The result is that, for all Mr. Rose’s attempts to distance himself from the impeachment inquiry, his district may be a prime laboratory for one of the biggest questions it has created: Will the Democrats’ about-face, after months of putting off impeachment, help or hurt them in 2020?
Mr. Rose’s district is particularly well suited for such a test: Mr. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton there in 2016 with 58 percent of the vote. His support was even more resounding in the primary election: There, Mr. Trump captured 82 percent of the vote against his fellow Republicans.
But the district has occasionally supported Democrats. In 2012, President Barack Obama narrowly won Staten Island. And last year, Mr. Rose defeated the Republican incumbent, Dan Donovan, by almost seven points, or about 12,000 votes, buoyed by the more liberal enclaves on Staten Island’s North Shore, as well as the southern rim of Brooklyn, which makes up a slice of the district.
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