What it Means for the Future of Yonkers Politics
By Dan Murphy
Yonkers Councilman John Rubbo, a lifelong Republican who was elected to serve on the Yonkers City Council representing the fourth district in 2017, announced this week that when the council reconvenes Tuesday, Sept. 10, he will serve as a Democrat.
“I’ve been a proud Republican for 17 years,” he said. “Like some of my current council colleagues and those who preceded me, such as Bernice Spreckman, several national figures including Hillary Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Elizabeth Warren, I have been compelled to change my party affiliation in order to more accurately reflect my priorities and to more effectively serve my constituency.”
Reports came out last week that Rubbo had switched parties, but was fake news posted by some of Yonkers bloggers. Rubbo’s change of parties came this week, after a long period of consideration and contemplation about his future, and the future of politics in Yonkers.
“The Republican Party has moved so far right that it has disenfranchised middle-of-the-road and left-of-center republicans,” said Rubbo in a statement and in an interview with Yonkers Rising. “I have changed my political party but I have not changed my principles.”
Councilman Rubbo is currently the City Council’s chairman of the Environmental Policy & Protection, and Commerce & Smart Growth committees on the City Council. In the business that he founded and operates, Rubbo has removed plastic bags and plastic straws for more environmentally friendly options. Additionally, Rubbo has consistently worked in a bipartisan manner with the city’s current Democratic administration to bring forth and file a lawsuit against big-pharma, and punish profit mongers for destroying so many families in the community with opioids.
Rubbo has also teamed with the administration to strengthen the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
“I align with many of the environmental, social justice and education issues taken up by the Democratic Party,” he said. “The far right rhetoric of some of the members of the Republican Party has abandoned many members of the party who sit middle/left of center, like I do. Important issues cannot be looked at so narrowly: life and choice, universal background checks and national reciprocity for firearms, private/public health care that does not bankrupt families, businesses and government and affordable housing options that do not force hardworking people to live paycheck to paycheck.”
Rubbo’s change to Democrat is not new to Yonkers and Westchester politics. In 2007, then-Assemblyman and now Mayor Mike Spano changed parties from republican to democrat. “This is where I belong,” said Spano at the time, adding that he believed the national Republican Party “has basically lost its ability to communicate with the average American.”
In response to Rubbo’s announcement, Spano stated: “I welcome John Rubbo as a fellow Democrat, and have long felt his views are in alignment with our party. I also know that Councilman Rubbo will continue to put Yonkers first, regardless of party labels.”
The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 and the “blue wave” election in Westchester in 2017 was the political earthquake that changed Westchester and Yonkers. Two years ago in Yonkers, republican City Council President Liam McLaughlin lost to democrat Mike Khader. McLaughlin was the heavy favorite and was hoping to run and win as mayor of Yonkers down the road. Now, many believe a republican can no longer win a citywide office in Yonkers ever again.
The other big election loss in 2017 for Republicans was County Executive Rob Astorino losing to democrat George Latimer. “Those two losses for republicans, Liam in Yonkers and Astorino countywide, put a dagger in our party,” said one republican.
And while the debate continues on whether Trump is hurting republican candidates in local elections (this reporter believes so), Rubbo said that getting elected to the City Council, or other office in Yonkers, is more about quality-of-life issues than the national issues that Trump and others in Washington are worried about.
“The people of Yonkers want bipartisanship and a leader who fights for a better and cleaner city, world-class public schools, and fiscal responsibility, which has always been and which will continue to be my sole agenda,” said Rubbo.
Rubbo shared with Yonkers Rising a Facebook post from the New York Young Republican Club that reads, “Labor Day is a fake communist holiday and Trump is still your President.” The post includes a photo of young republicans surrounding a Trump 2020 re-election banner, to which Rubbo said, “If a single image could explain why I am leaving the republican party…”
Rubbo’s sentiments are in agreement with the many ‘never Trumpers’ or republicans who don’t appreciate or agree with some of the Presidents behaviors and comments or tweets. The famous saying, “I didn’t leave the republican party, the republican party left me,” applies now to Rubbo.
The political analysis from inside Yonkers was no surprise, with democrats applauding and welcoming Rubbo to their party, while republicans were licking their wounds.
Yonkers Democratic Party Chairman Tom Meier said: “There has been talk about it for a while. I have known John (Rubbo) and his family for some time and he is a middle-of-the-road guy. The Democratic Party is a big tent party, we welcome everyone, and that’s what makes us the permanent majority party in Yonkers. I don’t think it’s time to bury the republican party yet, the enrollment numbers don’t lie. John Rubbo will be a fine addition to the democratic party in Yonkers. I welcome him to our party.”
A prominent Yonkers republican we spoke to said: “There was a lot of pressure for John to do this from his friends and from people in Yonkers who see him as a rising political star. I think he was following the mayor’s example (Spano). Rubbo will now be a moderate democrat, and there aren’t that many of those anymore. Maybe we can all work together again regardless of party.”
Not everyone agrees with Rubbo’s decision to become a democrat. Former Yonkers Democratic Chair Ann Muro said: “I think it’s politically naïve to think that he (Rubbo) will win a democratic primary for mayor if he decides to run. Democrats will be wise to the fact that he is switching more for political expediency than for ideology, and republicans will be mad at him for leaving their party. I would tell him not to change.”
Rubbo told Yonkers Rising he is not thinking about the future and running for mayor. In two years, he plans on running for re-election to the City Council and running his small business in Yonkers, The Yonkers Brewing Co., and raising his family, that’s enough.
Anyone thinking about becoming mayor in 2023 needs to realize that we have an election for mayor this November. The candidates are Spano, a democrat; and republican Mario de Giorgio. Whoever wins has a four-year term, and then Rubbo or anyone can decide to run. Let’s get the first mayor’s race done with, please.
The makeup of the Yonkers City Council will now be five democrats and two republicans. In November, both seats up for election will be held by democrats; Councilwoman Shanae Williams has no republican opponent in the first district, and Tasha Diaz, winner of the democratic primary in June, will be the next councilwoman from the third district.
What say you of Rubbo’s party switch? Email us at risingmediagroup@gmail.com.
