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Ex-Rep. Vito Fossella’s last-minute, game-changing endorsement from former President Donald Trump in the Staten Island borough president GOP primary got a paid, targeted Facebook boost from an unexpected source: conservative cable news outlet Newsmax.
Like many other news organizations, Newsmax Media Inc. regularly spends money to promote its stories on the social media platform.
But Newsmax’s $25,000 expenditure for its piece touting the Trump endorsement in the local race stood out, given that it was the only of the cable outfit’s 54 ad buys last month that targeted a single state New York leading up to the city’s June 22 primary election.
Most NYC Borough Presidents Races Still Too Close to Call, Latest Preliminary Count Shows
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Staten Island GOP BP primary: A Trump, Fossella and
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This election, four out of the five borough presidents’ seats are open, which has led to a significant number of candidates running for these largely ceremonial offices. Final results will not be certified for several weeks, but preliminary results of first choice votes show City Council Member Antonio Reynoso with a sizable lead in Brooklyn and City Council Member Vanessa Gibson comfortably ahead in the Bronx. Other races, including in Queens and in the Republican primary in Staten Island, were too close to call. In Staten Island, embattled former Congress Member Vito Fosella was narrowly in the lead, and in Queens, incumbent Donovan Richards was neck and neck with Elizabeth Crowley.