TOWN OF WAPPINGER – Former two-term Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the state’s Republican candidate against Andrew Cuomo in 2014, is running for governor again.
Astorino is battling to secure the GOP nomination against Congressman Lee Zeldin and Andrew Guiliani, an advisor to former President Donald Trump.
The Republican candidates will square off in the statewide primary on June 28th, and Astorino is still campaigning. Speaking to Mid-Hudson News at a campaign appearance in Wappinger on Thursday night, Astorino said “I’m much more confident than I was a year ago when I announced my intentions,” he said while pointing out the flaws of his opponents.
“The supposed Republican frontrunner, Lee Zeldin had his chance in Albany when he was in the Senate majority, yet he voted for all of the Cuomo budgets.” Zeldin served in the state senate from 2011 to 2014. “To me, if you voted for the Cuomo budgets, and at the time said Cuomo should be President, that’s a disqualifier for me,” Astorino proclaimed.
The former CEO of Westchester County said he is friends with Guiliani, the son of former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani, but acknowledged that the younger Guiliani lacks experience.
“The cost of living in New York is impossible right now,” Astorino said, noting that normal necessities like baby formula cannot be found and crime is on the rise.
“Criminals are being created like the good guys and the police officers are being treated like the bad guys,” he said, noting that Democratic bail reforms have turned things upside down in New York.
