In his home state’s upcoming primary, Donald Trump will not have the votes of two of his biggest supporters—his own children. The Republican frontrunner has an overwhelming lead in New York polls, but he admitted that neither his daughter Ivanka nor son Eric had registered to vote in the primary in time.
“They were, you know, unaware of the rules, and they didn’t, they didn’t register in time,” Trump told Fox and Friends on Monday (April 11). “They feel very guilty. But it’s fine. I understand that.”
Trump said his children were registered voters, and to be fair, they would have had to register as Republicans quite early in the process in order to vote in New York’s “closed primary”—in which only voters registered with a particular party can cast their ballots. The deadline was March 25 for first-time voters, but for those who had registered to vote in earlier elections, the cut-off to change or add a party affiliation was in October–a time when Trump’s candidacy did not quite have the steam it has today.
Yahoo News reported last week that neither Ivanka nor Eric were enrolled in a political party, but Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is a registered Republican. All three, like their father, have donated to Democratic candidates, including senators Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker and Kristin Gillibrand as well as Hillary Clinton.