donald trump and carl paladino speak during a gun rights rally in 2014. | ap photo/mike groll by jimmy vielkind 11/30/16 05:24 am est albany <u+2014> the election of donald trump should lead to a reorientation of the republican party in new york, carl paladino, the buffalo developer who chaired the president-elect<u+2019>s campaign here, told politico new york. paladino, the gop<u+2019>s 2010 gubernatorial candidate, said the party in new york should focus on reaching out to labor unions and should move away from its previous status as a party of <u+201c>elitists and big businesses and globalists.<u+201d> he also said it<u+2019>s time to replace republican state committee chairman ed cox with someone from upstate new york. story continued below <u+201c>the party has to go and convince the unions that it<u+2019>s better to support current republican values than it<u+2019>s been in the past, and certainly the democratic party has left them, as it<u+2019>s done in the last campaign,<u+201d> paladino said in an interview. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re going to expand the party base in new york state to the working man, and i think everything you<u+2019>re seeing out of washington is going to support that.<u+201d> trump lost new york but bested hillary clinton upstate , even beating her in some counties that backed president obama during his two successful campaigns. this is the locus of republican power in the state, paladino said, and republican officials should align themselves to serve it and gird for a gubernatorial run. paladino has always been leery of cox <u+2014> who he noted did not push for trump until after new york<u+2019>s april 19 primary <u+2014> and endorsed nick langworthy, of erie county, for state chairman. langworthy said earlier this month that before deciding if he would run for the post himself, he would wait to see if cox decides to seek a fourth term in september, which cox has said he would do. and some of cox<u+2019>s critics said trump<u+2019>s win was a boost to cox staying put. paladino said cox was wrong, though, to focus on next year<u+2019>s campaign for the new york city mayoralty. <u+201c>what<u+2019>s meaningful in new york politics is somebody to drag this party and party apparatus into thinking that it<u+2019>s more valuable to win the governorship of the state than to go on a fruitless, mindless effort to try and win the mayoralty of new york city,<u+201d> paladino said. <u+201c>right now, ed cox<u+2019>s focus is spending upstate and downstate monies that have been assembled on a big race for new york city mayor. my feeling on that is that if the candidate is not [former nypd commissioner] ray kelly, it<u+2019>s a fruitless effort.<u+201d> he also said senate majority leader john flanagan, of long island, should be replaced by an upstater and that the party retained its senate majority this year by a <u+201c>stroke of luck.<u+201d> paladino had talked about making another run for governor in 2018, and told newsday he would <u+201c>absolutely<u+201d> have trump<u+2019>s support if he did, but was less definitive on tuesday. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ll think about it next year,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>right now, i<u+2019>m just sitting back and enjoying the win and imagining all the good things that are going to happen as a result.<u+201d> a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york education policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york energy policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york health care policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york real estate policy and politics our morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on state news and politics a morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on city news and politics. a weekly round-up of legislation in city council for politics and policy professionals. a reported briefing on money in politics, executive moves, and trends in communications, lobbying and consulting. our twice-a-week digest of news on courts and the law in new york azi paybarah and jimmy vielkind's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable new yorkers.
paladino: new york republicans should turn upstate
jimmy vielkind