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Coverage of the 2016 presidential election from NPR News and related blogs, including candidate profiles, interviews and talking points.On-air specials will also be broadcast as Election Day approaches, including the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.WRVO also provides coverage of regional elections both on-air and online.

Republicans still upset with Hanna for supporting Clinton over Trump

Ryan Delaney
/
WRVO News File Photo
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-Barneveld)

Republicans in central New York are still angry with Rep. Richard Hanna (R-Barneveld) and his decision to back Democrat Hillary Clinton instead of Republican Donald Trump in the race for president.  
It was a week ago that Hanna, a three-term Republican who isn’t running for re-election in the 22nd Congressional District, wrote an op-ed for Syracuse.com, calling Trump “unfit to serve” in the wake of the candidate’s comments about Muslim parents of a U.S. Army soldier killed in Iraq in 2004. Hanna then said he would support Democrat Hillary Clinton on Election Day.   

The move drew national and international attention, with Hanna the first sitting congressional Republican to pledge support for Clinton instead of Trump. In GOP circles in central New York, the move continues to roil Republican party members.

Late last week, Trump supporters rallied outside Hanna's Utica office calling him a traitor and opportunist, who deceived them to get their votes. Onondaga County Republican Party Chair Tom Dadey called the defection indefensible.

"The thing that frustrates me as a party leader, you use the Republican Party for your gain for all those years, to get elected to Congress," said Dadey. "The people put you on the ballot, they pass the petitions, they raise money so you can go to Congress. You can get your nice pension. It was a stab in the back to the Republican Party.”

Todd Rouse, chairman of the Republican Party in Madison County, which is part of the 22nd Congressional District, says it’s one thing to be critical of Trump. But throwing support behind Clinton is what has the party up in arms.

"I certainly don’t condone some of the things Mr. Trump has said, "said Rouse. "But I still believe if he communicates his republican policies, and how we’re going to turn the country around I think it’s better than our choice on the democratic side, who we know is not going to make any changes. And that’s the disappointment.”

Hanna announced late last year he would not run for another term. Republican state Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney and Democratic Broome County legislator Kim Myers are running to succeed Hanna in the 22nd district, which includes parts of eight counties around central New York and the Southern Tier.

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.