Rep. Dan Donovan, widely seen as the moderate in the primary against his predecessor, Michael Grimm, used his first television ad of the campaign to position himself as an ally in the House to President Donald Trump.

“I am working with Donald Trump to deport dangerous illegal aliens, build the wall, and end sanctuary cities,” Donovan, a New York Republican serving his first full term, says in the ad hitting the airwaves this week, Spectrum News 1 in New York reported.

Donovan also vowed to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s “anti-American trade policies” and “make deals” with foreign nations that benefit his constituents in South Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York’s 11th District.

Donovan also expects to receive an endorsement from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a confidant of the president with deep roots in the New York GOP, Spectrum reported.

The race for the Republican nomination, which will be decided in the June 26 primary, has been highly contentious, pitting an aggressive ex-convict against his more moderate successor.

Grimm hopes to snatch his old seat from Donovan after resigning in 2015 amid indictment procedures for tax evasion, hiring undocumented workers, and perjury under oath.

Those charges led to a eight-month stay in federal prison for tax fraud after Grimm admitted he had hidden more than $900,000 in receipts at his Manhattan restaurant, Healthalicious. He was released in May 2016.

Grimm has established himself as the insurgent in the race. Former White House chief political strategist Steve Bannon endorsed him in October.

Whoever emerges from the June primary should be favored in the general election in November. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Likely Republican. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee selected Democratic candidate Max Rose, an Army veteran, to its Red to Blue program for top recruits earlier this year. 

President Donald Trump carried the district by 10 points in 2016. Donovan won his first full term by nearly 15 points.

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