View Comments ALBANY – Republican leaders from across New York gathered Monday to name their preferred choice to run for governor next year: Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Long Island Republican known as an ally to former President Donald Trump. County GOP chairs and state committee members gathered at a hotel in suburban Albany for a closed-door straw poll on the 2022 gubernatorial race, when embattled Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo would be up for a fourth term should he decide to run. The county leaders overwhelmingly voted for Zeldin, who took 85% of the vote, which was weighted to favor those counties with a higher population of GOP voters, according to the state Republican Party.