In the West Bronx, visible signs of the increasingly intense presidential campaign are scarce. On a recent Sunday, with early voting underway, New Yorkers in the reliably Democratic neighborhoods of Kingsbridge and Riverdale said they cast their ballots with a heightened sense of urgency.
“Democracy is on my mind,” said Caprice Carona, 49, a music teacher and doctoral student who said she once worked for the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
Carona visited the busy early voting site at the Riverdale Y with her daughters, who wore “Future Voter” stickers.
“I want my girls to have just as many rights as my mom did,” she said.
The state of American democracy is a top issue for New York voters, according to a New York Times poll released last week. Voters on Sunday repeatedly stressed that former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, was a threat to the current political system.
Trump, who on Sunday headlined a raucous rally at Madison Square Garden, has threatened judges, journalists, election workers and political opponents with prison if he were to be elected.
“We have to keep our democracy strong, that’s the bottom line,” said Joan Smith, who said she cast her ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president.
“Once norms of democratic function shut down, no place is safe,” Carona added.
Abortion was another top issue for voters, who in addition to making choices for president, Congress, State Assembly and judges could vote on an abortion rights measure. Ballot proposal 1 would enshrine a right to an abortion in the New York State constitution.
“I care about women,” said Carel Smith, 77, a retired hospital administrator who voted at the Kingsbridge early voting site. “I think that should be in there in big letters.”
Evelyn McMillion, 66, a retired engineer, visited the polls with Smith. She said Trump, who has bragged about appointing Supreme Court justices instrumental to overturning Roe v. Wade, disrespects women.
“What kind of stuff are they talking about women?” she said.
None of the races in Riverdale and Kingsbridge are likely to be competitive — Republicans failed to field candidates in several of them — but some Republican voters were determined to make their voices heard.
“I don’t like Trump. I don’t like Kamala,” said Miguel Espinal, 43, a deli store owner and Trump voter. “Why I vote for him? Because we need somebody strong. Because we need somebody different.”
David, a dentist who only provided his first name on the advice of his journalist daughter, said he expected New York to turn red.
“It’s only gonna get better,” he said. “People will flock back to New York.”
An immigrant from Israel, David lamented undocumented migrants not going through the legal process.
But Lynn Breadley, 47, a graphic designer who immigrated to the United States 20 years ago, said she was voting to oppose Trump’s immigration policies.
“Under the last administration of Donald Trump, I feel that he criminalized immigrants, and it was offensive to me as a proud immigrant and an American citizen,” Breadley said.
(Photo credit: Trebor Maitin , Mingwei Qin)