The state legislative races where the GOP is spending the most

With a week until Election Day, most campaigns have entered chaos mode. That’s especially true for the most competitive races in the state Legislature – and on both sides of the aisle.

But in a solidly blue state like New York where the Republican Party apparatus has limited resources and where Democrats hold a majority in the state Senate and a supermajority in the Assembly, the GOP knows it needs to pick its battles. So it starts strategizing its spending priorities early, and reviews them often – and while Democrats look to flip seats, Republicans largely look to defend them.

The main mechanisms for that defensive line are the Republican Senate Campaign Committee and Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, which serve as the official political and fundraising arms for both houses of the state Legislature, and pool money collected from individual donors, PACs and other groups. 

Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra said his chamber’s conference has 12 open seats to defend alongside vulnerable incumbents this year – a number that’s higher than average, likely in part due to new income limits for state lawmakers to take effect next year. “That means that there may be some seats that you might not have had to put resources into that now you have to make sure you hold on to,” Ra told City & State. “This stuff is cyclical.”

The state Senate candidates with the most financial support from the RSCC are, predictably, those in races expected to be the closest. Rockland County’s state Sen. Bill Weber, for one, has seen $76,075 worth of support from the committee, according to the RSCC’s 11-day pre-election filing with the state Board of Elections. He flipped the Hudson Valley seat red in 2022, and the GOP isn’t ready to let Democrats take it back as Nyack Mayor Joseph Rand eyes the state Senate.

But spending records show that, at over $107,000, the committee has spent the most to help state Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick defend her seat, which has a history of changing hands. Democrat Todd Kaminsky represented the Long Island district before his resignation that led to Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick’s victory in 2022.The Nassau County district’s competitive political makeup is expected to make the outcome close. 

But state Sen. George Borrello, who chairs the upper house’s campaign committee, said Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick’s seat was not actually the RSCC’s larger concern. “Rob Rolison is our biggest defense,” he said. “His seat is where I’d say we’re probably the most heavily invested.” He suggested additional spending to support Rolison could crop up in state BOE records in the near future.

Rolison, a moderate Republican whose campaign got $51,291 from the committee, has his toughest challenge since his election in 2022 as he faces Dutchess County Legislator Lisa Kaul – an experienced Democrat who’s defeated incumbent Republicans in the past. 

The RSCC has also heavily invested in two incumbents farther upstate the minority can’t afford to lose. Filings show the committee put $56,815 toward state Sen. Jake Ashby’s campaign. The retired U.S. Army Reserve captain who served multiple tours overseas is in the hot seat for the first time in years over challenger Democrat Devin Lander, and the party knows it.

The committee also put $45,984 toward keeping one of Albany’s longest serving lawmakers, state Sen. James Tedisco, right where he is. Tedisco, who has one of the best name recognitions in the Legislature after more than 40 years in public office, could be unseated by Democrat Sarah Rogerson, a professor at Albany Law School. 

Still, Borrello was confident the GOP would hold on to the seat. “(Democrats are) not going to take Jim Tedisco out, despite the amount of money they’re spending against him,” he said. “(Tedisco and Ashby) are guys that are out there that, even though they’re having much more money spent against them than they're spending on themselves, I’m still confident they’ll get reelected.”

Republicans in the Assembly, likewise, focused their spending on races they have the best shot at keeping – not flipping. Ra said committee leaders have continued to evaluate polling and spending data and adjust their fundraising priorities throughout the fall. “We were originally looking at probably north of two-dozen races for different levels of spending, but now we’re more focused on probably a dozen, give or take, as we really get into the home stretch,” he said. 

The RACC has allocated $12,900 for resources supporting Assembly Member Pat Chludzinski in Western New York, and made two separate transfers totaling $65,878 to his campaign committee. Ra said the party is working overtime to keep Chludzinski in the seat he flipped just two years ago, when he unseated three-time incumbent Monica Wallace, even though the district has slightly more registered Democrats than Republicans.

“We could have told you on election night in 2024 that that was going to be at the top of our list in 2026 in terms of a defense of an incumbent,” Ra said. “Pat is really tailor-made for that district ... and we feel like we put the resources and the Erie County GOP under chair Michael Kracker has put resources into that race well to make sure Pat gets reelected.”

Assembly Member Alec Brook-Krasny has received the second-most amount of aid this cycle with $59,905 as he faces a tough rematch from Democrat Chris McCreight in southern Brooklyn. And filings show the RACC allocated at least $44,815 to keep Assembly Member John Lemondes in his Central New York seat, which is typically competitive. Lemondes is facing a rematch from Democrat Ian Phillips, who he defeated by 10 percentage points in 2024.

The committee also has its eye on Assembly Member Michael Novakhov in southern Brooklyn, and invested $33,614 in the rematch between him and Democrat Joey Cohen-Saban. Because Novakhov won the seat by just 270 votes in 2024, Ra said party leaders knew they needed to prioritize the contest from the beginning. “It’s one of those Brooklyn districts that have unique electorates, and it costs resources to communicate with the electorate in the way you need,” he said.