WE WANT OUT: TABACCO CALLS FOR NEW JERSEY TO ANNEX STATEN ISLAND
Staten Island Community Leader John Tabacco Demands Exit Strategy as Leftists Tighten Grip on NYC
NOTE: This piece first appeared on NYNewsPress.com.
By Richard Luthmann
Staten Island firebrand John Tabacco has had enough. On June 26, Tabacco sent a formal letter to New Jersey Assemblyman Robert Auth demanding immediate action to explore the legal annexation of Staten Island by the Garden State.
“The people of Staten Island are staring down a political hurricane,” Tabacco said. “Staten islanders have shown we aren’t anything like NYC. We fought the city on non-citizen voting and won. We fought the city on Lockdowns and won. And, when we fought NYC on illegal migrant shelters, we were the only borough that won. We won’t be governed by a communist like Zohran Mamadami.”
Tabacco’s letter urges the formation of a special bipartisan committee in the New Jersey General Assembly to investigate whether Staten Island can legally break away from New York.
The goal: explore New Jersey’s legal and historical claims and take lawful steps toward annexation.
This plea comes as New York City faces what many Staten Islanders call a socialist seizure of power.
The borough, long at odds with Manhattan elites, now sees itself under direct threat from radical politicians poised to take full control of City Hall.
Leading that charge is Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, an open socialist and the Democratic Party’s candidate for NYC Mayor.
Mamdani, a protégé of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is campaigning on a platform that includes rent freezes, police defunding, and government-run supermarkets.
“We have reached the breaking point in Staten Island, Mamdani and AOC are pushing New York to Los Angeles and Chicago-style slums,” said Tabacco in a follow-up statement. “And we aren’t ever becoming these slums. Staten Island was born and titled to New Jersey, and we are asking them to take us back.”
WE WANT OUT: FEARS OF SOCIALIST NIGHTMARE GROW IN NEW YORK’S ‘FORGOTTEN BOROUGH’
The trigger for this political earthquake is clear. Tabacco and many Staten Islanders believe that with Mamdani on the brink of becoming mayor, New York City will become unrecognizable.
“They want a city where property rights are dead, private enterprise is criminal, and speech is policed,” said one community leader who supports the letter. “It’s Havana on the Hudson.”
Mamdani’s policies include:
A city-owned grocery chain to replace “racist and exploitative” private supermarkets.
Rent control expanded to freeze all rents across the five boroughs.
“Abolish the NYPD” rhetoric baked into city budgets.
Redistribution of private property through new wealth taxes and zoning mandates.
These ideas have made Mamdani a hero to progressive activists. But to working-class Staten Islanders, they’re a threat to survival.
“Staten Islanders don’t want to be ruled by socialist ideologues,” said Tabacco. “We want safety, freedom, and economic sanity. It’s actually a double win for New Jersey as the MAGA-heavy vote from Staten Island will turn New Jersey Red.”
Residents of Staten Island have long felt like political outsiders. In a 1993 referendum, 65% voted to secede from New York City. The state legislature blocked the move, but resentment never faded.
Now, with the city drifting further left, many believe it’s time to try again, with New Jersey as the lifeboat.
LEGAL ROOTS: DOES NEW JERSEY HAVE A CLAIM?
Tabacco’s letter isn’t just a political cry—it’s a legal argument.
He cites 17th-century colonial land grants, Dutch claims, and the 1834 boundary compact that formally divided New York and New Jersey. According to historians, the Duke of York’s 1664 land patent originally gave Staten Island to New Jersey. The so-called “Billopp boat race,” which supposedly won it for New York, is widely discredited as a myth.
“The Duke of York never had lawful authority to reverse that grant,” said one local historian. “Staten Island was stolen through legend, not law.”
The 1834 compact, ratified by Congress, allowed New York to keep Staten Island—but only after centuries of contested claims.
Tabacco now argues that if residents consent and all three governments—New York, New Jersey, and Congress—agree, the annexation could proceed lawfully. The resolution proposed in Tabacco’s letter reads:
“Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, that the Assembly hereby establishes a special bipartisan committee to investigate and report on the historical, legal, and geographic claims… and explore all lawful avenues by which the State of New Jersey may assert or pursue annexation of Staten Island…”
A resolution by the New Jersey Legislature is all that is required to initiate the annexation exploration process.
AUTH THE ANNEXER: A NEW REALIGNMENT?
Assemblyman Auth has yet to respond formally, but political watchers in Trenton are already talking.
“This isn’t a joke,” said one GOP strategist. “If Staten Island’s leadership pushes this, and New Jersey steps up, it could force a serious interstate debate.”
The effort also reveals a deeper cultural shift. Staten Island aligns more closely with northern New Jersey on issues like taxes, policing, and business development.
Many residents already commute to New Jersey or send their kids to Jersey schools.
“We already live more like New Jerseyans than Steinway Street Socialists,” said a Staten Island real estate agent. “Why not make it official?”
Some legal scholars warn that the process would be difficult. Congressional approval is mandatory. So is consent from New York State, which is unlikely to let go of a full borough.
But if Staten Islanders vote in favor, the pressure could become politically explosive.
“Let them laugh now,” Tabacco said. “But if this city keeps going red, white, and hammer-and-sickle, if Gov Hochul lets us leave, the Democrats will never lose a city or statewide election again.”
If this happens, if Staten Island annexes to New Jersey, imagine what precedent this will set. This would cause a few heads to explode.