ALBANY - Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb became the first candidate Tuesday to announce plans to run for the Republican nomination for governor next year.
A Canandaigua resident, Kolb, 65, has been an assemblyman since 2000 and became Republican leader in 2009.
He is one of at least four Republicans across New York who has been considering a run for governor in 2018 when Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, is expected to seek a third term.
"I’ve been in public service now for a long time, and I’ve spent more than half my life in the private sector, and I believe that I have the skill set, the experience, the desire, the heart to make our state a lot better than it is," Kolb said Tuesday morning on the Bob Lonsberry show on WHAM-1180 in Rochester.
Kolb; Syracuse Sen. John DeFrancisco; Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro and Westchester County financier Harry Wilson are also considering a GOP run for governor.
They have all said they will announce their plans by the end of the year.
Kolb said he wanted to declare his candidacy now and start to try to build support among GOP leaders in advance of the party's nominating convention in May.
"I want to be elected and work for the people of New York," Kolb continued.
"I really want to go and do the best job I can to make all of our lives better: to lower our tax burden, to get government out of our pocketbook, to get government off the backs of small businesses."
Kolb would be a sizable underdog against Cuomo in a state with twice as many Democrats as Republicans.
New York hasn't elected a Republican to statewide office since Gov. George Pataki won a third term in 2002.
Kolb had $255,000 in his campaign coffers as of July. Cuomo had $26 million — the most of any governor in the country.
But Kolb said he has been able to work with Democrats in the Legislature, where Democrats dominate the Assembly.
And he said he would look to try to win support of voters in New York City by highlighting how a political fight between Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio has hurt the city, particularly repairs to the troubled subway system.
"Hopefully we can try to convince people to put partisan labels aside and listen to some of the things I’d like to do," Kolb said,
"I’d like to end petty feuds between the governor’s office and the mayor’s office in New York City."