Remember Election Day? For Republicans, it is history. The focus now is Election Day November 2017.
Political parties are like some eternal railroad train, running on forever with slow movements in the election campaign and then speeding up to head for the next one. There is no stopping for a while to celebrate.
Instead, Republicans like State Chairman Ed Cox and Erie County Chairman Nick Langworthy are looking ahead. They are looking ahead with the president-elect offering them the prize and support for more prizes.
Statewide, Cox points to the plan to defeat Governor Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio. Langworthy points to more immediate local races.
"We have races for County Comptroller, Stefan Mychajliw running for re-election; our county Sheriff, Tim Howard, will be seeking re-election," he said. "We'll have a vacancy in a special election for Erie County Clerk, given the election of Chris Jacobs to the State Senate. Then we have the race for Erie County Legislature and the majority of the legislature will be on the line again."
The Legislature has a tangled majority, with four Republicans, one Conservative and one Independent in a county that is heavily Democratic. However, heavily Democratic Cheektowaga is represented by Republican Legislator Ted Morton and heavily Democratic West Seneca is represented by Majority Leader Joseph Lorigo, a Conservative.
Langworthy said he hopes President-Elect Donald Trump will get involved in upcoming local races in this area, given the region's overwhelmingly Democratic registrations.
