NEW YORK — When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz criticized "New York values" during a Republican debate in January, the comment was widely interpreted as a slap in the face to millions of liberal New Yorkers.
Three months later, residents of the city — including a certain prominent real estate developer — haven't forgotten. Cruz is trailing Donald Trump by more than 30 points in the polls on the eve of New York's primary on Tuesday.
In all likelihood, Cruz's open disdain for New York City's "socially liberal, or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage" values, as he defined them at the debate, won't cost him many votes. He was never that popular in the city to begin with.
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But regardless of what happens in the primary, Cruz's remarks raised a pair of questions that will remain relevant (to New York City, anyway) long after the election is over. Do New Yorkers really possess a unique set of values? And if so, what are they?
"New York is the city of immigrants and always has been," said Robert Caro, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of "The Power Broker" and a multi-volume biography of former President Lyndon Johnson.
The city's diversity is "a great value," Caro, a lifelong resident of the Upper West Side, said in a phone interview. "It should be preserved, not mocked."
Letitia James, New York City's public advocate, said in an interview that "New York values to me represent a big tent where everyone is welcome," though she added that the city's bedrock values were part of the national fabric.
"Those are American values, they're not unique to New York," said James, the city's second-highest ranking official after Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In interviews, most New Yorkers struck on similar themes of diversity and tolerance. But some conservative voters said they understood Cruz's point of view.
"I know what he meant," said Anthony, a retired police officer from the conservative enclave of Howard Beach, in southeast Queens, who requested not to give his last name. "New York is too liberal, that's what he was talking about."
Cruz's comments were likely geared to Republican voters in the city and the more conservative regions of upstate New York. His anti-New York rhetoric was consistent with a broader message to conservative voters around the country, said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist in New York.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks on stage during a campaign event in Rochester, New York on April 15. Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters
"It was obviously a way to ignite more religious, conservative right people. But it failed terribly," Sheinkopf said.
Sheinkopf noted that Cruz wasn't the first high-profile politician who has criticized New Yorkers or the city's values, only to watch the strategy backfire.
President Gerald Ford refused to give New York City a federal bailout in 1975, prompting the famous New York Daily News headline, "Ford To City: Drop Dead." Jesse Jackson called Jews "Hymies" and referred to the city as "Hymietown" while running for president in 1984.
While Jackson denied his comments at first, Cruz quickly backtracked, claiming that he had been referring to New York City liberals specifically, not the state as a whole.
Nevertheless Trump seized on Cruz's original comment to highlight New York's response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The city's top Democrats criticized Cruz as well.
The controversy also underscored the obstacles Cruz is likely to face in the general election, if he succeeds in wresting the GOP nomination from Trump at the party's convention this summer.
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Evangelical voters have helped Cruz win primaries in rural and western states. But the Texas senator's brand of uncompromising, hard-right Republicanism is a poor match for moderate voters on the East and West coasts and in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
After spending "a lot of time in Texas researching Lyndon Johnson, you can't help seeing that Texas has values that are really praiseworthy," Caro said. "But they are different" from New York.
In the days leading up to the primary, Democrats and Republicans across the five boroughs did not hold back their contempt for Cruz.
"[His comments] kind of pissed me off," said Roland Findley, an immigration officer from the East New York section of Brooklyn who is supporting Hillary Clinton. "Obviously he doesn't spend a lot of time in New York, so he doesn't know what he's talking about."
Jerkis Fong, a nurse from the Tremont section of the Bronx, said New York values, to her, meant hard work, respect for others, and an adherence to liberal social policies.
"Cruz can have his own opinion," she said, "but that shouldn't mean that he's right and everyone else in New York is wrong."
Cruz received a healthy dose of New York attitude when he visited the Bronx in early April. Cruz was scheduled to speak at the Bronx Lighthouse College Preparatory Academy, but he canceled the event after students at the charter school, citing his opposition to immigration reform, vowed to walk out of class if he showed up.
The same day, two people were kicked out of a Cruz campaign event at a Dominican restaurant after staging a protest over his immigration policies.
"He thinks his values are better than ours," said Ralph Acevedo, the program director of a housing advocacy group in the Bronx. "Hopefully now he has a better understanding that values in one part of the country are different than they are in other parts."
Antoinette D'Ambrosio, a retired cashier from Howard Beach, dismissed Cruz outright. "He's an idiot," said D'Ambrosio, who is voting for Trump. "He talks bad about everybody."
But D'Ambrosio struggled to say exactly what she thought New York values were. "Everybody has different values," she said. "They believe what they want. What are you gonna do?"
Joseph Addabbo Jr., a Democrat who represents Howard Beach in the state senate, said that alienating voters in the country's largest city was a "rookie mistake to make as a candidate." He added, "Denigrating New York values is something that New Yorkers aren't going to forget."