Inauguration 2025: Local Republicans celebrate 'new day for GOP' in the Hudson Valley, plan for aggressive local campaigns
GOP members who spoke with News 12 at Monday's party said they were especially excited to see what President Trump does about the cost of living, food prices, immigration and crime.
Hudson Valley Republicans are hoping for a turning of the political tides in even the deepest blue pockets of the region, as President Donald Trump begins another four-year term.
At a high-energy inauguration party at Westchester Manor Monday, GOP leaders said this day could be the beginning of a new era in local politics, with some new leaders.
About 60 members of the Westchester Republican Party attended, while many others went to Washington, D.C. for Trump's inauguration, local party leaders said.
"Being a Trump supporter now is socially acceptable when it really wasn't a couple years ago," college freshman and inauguration party attendee Adam said Monday morning.
Adam said he was in the anti-Trump crowd in 2016, back when Donald Trump first ran and Adam was 10 years old.
Adam said he has since evolved, and was an active volunteer for the Trump during the 2024 campaign.
He said he came to like the president for his views on immigration and because no wars started during his first term in office.
Adam said he hopes his Democratic friends do not immediately discount Trump.
"Give President Trump a chance," he said. "You might not like the guy, but he's our president now for better or for worse. For the good of the country, give him a chance."
GOP members who spoke with News 12 at Monday's party said they were especially excited to see what President Trump does about the cost of living, food prices, immigration and crime.
The president and his supporters believe an influx of undocumented immigrants to some areas of the United States has increased crime, though research by a handful of nonprofits and colleges have concluded the opposite to be true.
"He got in and he's going for it," Mary Lou Ferrari, who just turned 70 on Inauguration Day, said.
Ferrari told News 12 she likes Donald Trump because he is not afraid to make drastic policy changes.
Right away, the president is plans to issue orders declaring a federal emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, changing energy policy, ending diversity and inclusion programs in the federal government and ending remote work policies for federal employees.
"Sometimes he's got a bad mouth," Ferrari said, "but he's got good intentions, he loves this country, and maybe he'll get it back to the way it was."
Westchester Republicans plan to run candidates in local elections with views similar to Mr. Trump's.
They include those who want to end sanctuary policies, which prohibit local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement officers.
One of those candidates is county executive hopeful Christine Sculti, who recently announced her run against current Westchester Executive, Democrat Ken Jenkins, in a Feb. 11 special election.
