{"id":229031,"date":"2026-05-12T20:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/229031\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:43:14","slug":"queens-village-republican-club-rallies-grassroots-support-election-reform-efforts-and-patriotism-at-packed-bayside-meeting-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/229031\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Village Republican Club rallies grassroots support, election reform efforts and patriotism at packed Bayside meeting \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queens Village Republican Club<\/a> packed its banquet hall at the Marbella Restaurant<\/a> in Bayside<\/a> on Thursday, May 7, for a wide-ranging and energetic general club meeting focused on local elections, grassroots activism, voter integrity efforts and plans for America\u2019s 250th anniversary celebrations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo by Robert Pearl<\/p>\n

Club President Phil Orenstein opened the evening by welcoming members and guests, describing the organization as one of the nation\u2019s oldest and most active Republican clubs dedicated to advancing \u201cAmerica First\u201d principles and electing candidates committed to restoring public safety, affordability and constitutional government in New York.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Queens Village Republican Club President Phil Orenstein welcomes attendees of the meeting on May 7. Photo by Robert Pearl<\/p>\n

The event then kicked off with an invocation honoring veterans, first responders and the importance of protecting life and freedom, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Orenstein then urged attendees to participate in statewide independent petitioning efforts to help place gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman on additional independent ballot line ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Attendees taking part in the Pledge of Allegiance. Photo by Robert Pearl<\/p>\n

One of the featured speakers was Steve Gillan of Project Civica<\/a>, who delivered an extended update on the proposed SAVE America Act<\/a>, arguing that election integrity remains a critical national issue and urged attendees to pressure U.S. Senators to support voter identification requirements and citizenship verification measures for voter registration. His remarks focused heavily on concerns surrounding voter rolls, election transparency and Senate procedural battles involving the filibuster.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Steve Gillan of Project Civica. Photo by Robert Pearl<\/p>\n

A major highlight was the featured address by attorney Jimmy Wagner, who had recently been honored at the club\u2019s Lincoln Dinner as \u201cLegal Advocate for All New Yorkers.\u201d Wagner discussed constitutional rights, city governance reforms and grassroots activism as president via his Donald J. Trump Republican Club of Kings County. He promoted a petition initiative aimed at placing several New York City charter reform proposals before voters, including measures involving recall procedures, campaign finance reform, municipal oversight and restructuring the City Council.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Attorney Jimmy Wagner delivering his address. Photo by Robert Pearl<\/p>\n

Other candidates that spoke included Republican state Assembly candidate Welson Chang, who outlined his campaign priorities centered on lowering taxes, supporting small businesses, strengthening education standards and restoring what he called \u201ccommon sense government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another candidate on hand, Robert Speranza, spoke about his campaign efforts in Northeast Queens, highlighting concerns over affordability, public safety and government overreach, also discussing grassroots outreach and direct engagement with voters as essential to winning competitive districts in Queens.<\/p>\n

Additional remarks were delivered by club members, activists and campaign representatives, including discussion surrounding tax policy, \u201cTrump Accounts,\u201d civic engagement and ongoing fundraising efforts for Republican candidates across Queens and New York City.<\/p>\n

Club Chairman Joe Concannon closed part of the evening by stressing the importance of local political involvement and reminding attendees that \u201call politics is local.\u201d Concannon also reflected on recent meetings in Washington, D.C., involving tax policy and federal economic issues while encouraging continued petitioning and volunteer efforts throughout Queens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo by Robert Pearl<\/p>\n

The meeting concluded with announcements about upcoming club activities, including participation in the annual Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade<\/a> on May 25, lining up at 1 p.m. at the Starbucks at 55 Northern Blvd. Members were encouraged to march behind the club banner as part of this year\u2019s patriotic observance, which also coincides with celebrations marking America\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Organizers described the parade as an opportunity to honor fallen service members, celebrate the nation\u2019s history and demonstrate continued support for veterans, active-duty troops and first responders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queens Village Republican Club packed its banquet hall at the Marbella Restaurant in Bayside on Thursday, May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[10597,9,24,63,122,124,123,63908],"class_list":["post-229031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-meeting","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-queens-village-republican-club"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}