Giuliani son gets no votes from Republican leaders in bid for New York governor

Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York mayor-cum-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, received no votes in a poll of state Republican leaders about the party’s next choice for governor of New York state.

The poll was not binding but it indicated that Lee Zeldin, a Long Island congressman, is the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Andrew Cuomo next year.

It will likely be seen as an embarrassment to Giuliani, whose bid for governor of one of America’s biggest states has largely traded off his famous surname more than any meaningful experience of practical politics.

In a tweet, the New York Republican party said: “Our county chairs and committee members gathered in Albany just participated in a straw poll on their favored gubernatorial candidate in 2022.

“Congressman Lee Zeldin [got] 85%, former Westchester county executive Rob Astorino [got] 5% and Abstain [got] 10% #cuomosgottago.”

Michael Carpinelli, the Lewis county sheriff, joined Giuliani in getting no votes.

Zeldin is closely aligned with the Trumpist wing of the national Republican party. In January he was one of 147 Republicans in Congress who backed attempts to overturn electoral college results.

Despite the result of the straw poll, Giuliani trumpeted the results of a survey commissioned by his own campaign, which put him eight points clear of Zeldin.

“Proud to be the FAVORITE of The 2.9 Million Registered New York Republicans!!!” he tweeted. “We are the Peoples Candidate!!!!!! Together WE WILL TAKE DOWN Andrew Cuomo on 8 November 2022.”

His poll surveyed 587 Republicans statewide.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in New York by nearly three to one. No Republican has won statewide office since 2002, when George Pataki won a third term as governor.

The younger Giuliani, 35, was a special assistant in the Trump White House and then had a stint as a contributor to the rightwing Newsmax TV channel. He announced his run in May.

“Giuliani v Cuomo?” he told the New York Post with brio typical of his family and his city. “Holy smokes. It’s Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier. We can sell tickets at Madison Square Garden. It would be one of the epic showdowns in the state’s history.”

But the Giuliani family name has likely lost much of the luster it acquired in the years after 9/11, when Rudy Giuliani led the city out of horror and tragedy, became known as “America’s mayor” and briefly ran for president.

Last week, Rudy Giuliani saw his New York law license suspended, over his furthering of Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud.

In his new book, the journalist Michael Wolff depicts the former mayor in the White House in the last days of the Trump presidency, “drinking heavily and in a constant state of excitation, often almost incoherent in his agitation and mania”.

In a video statement, Andrew Giuliani said he was “infuriated” and accused the judges who suspended his father’s license of political bias.