By Dan Murphy
All four republicans candidates for Governor of NY will appear on the ballot for a June 23 primary after the Board of Elections validated the petitions of Andrew Giuliani, Harry Wilson and Rob Astorino. Lee Zeldin, the NYGOP endorsed candidate had challenged the petitions of both Astorino and Giuliani in an attempt to get them off the ballot. Wilson had submitted 36,000 signatures, a number too high for Zeldin to challenge.
Astorino and Giuliani had attacked Zeldin for challenging their petitions. “I know Lee Zeldin thought Andrew Cuomo would be a good president. Now he’s playing the Cuomo game at the Board of Elections,” said Giuliani, who submitted 24,579 signatures. 15,000 valid GOP signatures are required to get on the ballot.
Astorino, who submitted more than 20,000 signatures, said, “The NYS Board of Elections just agreed that our designating petitions are valid. It’s time for Lee Zeldin to stop playing the Albany game of trying to get his primary opponents thrown off the ballot. It’s not happening. There is going to be a primary and it’s going to be the 3 million Republican rank & file voters who decide who the best candidate to face Kathy Hochul is – not lawyers or political insiders.
“I’ve got an eight-year record governing as a conservative Westchester County Executive that I’m proud to stand behind, which includes cutting taxes and holding the line on spending. But Zeldin apparently doesn’t want to be asked about his record in Albany and Washington, where he voted more often with Governor Cuomo than he did with President Trump,” said Astorino.
