The impending GOP catastrophe in Trump's backyard
In New York, the Republican Party is coming up empty in its hunt for top statewide candidates.
By JIMMY VIELKIND 01/08/2018 06:11 PM EST
ALBANY, N.Y. — Two potential candidates for New York governor against incumbent Andrew Cuomo have dropped out in the past week. No candidate against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has gotten beyond the whisper phase. There’s still no challenger to the state attorney general or comptroller.
In President Donald Trump’s home state, the New York Republican Party is on the verge of disaster. It has so far come up dry in its efforts to put together a top-tier 2018 statewide ticket — a budding failure with implications that could ripple beyond state borders.
If the current situation holds, some of Trump’s most aggressive Democratic Party critics could get a free pass to reelection. And Cuomo and Gillibrand, who have been positioning themselves for potential 2020 presidential campaigns, could see résumé-enhancing victories — runaway wins that will become part of their pitch to Democratic donors and presidential primary voters.
Within New York itself, down-ballot GOP candidates — including a handful of vulnerable congressional incumbents — could find themselves ravaged by national political forces beyond their control in the 2018 midterm elections, without any top-of-the-ticket protection from Republican statewide candidates.
Jim Kelly, the field director for two Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, posted this message on his Facebook page last Thursday: “Wanted: GOP candidates to run for gov, comptroller, attorney general, U.S. Senate.”
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/08/new-york-republicans-trump-midterms-328245?lo=ap_b1
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