https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/GOP-convention-focuses-on-statewide-candidates-12940697.php
GOP convention focuses on statewide candidates
Published 11:22 am, Thursday, May 24, 2018
NEW YORK CITY — New York Republicans designated two men that have never held elected office as their candidates to run for state comptroller and attorney general during the party's annual nominating convention on Thursday in Manhattan.
Keith Wofford, a New York City attorney who announced earlier this week he would run for attorney general, was selected as the GOP nominee.
Political operative Jonathan Trichter, who until earlier this week was a registered Democrat, easily won the party's backing to be the Republican candidate for state comptroller.
Wofford emerged with more than 50 percent of the weighted vote following a county-by-county roll call.
Another candidate, attorney Joseph Holland, received more than 25 percent of the committee's delegate votes, which entitled him to be on the Republican primary ballot in September. But Holland declined to accept the designation and instead endorsed Wofford, telling reporters that he wanted to unify the party and help a Republican win the attorney general's seat for the first time since Dennis Vacco in 1998.
"The special circumstances deserved this kind of response," Holland said.
The candidates had decided in advance that there would be no primary, and the winner of Thursday’s delegate vote would be the GOP nominee for attorney general. However, it's still possible for a candidate to petition on to the ballot for the Republican primary in September.
In his acceptance speech, Wofford said he would focus as attorney general on tackling public corruption, illegal drugs and violence.
"This seat is ours for the taking and we're here to take it," he said.
Wofford is co-managing partner of the 320-attorney New York office for an international law firm, Ropes & Gray, and focuses his work on bankruptcy and creditors' rights. Originally from Buffalo, he is also a graduate of Harvard Law School.
The attorney general's position became an uncertainty when Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat who was expected to coast to re-election, abruptly resigned this month, less than four hours after The New Yorker published a story alleging that he had physically assaulted women.
The state Democratic Party backed New York City Public Advocate Letitia James as its candidate this week for attorney general, although she still faces a September primary from at least two women, law professor Zephyr Teachout and former Cuomo administration official Leecia Eve.
After hand-wringing from some Republican county chairs about the possibility of nominating Trichter as the party's state comptroller candidate, he unanimously won the party nod.
It helped his cause that Trichter, a longtime Democratic political operative who worked for former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, changed his voter registration from Democrat to Republican on Tuesday, just two days before the vote. He announced the party switch to GOP delegates in a question-and-answer session Thursday morning.
Some Republicans, such as Onondaga County GOP Chairman Tom Dadey, had criticized the fact that state GOP Chairman Ed Cox was backing Trichter even though he was a registered Democrat.
Attorney Manny Alicandro, who had been in the once-crowded Republican race for attorney general, decided on Thursday morning to make a bid instead for comptroller against Trichter. But he was apparently unable to get last-minute traction among Republican delegates and bowed out before the vote, leaving Trichter as the lone candidate.
"Well, that was easy," Trichter said, accepting the party nod. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I need a drink."
Another Republican could also still petition to get on the ballot, but observers said it's very likely Trichter will take on Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who is a strong favorite to win re-election.
Trichter at one point had hinted at challenging DiNapoli in a Democratic primary. But Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long had been in Trichter's corner even before he registered as a Republican this week.
