Here’s another Point special: the full list of New York’s GOP delegates to the presidential nominating convention in Cleveland, broken down by Congressional District.
The top GOP officials in the state, State Sen. Majority Leader John Flanagan and Brian Kolb, the Assembly minority leader, are at-large delegates to the Republican convention in Cleveland. But John DeFrancisco of Syracuse, the Senate’s deputy majority leader, is pledged to Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Donald Trump delegates include Joe Mondello and John Jay LaValle, the Nassau and Suffolk GOP chairs as well as Town of Hempstead Supervisor Tony Santino and OTB chief Joe Cairo.
However, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Legis. Howard Kopel are alternates, as is Smithtown Supervisor Pat Vecchio and State Sens. Tom Croci of Islip and Marty Golden of Queens.
And some of the best known will have delegate credentials, including former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, pledged to Kasich, according to the Board of Elections filing but the mayor is disputing the affiliation, and former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, who is a Trump supporter. Wendy Long, who took on the suicide mission to challenge U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, made the at-large list.
Not getting any credentials, however, is George Pataki. Three-term former Gov. George Pataki – and one-time 2016 presidential candidate – won’t be a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and it’s because he wouldn’t bend a knee to fellow New Yorker Donald Trump.
ADVERTISEMENT | ADVERTISE ON NEWSDAY
The state party reached out to Pataki and asked whether he would like to be a delegate, says Pataki spokesman and Republican consultant David Catalfamo. But there was “ultimately a desire for him to endorse Trump before a decision was made,” says Catalfamo. So far, Pataki has not done so, and has said he won’t until Trump changes his tune about the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
So the last Republican governor of New York will not be at his party’s convention, as of now. But should Trump “reposition” by changing his tune on immigration, Catalfamo says the former governor might “reconsider” his withheld endorsement.