The DCCC is enjoying the ugly GOP primary battle in New York’s 11th Congressional District between Rep. Dan Donovan and former Rep. Mike Grimm so much that they recently released an in-house poll giving Grimm a 49-39 lead; they did not release any general election numbers testing either Republican against Army veteran Max Rose, the likely Democratic nominee.
Both Republicans released their own polls last month, and they each painted a verydifferent picture than what the DCCC found. Donovan's survey found him leading Grimm 60-21, while even Grimm's survey gave him just a 35-34 lead over the incumbent. There's simply no way to reconcile these three surveys.
No matter what, the GOP primary for this district, which includes all of Staten Island and a portion of Brooklyn, won't be boring. Donovan, who was Staten Island's longtime district attorney until he was elected to the House in the 2015 special election to replace Grimm, has been a pretty low-key member. The same cannot be said for Grimm, who among other things once threatened a reporter on camera about a year before he resigned on tax evasion charges; Grimm ended up serving seven months in jail.
Grimm is arguing that Donovan is a liberal who has voted against Trump too many times. The incumbent is trying to flip the script and portray Grimm as the one who is out of touch, and he's taken aim at his past ethics problems. Donovan held a $739,000 to $332,000 cash-on-hand lead over Grimm at the end of March, but neither Republican is suffering from a lack of name recognition.