NY GOP's new bid for relevance
In December 2022, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Shirley, coming off a solid showing for governor, voiced what sounded like a sensible strategy for a renewed statewide Republican Party.
“Republicans,” he tweeted, “need to campaign much harder in the cities. It doesn’t matter how deeply blue the city is or how convinced people are you will get creamed there.”
Now as Zeldin heads back to Washington as President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, most major Long Island public offices remain in GOP hands. And a New York City mayoral race beckons.
It’s hard to say whether the GOP, the only major party alternative to Democratic domination of Empire State government, will grow back to anywhere near what it once was, in either the city or the state. No Republican has held a statewide post for two decades. That means no U.S. senators, no governors, no comptrollers, no attorneys general. Both legislative houses belong to Dems.
The state’s congressional delegation this year starts out with 19 Democrats and seven Republicans.
Trump’s improved numbers in the state over his 2020 bid are far from transformative. Vice President Kamala Harris drew 56.3% to Trump’s 43.7%, largely because of a falloff in total votes for the top Democrat from four years earlier.
By comparison, consider that Republican Ronald Reagan bested President Jimmy Carter in New York in 1980 and Walter Mondale here in 1984, carrying Long Island both times.
In 1984, Reagan got 66% of the vote in Suffolk County and 62% in Nassau. In 2024, Trump won 55% in Suffolk and 52% in Nassau — not as amazing for red strongholds in a blue state.
This year, the top focus of regional intrigue is the NYC mayoral election. Mayor Eric Adams is under indictment on corruption charges, clouding his future. The GOP could see this as a unique opportunity to win back City Hall, where Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg ruled for 20 years in all. Liberal Republicans won in the past as clean-government reformers bent on chasing out corruption.
But there isn’t much chatter yet about the possibilities of capturing the city that MAGA paints as a crime-ridden hellhole. So far, the top prospect seems to be savvy and lively Curtis Sliwa, who has a fan base but won only 28% against Adams last time.
The GOP likes to regularly condemn Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump and faces reelection in November. The party’s hopes to displace Bragg seem to rest with backing maverick Maud Maron, a one-time Legal Aid Society lawyer who has run in Democratic primaries and is active in conservative educational causes.
For 2026, Republicans clearly relish the chance to unseat Kathy Hochul as governor — perhaps with Rep. Michael Lawler as their challenger.
For now, the GOP remains marginal in the statewide scenario. That could change if the party follows Zeldin’s advice about the cities.
Columnist Dan Janison’s opinions are his own.