New York experienced its most exciting campaign ever this year. Eight years ago, we barely broke 5000 votes for Governor. This year we got 48,386.
In fact, in the last eight years, the LPNY has gone from 5000 votes to 15,000 to over 48,000. Tripling the prior result every four years is truly a remarkable success story that hopefully every state can emulate.But first we had to get on the ballot.
Without ballot access, the LP must petition for a place on to the ballot. The petitioning period is only six weeks long and 15,000 valid signatures must be submitted. New York is a challenge state and with many parties running candidates, we were certain to be challenged if we submitted less than at least 25,000 signatures.
In fact, we submitted almost 35,000 signatures. That could not have been done without the generous assistance of the National LP and the many contributions of local activists.
Significantly, this year we put together the strongest statewide ticket in 40 years, with candidates for Governor (Warren Redlich), Lt. Governor (Alden Link), Comptroller (John Gaetani), Attorney General (Carl Person) and two US Senate seats (Randy Credico and John Clifton).
As a result of being on the ballot, we were in the televised Governor’s debate.
As a result of the being in the debate, we were able to raise money for advertising.
As a result of both of those, we achieved the highest vote total for Governor in the forty-year history of the Party in New York.
New York is a model of success this year. We took a party with virtually no money and poor results in the past and achieved more good will and press this year than ever before. We tripled the result from the last election, which had tripled the result from the one before that.
This is truly something to be proud of and to build upon. I thank all of you who contributed to the LPNY and to the candidates’ campaigns throughout the election season.
