Kevin Tampone is reporting for syracuse [dot] com. U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island Mon., Jun. 28, won a Republican straw poll of the governor’s race by a large margin. He took 85 percent of the vote. The vote is nonbinding and does not automatically make Zeldin the party nominee, but it is an indicator of his strength as a candidate 17 months before the election. The poll took place at a party meeting in Albany. County chairs and committee members heard from Zeldin, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Andrew Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani’s son before the vote was taken. Astorino won a single vote, or 5 percent of the total, from the Westchester County Republican chair, according to Spectrum News. Giuliani received no votes. Ten percent of those present abstained from voting. Astorino called the poll “meaningless.” He said he plans to keep campaigning and let voters decide the party’s nominee in the primary next June. The GOP was hoping to get behind a single nominee early and avoid a costly primary, according to the Times Union. Read the full story at syracuse [dot] com.