Although Republicans didn't break their losing streak in New York statewide elections in the midterms, they made big gains and races for Congress that could prove pivotal. It comes after the original redistricting maps were deemed too partisan, dealing Democrats a crucial blow in their efforts to retain control of the House. One person with plenty of insight into the maps running statewide and representing the Hudson Valley in Congress is John Faso.
What was your reaction to the midterm elections overall? Were you surprised by the results? What did you think?
I was surprised. I thought that Republicans would do better in US Senate and US House races. Obviously, I was disappointed that Lee Zeldin fell short in his race for governor, but he did very well. He came a lot closer than any Republican since George Pataki won in 2002. And I think his strong performance he lost by about 5.4%, I believe, about 325,000 votes overall out of 5.7 million. His strong performance helped down ballot candidates, particularly candidates for the US House. And the second part of that was clearly because we were able to successfully litigate against the unconstitutional gerrymander that the legislature had enacted on legislative and congressional districts. It looks as though New York Republicans will send 11 House Republicans to Washington next year. And that given the close margin that Republicans are expected to win the house by one could justifiably argue that they owe their majority to New York Republican victories.
Let's take the governor's race first. That's the position you ran for at one time everyone tries to find a reason for the outcome after the election. Why do you think Lee Zeldin got close but was not able to take Governor Hochul down?
I think the reason he got close is that he had a single-minded focus on the issues that were most of concern to New York voters, namely crime and the economy. And certainly, Democrats and Governor Hochul’s, certainly, and others, focused on their opposition to the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision on abortion. And that was a focus of many Democratic advertisements over many months, since the summer, but Zeldin focused on the crime in the economy and that's what most voters were concerned with. Now, obviously, he fell short and the reason I think, was that with the overwhelming Democratic majority, in terms of voter registration, he just simply wasn't able to overcome that. And I think that, you know, the issues that Democrats used against him also made it more difficult for him to get the kind of crossover vote percentage that he needed, but very clearly, given the outcome. He got a lot of Democrats and a lot of Independents in the state to vote for him. So, I think it says again, if a candidate runs on issues that voters care about, don't pay attention.
Let me follow up on that. You know, Governor Hochul was not very well known, even Democrats who supported her were not thrilled with the race that she ran. Is it possible for a Republican to win that race for governor in New York? I mean, it seems like a lot was going in Lee Zeldin’s favor and he still fell short.
I think it is possible. It's certainly always going to be difficult, but just as Charlie Baker and Bill Weld, and others have shown in Massachusetts, which is an overwhelmingly democratic state as well, it is possible to break through I think you just have to be able to have a more centrist political viewpoint, you have to stick to issues that voters care about and there has to be an opportunity and certainly, given the inflation rate and given the level of dissatisfaction of voters both here in the state and nationally for the direction of the state and the nation, that was that was really a good opportunity for Republicans and that's why Zeldin with his campaign came so close.
Let's switch to talk about the races for Congress. You were part of a couple of very close elections for over the house in the Hudson Valley, what's your advice to the newly elected Republicans like Mike Lawler and Mark Molinaro, who now will go to Washington?
Start running for ‘24 right away. Well, I mean, it. In all seriousness, these jobs in a competitive House District are really 24/7 365. You've got to be out there, meeting voters doing things in your constituency, really, right from the start. You can't rest because you are going to be subjected to whatever the national mood is at the time. And if you're swimming with the tide, well, it makes it a lot easier to prevail. If you're running against the tide, as I was in the situation in 2018, it becomes much more difficult. So, first term, House members that running for reelection is when they are most vulnerable. We have a number of first termers now elected in New York state. And so, we know the Democrats will be looking to try to unseat them in 2024. So, a smart congressional incumbent and candidate will take that very seriously and will get right in campaign mode all over again.
Let me ask you a question that a lot of Republicans are publicly grappling with right now and that is whether Donald Trump should run for a third time for the White House, should be the standard bearer. What do you think?
Well, you know, obviously, former President Trump is going to do what he wants to do. I personally think it's time for us to turn the page and look for new, younger leadership for the Republican Party. But this is something that the party and the voters are going to decide who the nominee is going to be. I just think, what I would like to see is a candidate who could seriously contest the presidential election in New York State, because that's also going to affect down ballot races. And while the road would be uphill for a presidential nominee, we we've seen that President Trump did not even get into 40% and he's two statewide runs for president here in New York., and I'd like to see us have a candidate for president who will seriously contest the election in New York State. So that would be a criteria that I would like to see.
Do you have any names in mind?
I don't and I think it's too early to say obviously, Governor DeSantis is one, Governor Youngkin in Virginia would certainly be another and there are there are going to be other candidates, perhaps people that that are not being considered or thought about right now. But as I look at the at the political scene, I think that it's pretty clear that the candidates that President Trump supported in a number of states did very poorly and I think that, you know, as Mitch McConnell said, a candidate quality matters. And it's pretty clear that some of the candidates were not the kind of candidates who can attract cross party support and Independent voters support. In a polarized country that we have today, it's very important for candidates to be able to win votes from Independents and a certain number of votes from voters in the other party and I think that's, those are the criteria that I would have is looking for who would be the right, presidential nominee. And I think, look, if President Biden runs again, I think obviously, it's going to be an election contest based upon his record, I find his record to be lacking in many respects, today, and I, frankly, don't believe that it's going to improve very much over the next two years. I hope for the sake of the country, his record does improve. But I have my doubts.
You talked earlier about being a House candidate swimming against the tides. In 2018, do you think Trump and his low approval rating in New York hurt you?
Oh, without a doubt it did and we knew this about six or eight months before that election. But that's always the case. And the first term and this is why Republicans I think are especially disappointed with the outcome of this midterm because generally speaking, history tells us that in the first midterm election after a new president is elected, the out party generally does pretty well. Well, here it looks as though Republicans are barely going to win control of the House and because of poor candidates in Pennsylvania and in New Hampshire and Arizona, and elsewhere, we fail to win control of the US Senate and that's something that I think every Republican who studies this should be looking for a mid-course correction, if you will.
One more thing, Nick Langworthy, who is the head of the New York state Republican Committee, has been elected to Congress. Are you interested in that position?
No. I have I have no interest in taking on that kind of role. But you know, I'm always, I've always been an active Republican. I'm always looking to help candidates and help the Republican Party in any way I can.
