When GOP Rep. Chris Gibson, NY-19, announced last month that he would not run for a fourth term in 2016, many people (myself included) opined that he was setting his eyes on running statewide (probably for governor) in 2018.
Well, he's already begun doing that.
According to a Dan Freedman article published in the Albany Times Union (paywalled, but copy-and-pasteable), Gibson "is deploying a political team throughout New York to work his party's apparatus in the hopes of making the state's hard-blue ground a little more fertile for the GOP."
With no more congressional re-election fundraising obligations, Gibson said he now has some time to "reinvest" in boosting the fortunes of a party that hasn't won a statewide race since Gov. George Pataki was elected to a third term in 2002.
"There will be periodically some visits across the state to help inspire our people," he said.
What's left unsaid, of course, is that if Gibson does indeed choose to run he will have the rudiments of an organization in place to carry his candidacy forward.
At this point, it's a somewhat stealthy guerrilla operation befitting its commander, a retired Army colonel who once led an 82nd Airborne combat brigade. Gibson's press secretary, Matt Sheehey, described the congressman's political team as "current and former campaign staff and supporters around the region" and left it at that.
Nevertheless, "He helps himself and he helps the party at the same time," said Republican State Chairman Ed Cox. "That's ideal.''
Gibson visited Orange County, outside his district, over the weekend to talk up his campaign to revitalize the state GOP, and plans trips to Buffalo and Albany in the near future.
Of course, Gibson will not announce his 2018 candidacy now, but clearly this is the soft-launch designed to garner party and press attention for himself and his ideas.
More, below.
One solid sign that Gibson is running for governor is that he is talking up state issues and criticizing Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
This morning, Gibson was on Paul Vandenburgh's WGDJ radio show in Albany, talking about national stuff mostly, but also noting that he thinks Cuomo's "days are numbered" and that "voters with the right kind of leadership will fire him in 2018."
Gibson laid out some issues he will be running on -- Albany corruption, term limits for legislators, controlling spending, lowering taxes "for everyone," streamlining regulations, limiting corporate welfare for new businesses, and working with teachers and administrators to improve education, rather than what he called Cuomo's intimidation and threats.
And he noted that deep-blue states like Massachusetts and Maryland recently elected Republican governors.
Gibson went into greater detail on Cuomo's education policies (a sore spot for many Democrats) in an interview last week with the Oneonta Daily Star.
Here's some of that:
“This idea that Cuomo thinks he is basically going to ride roughshod over education and somehow end up with a better product, I don’t see how he does that,” Gibson said “He has got to include teachers in that process.”
Gibson also graded Cuomo’s education agenda as being deficient for not addressing what he contends is New York’s over-reliance on standardized tests via the so-called Common Core curriculum.
“When you rely heavily on this standardized testing, you end up with teachers teaching to the test,” said the congressman, a former assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. “That is stifling creativity and it’s stifling learning.”
Gibson said his comments about Cuomo’s education agenda were driven by his “passion” for education, noting he is the product of public schools in Columbia County, was the first member of his family to get a college education and that he was a classroom instructor himself at West Point.
Which brings me to the many reasons why Gibson will be a formidable candidate for higher office:
1. His bio -- hometown sports hero, Army career ending at colonel with some serious combat medals, Ph.D. from Cornell, and no hint of scandal.
2. His support base -- tea partiers, the GOP establishment, moderates, veterans and their family and friends.
3. His affect -- he comes across as soft-spoken, modest and likeable, just doing his best to serve in another capacity and fix the mess in Washington.
4. His work ethic in the district -- town hall meetings, appearances and speeches, local TV and radio, etc.
5. His electoral record -- winning three times in purple districts that were carried by Obama, the last one by 30 points.
6. His environmental record -- mixed, but clearly moderate for a House Republican, enough to earn an endorsement and ad buy from the League of Conservation Voters in 2014.
Gibson will surely be doing some polling before he decides to announce in 2017, and he'll be working to build statewide name recognition until then.
But Gibson is certainly ready and willing to give it a shot, as almost everything he's been doing in early 2015 attests.