Robert Hornak
Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail. com and @roberthornak on X.
The Labor Day weekend has arrived, marking the official end of summer. That also marks the beginning of the end of the 2025 NYC elections where everyone is waiting to see if a socialist will be the next mayor.
But it is also the unofficial start of the 2026 election cycle for state offices. Kathy Hochul is preparing to run for reelection as governor, along with the other statewide elected officials (except for the U.S. Senators, neither is up for election) and the entire legislature.
Incumbents across the state have been preparing for their reelection campaigns, and many Democrat challengers, including Mamdani supporters, have been putting together their campaigns and raising money most of the summer.
And while the election is over a year away, some critical primaries will be coming up next June, with petitioning to get on the bal- lot starting at the end of February. It will be here before you know it.
Candidates who aren’t raising money and recruiting volunteers this fall will go into petitioning poor and disorganized. So far, there are virtually no Republican challengers organizing campaigns, even in the areas that have been flipped red at the top of the ballotin recent elections.
Waiting until after the 2025
election and dealing with this later, which inevitably becomes after the holidays, is no longer an option if Republicans want to flip seats in the legislature and build a firewall against the left wing.
Currently the Democrats hold commanding leads in both chambers. The NYS Senate has 63 seats, and the Democrats hold 41 to Republicans 22. The Assembly has 150 seats, and the Democrats hold 103 to Republicans 47. They have a two-thirds supermajority in the Assembly and are one seat from having it in the Senate.
That means that even if a Republican should become the next governor, the legislature could potentially overturn a veto. This could essentially turn victories for Republicans into an uncontrollable hot mess.
New York needs good Republicans to step forward and run for their local Assembly and Senate seats. Winning just four Assembly seats ends the Democrats supermajority. Flipping 10 seats in the Senate, while much harder, gives control of the chamber back to Republicans. That might take a couple of elections to achieve, but there’s no time to start like now.
So, what makes a good candidate? Well, ultimately you need to be able to get 51% of the vote. That means you need to be able to connect with thousands of vot- ers before next November. That takes money and volunteers. And it takes a candidate with some ap- peal who has a connection to the district.
Local business owners or someone who has roots in the community often make good candidates. You also need a passion to help people, can engage effortlessly with the voters in conversation, and stand for the issues that matter most to the voters. You need to like people and they need to like you.
Successful candidates can put together a core group of volunteers quickly and have the ability to raise thousands of dollars from their own friends, family, and circle of associates to launch the campaign. They also need to be committed to campaigning. It’s very hard, time consuming work.
Knocking on doors and making phone calls to likely voters is not an option or something you do every so often. It’s a daily activity designed to sway the thousands of voters you need to vote for you, and many will do so just because they met you and like you. If the candidate isn’t dedicated to their
campaign, why should anyone else be? No matter how great the candidate’s resume might appear to be. Voters vote for people, not resumes or agendas.
If you think you’re up to the challenge and want to explore your options, my contact info is below. As they say, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Republican Help Wanted.
