A multimillionaire businessman who served in the Obama administration could shake up the race for the Republican nomination for governor of New York, cutting a large check in support of his own bid.
Harry Wilson, a former Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs executive who served in the Treasury Department under former President Barack Obama, announced on Fox News on Tuesday that he will contribute $12 million of his own money to his gubernatorial campaign, upending a race that had been seemingly settled in favor of Rep. Lee Zeldin.
“I’m running for governor because I cannot sit by while New York is devastated by career politicians,” Wilson said in a campaign ad released on Tuesday.
I’m running for Governor to turn around New York.
Our state is totally broken. Rising crime, sky-high taxes, closed schools, corrupt politicians.
I’ve spent my career turning around failing organizations. Let’s get this done. https://t.co/RwPrwvR3Aw
— Harry Wilson (@HarryWilsonNY) February 22, 2022
Wilson claimed that “sky-high taxes are chasing businesses and families away” while state lawmakers give themselves a $50,000 raise.
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“It’s outrageous,” he continued, vowing to repeal tax increases, increase police presence to combat rising crime rates, and cut waste from the state budget. “Politics as usual has failed us. We need bold action, and we need it now.”
Andrew Giuliani, another gubernatorial hopeful, welcomed Wilson into the race.
“As the leading candidate on the nearly 3M Republicans in New York, I’m happy to vigorously debate my ideas with any other announced or presumptive candidates,” he told the Washington Examiner, pointing to a Siena poll of 803 registered voters showing him with 47% favorability among Republicans. The poll, conducted between Feb. 14 and Feb. 17, has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
Wilson’s entry into what was seemingly a stagnant field could shake up the race. The bylaws of the state’s Republican Party provide that a candidate must earn the backing of 50% of county chairs to become the party’s gubernatorial nominee. Zeldin crossed that threshold in May of last year and was declared the “presumed” nominee after his dominance was confirmed in a straw poll the following month.
“I put together a coalition of tens of thousands of people for a race like this to absolutely ensure that we are crushing it on November 8, 2022. And any enrollment or anything that is standing in our way between now and November 8, 2022, we do everything in our power to move through it effectively,” he said upon accumulating 85% of the vote in the straw poll.
But that hasn’t stopped other contenders, including Giuliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani, from forging ahead with their own long-shot bids.
“I think this is too early,” said the gubernatorial candidate, who received no votes in the straw poll. “I think if you just look at the numbers, I think you’ll see that we perform better in blue states whenever there’s a primary.”
Wilson’s massive financial war chest could prove appealing to a Republican Party accustomed to being trounced in statewide races. Incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul has consolidated support among her Democratic base, raising more than $20 million in support of her effort to become elected to a full term since she stepped in for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned on Aug. 24, 2021, amid allegations of sexual impropriety that he has repeatedly denied.
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Despite the scandals that dogged the final days of the Cuomo administration, Hochul, who served as his lieutenant governor, appears poised to win a full term. Some of Hochul’s most high-profile would-be competitors, such as Attorney General Letitia James, whose Aug. 3 report precipitated Cuomo’s ouster, stepped aside in favor of her bid, and she received the backing of the party’s state convention on Thursday. The state is widely considered a Democratic stronghold, making her well positioned to win the general election in November.
Representatives for the New York Republican Party and the Zeldin campaign did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
