Several Republican office holders who are interested in running for governor next year made their case to the state’s GOP county leaders at a meeting in Albany this week.
The meeting comes as Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has said he wants to run again, has been weakened by a series of scandals.
New York has twice as many enrolled Democrats as Republicans, and it’s been almost 20 years since anyone from the GOP won a statewide office. Republicans lost control of the state Senate in 2018.
But Republicans see new hope as Cuomo struggles with several scandals.
Cuomo is facing allegations of sexual harassment from several women, and there’s a federal investigation over whether he covered up the number of nursing home COVID-19 death. An impeachment inquiry by the state Assembly also focuses on whether the governor violated the public officers law when his staff helped him write and promote a book, and when he favored friends and family by giving them access to hard-to-get coronavirus tests.