Moderate enters GOP governor race as leaders back conservative

ALBANY — With the Republican state convention six days away, there are signs some party members think the GOP is going too conservative to oust Gov. Kathy Hochul this fall.

On Tuesday, business owner Harry Wilson, who some Republicans have been encouraging to run, took the plunge and jumped into a GOP primary for governor.

A day earlier, some Republicans had launched a "Draft Pataki" movement and website, seeking to bring back the last Republican to win a governor’s race, 76-year-old George Pataki.

Both Wilson and Pataki would be more moderate than the GOP front-runner and Trump ally, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Shirley. Pataki backers say the party can’t win in the fall with Zeldin.

Wilson, 50, told Fox News he is prepared to spend $12 million of his own money on the campaign, including covering the petition drive that will be needed to get his name on the GOP primary ballot. He ran unsuccessfully for state comptroller in 2010.

Wilson, CEO of the MAEVA Group and a business turnaround specialist, said he will launch an advertising blitz this week promising to "turn around New York."

In his initial You Tube ad, the Westchester County resident talks of growing up in Johnstown along the Erie Canal, cleaning dorms and bartending to pay for college and distinguishing himself from "career politicians" — a dig at others in the governor’s race.

"I’m running for governor because I cannot sit by while New York is devastated by career politicians," Wilson said.

Listing crimes, high taxes and businesses and people leaving New York, he adds: "A career politician can’t fix it — but I can."

Meanwhile, the Draft Pataki supporters say the former governor, who was the last Republican to win a statewide election — in 2002 — is the GOP’s best hope this year.

"We have to find someone who can win in November. We certainly can’t win with Lee Zeldin," Rob Cole, a former Pataki adviser, told the New York Post. Cole didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday.

The Republican convention will begin Monday at the Garden City Hotel. Zeldin is expected to easily win a majority of delegates’ votes to qualify for the ballot — it is unclear if any other candidate will reach the threshold of 25% of the vote to automatically qualify. The other route to the ballot is by gathering 15,000 petition signatures.

Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, also are vying for the party nomination.

While Wilson would be seen as a more moderate Republican, the state Conservative Party immediately decried his candidacy as "more destructive than constructive" and said it was sticking with Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally who has secured endorsements from many Republican county leaders.

State Republican chairman Nick Langworthy, who backs Zeldin, didn’t comment immediately.