Cattaraugus County Republican Chairman Robert C. Keis Sr. on Monday praised Nicholas Langworthy, the Erie County Republican chairman who will become the new state GOP chairman this summer.
Langworthy had challenged State Republican Chairman Edward Cox, who has served for 10 years. Monday afternoon, President Trump’s re-election committee announced Cox would join the president’s fundraising committee focusing on New York state.
Cox will continue to serve as state Republican chairman through the Republican State Convention in July, said Keis.
“I think Nick is a young guy with a lot of good ideas,” Keis said in an interview with the Olean Times Herald. “He’s got a great future. He’s been involved in statewide politics before.”
Upstate Republicans have been announcing their support for Langworthy for weeks now. Keis said he committed his support to Langworthy two weeks ago.
Republicans haven’t elected anyone to statewide office since Gov. George Pataki, Keis observed. Cox had his chance to try and reverse Republican fortunes. While Democrats may far outnumber Republicans in the state, it was the same in Pataki’s days, Keis pointed out.
The party waited too long in the last gubernatorial election to settle on Marc Molinaro, who had too little time to raise funds and get around the state meeting people, Keis said.
“We should be picking a candidate right now for the next governor election so that person can do fundraising and get around our state and meet people,” Keis said. “It’s time for a change.”
Keis said, “Nick is very proactive. It’s a change of direction. He’s the future of the Republican Party in New York. He’s got the fire in his belly. He’s fired up about doing something to get a statewide GOP candidate elected in New York State.”
Langworthy is also “very articulate and a very good speaker; he’s a good motivator.”
Keis, the Mansfield supervisor, and Sue Fries of Salamanca are the county’s two voting delegates to the Republican convention in July, where they will cast their votes for Langworthy.
“I believe every Western New York county chairman was supporting Nick,” Keis said. “It was a nice surprise to see Monroe County come out in support of Nick too.”
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
