GOP nominates Lee Zeldin for governor

On Tuesday, the GOP announced its nomination of 1st District Congressman Lee Zeldin for governor and former NYPD Deputy Inspector Alison Esposito for lieutenant governor, on the second day of the 2022 GOP Convention at the Garden City Hotel, after over 85 percent of the county Republican delegation voted for Zeldin.

“I want people to feel like they’re back in control of the government again…this is a rescue mission to save our state,” said Zeldin, a former senator, attorney, and Army Reserve major, who gained national attention by defending former President Donald Trump amid the 2019 Ukraine scandal impeachment hearings and contesting the 2020 election results.

Zeldin stated that his day-one priority as governor would be ending all Covid mandates, re-employing anyone who lost their jobs to these, ending the masking “child abuse” in schools and strengthening parental choice. He also talked about “Backing the Blue,” enacting voter ID for elections, keeping zoning control local and standing with the Ukraine.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman nominated Zeldin, urging Long Island residents to turn out to vote, stating, “My whole life I would’ve loved to be governor of this state, but I’m not the right candidate — this is a moment in history that we have the opportunity to nominate someone that is the right person, at the right place, at the right time.”

Three other GOP candidates were seeking the nomination for governor: former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, Andrew Giuliani, son of Rudy Giuliani who served in Trump’s White House, and millionaire fund manager Harry Wilson, whose home county Republican delegation of Fulton ultimately backed Zeldin.

Zeldin had reached out to the 27-year NYPD veteran Esposito last year, tapping into the spiking crime and bail reform messaging that proved successful in the recent Nassau and Suffolk County elections.

“The NYPD and other police around the state…have been turned into enemies,” said Esposito, a SUNY graduate, when accepting the nomination. “My officers have a fear in their eyes, but this is a different fear…the fear in the eyes now was of them losing their jobs and potentially their freedom,” she exclaimed.

Esposito also criticized critical race theory, Covid mandates and “other shenanigans” regarding the lack of parental “choice” in schools. Other convention speakers echoed Esposito’s and Blakeman’s concerns, also adding high taxes, corrupt Democratic politicians, and undocumented immigrants.

“New York Republicans are putting our money where our mouth is and proving to the people of this state that we are serious about ending the public safety crisis created by the Democrat Party,” said NYGOP Chairman Nick Langworthy in a Feb. 23 statement.

Republicans also nominated global financier Paul Rodriguez, former Newsmax host Joe Pinion and litigation attorney Michael Henry to challenge Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli, Sen. Charles Shumer and Attorney General Leticia James, respectively.

Republicans, however, have a historical uphill battle in statewide elections, where Democratic voters outnumber registered Republicans by a two-to-one margin. A Republican has not won a state race 20 years, since George E. Pataki secured a third term as governor in 2002, after defeating Democratic Mayor Mario Cuomo.

Pataki spoke on the first day of the 2022 GOP Convention, identifying woke culture as the Democratic party’s weakness and saying of President Joe Biden, “We need a Republican Congress to hold this president accountable, we need a Republican Senate to hold this leader accountable, and to get the United States headed in the right direction.”

The 2022 midterm state primary elections for governor, senate and congressional offices will be held on June 28.