Nick Langworthy’s roadmap for red success in a blue state

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Less than two weeks after taking office as New York State’s Republican Party chairman, Nick Langworthy flew to Israel on a fact-finding visit, as part of a contingent that included former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Langworthy, a native of the Buffalo area, with admittedly little previous exposure to Jewish culture, told Mishpacha his first-ever trip to Israel broadened his perspective on the dangers and struggles facing Israel and Jews worldwide. Langworthy faces his own set of daunting challenges back in New York, one of America’s bluest states.

Republicans are an endangered species in the state legislature after the GOP lost the senate this year. Is this reversible, and if so, what’s your strategy?

“It is reversible. We need to fight hard to go get back those seats that we lost. The party was asleep in many ways. We did not take some of the challenges seriously, we did not evaluate the turnout models. We lost seats that we didn’t think would be competitive. A lot of Republicans were critical of the [former Republican] senate majority because we didn’t think that they drove the policy agenda enough. But we didn’t know how good we had it, because now, we see that they were such an important stop sign to terrible policies that have been enacted this year in the state legislature. Radical extreme socialists have taken over many of those seats, and this entire legislative session was a true disaster for taxpayers.”

How do you win back what you lost?

“Recruit the right candidates and fight back. We need to learn from the mistakes of 2018 and recruit candidates that have funding and can take the fight directly to the Democratic incumbents. But particularly, by bringing common sense back to the forefront and to have a party that focuses on taxpayers. That’s not just a Republican-Democrat thing. That’s a voter’s perspective. Our state taxes too much, regulates too much, and gives us very little economic freedom.”

Is there an ideal profile for a Republican candidate in a state dominated by ultra-liberals?

“Statewide, my mission every day when I go to work as chairman of the party will be to prepare our party to change New York. The only way to change New York is to change governors in 2022. Governor Cuomo has already stated that he seeks reelection. We are already on our mission to recruit the next Republican governor of this state. First and foremost, the person has to be qualified for a huge job with awesome responsibility and power. Second, we have to have a candidate that can win. Not all areas of New York are the same in terms of ideology. I believe that after this extreme move to the left, we have the opportunity to present a common sense alternative ticket of candidates in 2020 and 2022.”

George Pataki was New York’s last Republican governor [from 1995 to 2006]. Is he the model Republican candidate for 2022?

“George Pataki was an excellent model. A fiscal conservative who took on a Cuomo [Mario, Andrew’s father] reaching for his fourth term, and he defeated him. We’re going to do the same exact thing in this next election. But everything’s on the table, whether it’s someone from the private sector or someone who already holds elected office. Our mission now is to find that person. We’re not going to do what our party has done time and again, which is wait until the year of the election to actually start to recruit a candidate.”

With Rockland County Executive Ed Day openly fighting the Orthodox Jewish community, what are you doing as party chairman to reassure us that the party does not condone anti-Semitism?

“I’m here in Israel right now fighting anti-Semitism on a large scale. I don’t think I can use my platform any more broadly than that.”

What’s your opinion of Simcha Felder’s shift back to the Democratic Party? Do you plan to woo him back to the Republican caucus, or is that a lost cause?

“It’s unfortunate to see that he’s gone and joined their delegation, given some of the things that they’ve done, but that’s his own decision. I would leave discussions like that to Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan.”

It will be practically impossible, under current conditions, for Donald Trump to carry New York in 2020. What is the best that New York Republicans can expect in 2020?

“While I have no illusions that we can become a presidential swing state in 2020, the president will be very effective in helping deliver a vote that I don’t believe came out in 2018, but that will come out in 2020 in key congressional and state senate districts. Look at the 2016 numbers. Republicans in the state senate performed extraordinarily well, and we captured seats in Congress. That happened because of the vote that the president drove out and will drive out again.”

Do you have a strategy to unseat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [AOC]?

“I know that a multitude of candidates have identified themselves as AOC’s opponent. I intend to work together with party leadership in Queens and the Bronx to find the best possible candidate our party can put forward to fight AOC every single step of the way. And I personally will take her on, however I can, as I’ve done here in Israel; or taking her on every day for the anti-Semitic behavior she’s displayed in Congress, which is unbecoming for a member of our government. As well as the fact that she has minimized the Holocaust — she owes the Jewish People around the world a huge apology. But she shows no sign of any self-awareness for what her words and actions have done.”

Nationally, how often are you in contact with party chairs in other states in coordinating strategy for promoting the president’s reelection?

“I will be heading to the RNC [Republican National Committee] meeting in Charlotte where I will spend four days with my colleagues from around the country. We will be getting our game plan together for 2019 right up to Election Day. I’ve been in touch with the president’s campaign on an almost daily basis, and they certainly have expectations of New York. There will be a large [campaign] finance portfolio that we’ll try to help the president with, and we’ll also deploy key volunteer assets to swing states. Our neighboring state of Pennsylvania is one of the most important on the map and I have volunteers chomping at the bit to cross the border and try to help the president win that crucial swing state.”

Are there any one or two Democratic presidential candidates who scare you in their ability to challenge Trump?

“Well, there’s a lot of them who scare me in what they would do if they were ever to become president. I’m not necessarily afraid of them. I think Joe Biden is on his way to a hard fall. He’s collapsing right before our eyes. It’s kind of sad to see his career end this way. He will be the punching bag of the left for the next month before he probably ultimately exits the stage. I don’t think that party is capable of nominating someone that’s got a long record of centrist service in Congress. So none of these potential nominees frighten me. The president has his accomplishments to run on. The rest of the Democrats are running on extreme left-wing dogma.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 771)