The Queens County Republican Party also known as the Queens Republican Party, Queens GOP or simply as Queens Republicans, is a regional affiliate of the United States Republican Party for the Borough of Queens in New York City, New York.
Leadership
Like all county parties in the New York Republican State Committee, the Queens County Republican Party maintains a Queens County Republican Committee, however, does not have an executive branch, instead the chairman of the committee is the chairman of the party.
The current chairman is Tony Nunziato.
History
On June 25, 2014, longtime chairman Phil Ragusa died in office at the age of 74 from Leukemia.
Malcolm Smith bribery scandal
On April 2, 2013, the party's vice-chairman, Vincent Tabone, pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe for the Queens Republican Party to endorse Democrat Malcolm Smith so that he could appear as a Republican on the ballot for the 2013 New York City mayoral election. Tabone was placed under additional scruity compared to the others arrested, due to the fact he was on the payroll of John Catsimatidis, both as an attorney for his grocery store, and as a campaign advisor, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from Catsimatidis. He was also caught on with a wiretap by the FBI saying "I run the Queens County Republican Party," he told an undercover informant. "Nobody else runs the party."
2017 election
During the 2017 New York City Council election, the Queens Republican party narrowly won an upset with Robert Holden flipping a Democratic Seat during what The New York Times assessed should've been a wave year for the Democratic party. Holden's victory, despite running on the behalf of the Queens Republican Party, and appearing as a Republican on the ballot, did not result in a change to the city council's composition, as Holden would caucus as a Democrat, the party for which he is personally registered as. This contributed to the growing distrust between the party's leadership and pro-Trump party members, who decried the nomination of Holden.
2018 election
During the 2018 New York State Senate election there was an insurgency in the party over the candidacy for the 11th district. The party endorsed and supported Simon Minching over Vickie Paladino, who decried the bias stating the party should not endorse a candidate until after the primaries. Paladino claimed that the party was scared of her over her publicity, which she gained by personally flying to Germany to berate mayor Bill De Blasio at a protest after a NYPD cop was killed. Paladino would win the primary, but lose in the general election, due a split ballot with Tony Avella.
2019 party infighting
Since the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election, the Queens Republican Party has had a dicey relationship with Trump and his policies. Most of the party's executives and committee members are part of the Never Trump movement, which has allowed them to continue to count on the votes of moderate and centrist democrats and independents in elections. However, the more active campaigners, district leaders, and neighborhood organizers, are adamantly pro-Trump, and have been leading an insurgency against party leadership which came to a head in 2019 when the sought to challenge chairwoman Joann Ariola in a leadership election. The effort would fail as the Republican Patriot faction failed to gather the 500 signatures needed for the vote, getting only 452.
2020 election
During the 2020 election for Queens County District Attorney, and Borough President, serious fractures would emerge in the party. The first would be between the more liberal party leadership, led by Joann Ariola, who nominated Joe Murray, a registered Democrat, for DA. Ariola argued that if the party sought to win a significant number of seats in the future, they would need to attract more voters, and moderate Democrats uncomfortable with their party's progressive bent would be their prime demographic to shift. The party has also sought to improve their presence in the Boroughs Asian-American and Caribbean-American population as opposed to its largely white voter base. In order to mend the divide, Ariola promised to not run for Borough President, or Eric Ulrich's sole republican seat in the city council. The Republicans would lose both the Borough President and DA race.