Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal helped build New York City’s public housing and other works projects, but much of the money ended up being siphoned to other states. Nelson A. Rockefeller, as vice president, did not particularly favor New York after saddling the state with Moral Obligation bonds that exacerbated the fiscal crisis in the 1970s as governor.

Mr. Trump may have exceeded Mr. Rockefeller’s capacity to enrage New Yorkers when he signed off on ending state and local tax deductions that had been a boon for New Yorkers. Far from helping fund New York projects, he instead instructed Republicans to rip funds away from the massive Gateway rail tunnel project because he was mad at Mr. Schumer.

“New York’s problem is you have these great personalities, but those personalities can work against them in terms of what they can achieve and what they can deliver,” Mr. Cunningham said. “Trump won’t deliver for New York. Giuliani is not looking out for New York’s interests right now. Schumer and Trump are locked in battle institutionally, which limits the cooperation needed to get local projects.”

But others look to the golden years of Senator Moynihan and Senator Alfonse D’Amato, the Republican who served with him and who brought plenty of bacon to the grand griddle that is New York.

“We would be in a tremendous position to do more things for our great city,” Mr. Jeffries said. “If we were given the opportunities to govern, we could focus on transportation and infrastructure projects and fix our crumbling mass transit system. That would be a top Democratic priority.”

Further, Ms. Lowey, with the power of the purse strings, could work with the state’s delegation to help shore up that Gateway Project for the Northeast corridor, or the tortured Pennsylvania Station remodel, among other things.