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Republicans trying to coalesce around candidate for governor

Jun 18, 2021 2:45 pm

Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that New York Republicans will hold a June 28 informal vote in Albany that might pick their nominee for governor and avoid a primary election in 2022. Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin seems the likely choice, according to New York's Republican leader Nick Langworthy. "Lee Zeldin has established himself as a front runner pretty clearly because he has amassed a lot of support and has raised a lot of funds, but we'll see where that takes us," Langworthy said June 17. Westchester Republican Rob Astorino, who also wants to be governor, told the Times Union the process to get behind a candidate is "too early.... It would've been better for all of the candidates to go around the state this summer and into the fall and see all of the county committees and campaign," said Astorino, who was also a candidate for governor in 2014. "I think that's what most candidates expected would happen, but so for me it's really not going to change anything." Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Lewis County Sheriff Michael P. Carpinelli, have also announced they are running to be the Republican nominee for governor. The last time a Republican won the New York governor's election was George Pataki in 2002, when Democrats held a 2.1 million enrollment advantage over Republicans. As of February, Democrats now hold a 3.8 million advantage, according to the New York Board of Elections. Read more about this story in the Times Union.