With all state offices on the ballot next November, State Republican Chairman Ed Cox is seeing great things in this year's election. The Manhattan lawyer has been storming the state since last Tuesday pointing to results like taking control of the Erie County Legislature and electing a new Chautauqua County Executive. He qualifies the victories by saying his party wouldn't do as well in overwhelmingly Democratic cities.
"In Chautauqua, we not only won the county exec race but we also have a super-majority, we have a more than two-to-one ratio in the County Legislature for the first time ever. Let alone here in Erie County, a two-to-one Democratic county, [where] we have a majority in the Legislature for the first time in 35 years," Cox said.
What is key to party hopes against Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2014 is the victory of Rob Astorino for another term as Westchester county executive since he is considered the front-runner for the GOP nod.
Cox won't say when the party will make its picks for governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, and attorney general but says it will be when the time is right. With Governor Cuomo holding a massive campaign finance fund and the incumbents in a position to raise cash, the choices are expected to be made soon.
Cox says his party has the right political positions going ahead, like calls to cut state spending and state taxes and cut regulation. He also wants to cut the estate tax since he says that is persuading rich people to take their residences and their investments out-of-state, hurting New York.
