NY's Rob Astorino Continues Strong Fundraising for Potential Andrew Cuomo Matchup

According to filings, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a contender for the Republican line in this year’s New York’s governor’s race, has $1 million on hand. 

The New York Daily News points out that Astorino received eight donations of $15,000 or more, including $27,603 from state GOP Chairman Ed Cox. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo currently has a campaign war chest of $33 million. A spokesperson for Astorino told Westchester’s News 12 that the candidate raised about $200,000 at a Thursday night fundraiser. 

Astorino won his most recent re-election as county executive to Westchester with 60 percent of the Latino vote and 25 percent of the African-American vote. Additionally, in a downstate county that is 51 percent Democrats, Astorino won 30 percent of Westchester Democrats in his race. 

“We cut the county budget. We cut property taxes more than anywhere else in New York State. And 30,000 new private sector jobs were created in the first term,” Astorino told Breitbart News on Saturday. “We’ve been focusing on things that really matter–getting people back to work and reducing the tax burden and spending and people reward you. It makes good politics–not the other way around,” He said.

Referencing Cuomo’s recent comments regarding conservatives in New York, Astorino told Breitbart News:

We’re the fourth most diverse county in all of New York. If We’re going to be a melting pot as a state, we have to be acceptable to all different points of views. Can you imagine if the [Cuomo] statement was made by Cardinal Dolan or a black Baptist minister or anyone else who may disagree on the issue of abortion with the governor and they said that anyone who is in favor of abortion should be thrown out of the state? It’s an unbelievable statement.

New York Republicans will ultimately be nominating a candidate for the governor’s race in May. Until then, Astorino will be been traveling the state and introducing himself to the rest of New York. A native of Thornwood, New York, Astorino is fluent in Spanish and helped found New York’s 1050 ESPN Radio in 2001.