Collins is hardly swimming against the political tide. Trump has the support of regional GOP power broker Carl Paladino, the party’s nominee for governor in 2010. Eleven days before Collins’ endorsement, Trump won a GOP Erie County straw poll with 57%.
He’s favored to win the New York primary Tuesday and leads polls in Pennsylvania and other Northeast states with upcoming primaries. Only eight of 246 Republican House members have endorsed the front- runner, but four come from a roughly contiguous area of New York and Pennsylvania that has suffered from globalization and associated trade agreements.
Collins says he can identify with Trump’s transition from business to politics.
After making a fortune building, reorganizing and managing various companies, in 2007 Collins was elected executive of Erie County, which has more than 900,000 residents and includes Buffalo and more than 40 of its suburbs.
He applied business management principles to government, reduced payroll and held down taxes. He was defeated for re- election in 2011 but won a seat in Congress in 2012.
Collins acknowledges that Trump has been through a “rough patch” in his campaign, including his comment ( which he later backed off ) that he favored punishing women who have illegal abortions.
But now, he says, Trump is “pivoting’’ and “transitioning” to focus on general election voters.
He points to signs of Trump’s “evolution” as a candidate: hiring experts in delegation selection; appearing in a town hall meeting with family, which Collins said would “personalize” the blustery tycoon; and conceding, “he’s gotta be more careful with the words.’’
Campaigning, Collins said, “has been a learning experience for Donald Trump.”
“People are fed up with the political speak about free trade,” Collins says. “Now we’re talking about fair trade. They’ve not heard anyone speak that way because it sounds like protectionism. But there’s nothing wrong with Donald Trump saying, ‘ America First.’ ”