Nicole Malliotakis, seen here in her capacity as an Assemblymember, voted for Donald Trump for president.

Part of our new Election Watch newsletter is an “ask the candidate” feature where readers can submit a question they’d like us to ask any city candidate and, so long as the query is not totally insane, we pass it on to see if we can get an answer. Our first question comes from R. Calie, who asks Republican mayoral candidate and Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis:

With all the garbage that Trump and his administration has been involved in the last 6 months, do you still support him? If so why?

Malliotakis answers:

First off, you should understand that during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primaries I served as the New York State Chair of Senator Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign. Senator Rubio was my choice for president and I remain dismayed that he was not my party’s nominee. I support and respect the office of the president and more importantly realize, that the Mayor of New York has both a political and fiduciary responsibility to the people of our city to have an ongoing dialogue with all elected and appointed officials on both a state and federal level. For some reason Mayor de Blasio can’t seem to carry on a business-like relationship with either Governor Cuomo or President Trump. On issue after issue, he places making a point on his personal ideological views over doing what is best for the city and its residents. The bottom line is as mayor, I will have a better relationship with the Cuomo administration in Albany and the Trump administration in Washington than Bill de Blasio has ever had. My legislative experience in the New York State Assembly has taught me that it is often far more productive to put aside a personal political view when it will benefit the well being of your constituents.

When a policy put forth by either hurts New York City, I will push back .

As mayor, count on me working with Governor Cuomo and President Trump when it benefits our city and speaking out in a constructive manner when I feel they are wrong. The job of mayor is not about supporting one elected official or another; it’s about doing what is right for our city and its residents.