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New York GOP Taps New Leader As Party Looks To Bounce Back

wikipedia.org

Republicans in New York have picked a new state chairman as they seek to recover from a series of recent political and legislative defeats.

Meeting in Albany on Monday, state party leaders formally tapped Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy to replace outgoing chairman Ed Cox, whom some Republicans had blamed for recent election losses.

Cox, who is former President Richard Nixon's son-in-law, had led the state party since 2009. He will join President Donald Trump's re-election campaign.

Democrats won a majority of Senate seats last fall, giving them one-party control and dominance over the agenda in Albany.   Republican  Minority Leader assemblyman Brian Kolb:

"The assembly republicans have been outnumbered, outspent, but we win every debate. And by the way, our last election cycle, we actually picked up two seats more than we had the cycle before."

The thirty-eight year-old Langworthy is half Cox's age. Republican leaders say they hope he can help Republicans reach younger New Yorkers.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.