Former two-term Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is considering running for New York state governor again, telling the Business Journal that it likely would be several months before he’d declare his candidacy if he decided to go ahead.
Astorino, who ran for governor in 2014, losing to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo 54.3% to 40.3%, said: “The thing that’s different for me this time is I’ve had influential donors call me, reach out to me, as well as party people and grassroots organizers, so that’s different than what it was in ’14. I think there’s just an appetite this time because the state is literally at a precipice. Will it go over a cliff or will it be safe from itself and be put back on the road to prosperity?
“I think there are a lot of people worried about the direction of this state.”
Astorino, 53, said that the growing scandal surrounding Cuomo and chorus of calls from both sides of the political aisle asking the governor to resign or be impeached is not what’s behind his thoughts of running.
“To replace Andrew Cuomo with another far-left Democrat that will continue or worsen the state with these tired, worn-out, bad policies, that’s the issue,” Astorino said. “This one-party system in New York has been disruptive. Republicans can still win a lot of areas and we have been in local races. We will again countywide. A lot of this is cyclical.”
Astorino said that with Trump gone from the White House, a lot of people are focusing once again on local issues.
“The scandal is that New York taxpayers continuously get robbed, day in and day out. That’s the big scandal that we’ve endured now for 11 years under this governor. The nursing home scandal is despicable. It should be investigated, potential crimes were committed,” Astorino said.
“The sexual harassment or assault allegations are serious and being investigated but the perpetual cycle of raising taxes, driving businesses away and harming working New Yorkers, small business and the middle class has to come to an end.”
Astorino said that the issues that exist now are essentially the same ones as when he ran against Cuomo in 2014, and have not been fixed and actually have gotten worse.
“We see very bad decisions having been made during Covid. Our school systems are failing; parents have been enduring watching their children not get the education they deserve through these lockdowns and businesses have been crushed,” Astorino said. He charged that Cuomo’s executive orders for dealing with Covid have been indiscriminate and harmful.
“Having run before, I know what it will take to win, to put together coalitions, Democrats and Hispanics and African-Americans and Asians and small-business owners,” Astorino said.
“I did that successfully in Westchester, which is a deep-blue county and still won twice by large margins. It requires people to understand what’s at stake as opposed to just hearing the noise.”
Astorino was elected county executive in 2009 with nearly 58% of the vote. Previously, he served on the county’s Board of Legislators and in Mount Pleasant on the town board and board of education.
Last year, he ran for state Senate against incumbent Peter Harckham in the 40thSenate District, losing 48.1% to 51.9%.
In business, he has been a consultant and enjoyed a career in broadcasting with ESPN radio, The Catholic Channel on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio and WFAS radio in White Plains.
Astorino dismissed his past support for Donald Trump as being a stumbling block to doing well in a gubernatorial contest in New York. While under contract to CNN and appearing on that news network as a political commentator, Astorino had no qualms about openly supporting the policies and persona of Trump.
“Unfortunately, the last four years has been all about national politics and the entire time the Democrats have been ruining this state but nobody’s been paying attention. Now there’s nobody left to blame. They’re in total charge of everything: Albany; New York City; the suburbs; Washington,” Astorino said.
“As much as they’d like to scream ‘Donald Trump’ to divert attention they can’t. They’re firmly in charge and their policies have been detrimental and people are starting to see that now this is about how do we save our state and entice the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that are getting ready to leave for Florida or the Carolinas to think twice and to stay here.”
