Paladino claims poll has him crushing GOP chair Langworthy for Congress
Conservative Carl Paladino would crush state GOP chairman Nick Langworthy by 30 points in the Republican primary for the upstate 23rd congressional district, a new poll released Monday by Paladino’s campaign claims.
Paladino garners the support of 54% of primary voters to 24% for Langworthy in the newly drawn CD that takes in Western New York and the Southern Tier, according to the survey.
The primary will take place Aug. 23.
Businessman-developer Paladino, who was the 2010 GOP candidate for governor and whose verbal baggage and antics have earned him the nickname “Crazy Carl” by critics, benefits from superior name recognition, the survey says.
A super-majority of Republican primary voters have heard of Paladino, and a plurality of Republican primary voters (45%) have a favorable impression of him, according to the poll conducted by WPAi Intelligence.
In comparison, the poll says less than one-third (30%) of Republican primary voters have heard of Langworthy, and just 13 percent have a favorable image of him.
The race has created division in the GOP, with upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik emerging as a key backer of Paladino’s campaign against the GOP establishment candidate, Langworthy — a key ally of Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin.
Meanwhile prominent Republicans — including Rudy Giuliani — are urging Langworthy to step aside as party chairman. They said the state party chairman’s attention should be totally focused on helping Zeldin defeat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul this fall instead of running for Congress.
The poll conducted by WPAi Intelligence queried 604 Republican voters from July 9-11 and reports a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
“I am thankful and humbled by the massive support the great patriots of Western NY and the Southern Tier have shown me, and we’re just getting started,” Paladino said in a statement.
“I am ready to serve this district with all my heart and the grassroots of this district know it and believe it. My campaign had 1,000 ballot signatures more than my opponent, in far less time.”
Paladino, citing the poll results, urged Langworthy “to bow out of this race, stop dividing the party, and go back to the crucial role of helping Lee Zeldin take Albany back from the radical Democrats that have infested our state capital. Or he should resign from his position as NY GOP Chairman.”
Paladino, according to the survey, appears popular with the grass-roots conservatives, despite mounting controversies and baggage.
The Post reported last week that Paladino kept a top financial staffer on his company payroll after being convicted of possessing child porn.
Registered sex offender Joel Sartori also appeared as “assistant treasurer” for the Paladino campaign in records filed with the Federal Elections Commission, though his campaign later claimed that is no longer the case.
Langworthy’s campaign dismissed the poll findings and cited Paladino’s allying with a convicted pedophile to show he’s out of the mainstream.
“This is as big a joke as the polls Joe Biden touts. If Carl’s up by 30 points, then what are he and his minions so worried about with all their nasty attacks,” said Langworthy campaign spokesman Bryan Pilgra.
“Nick has had huge grassroots momentum since announcing his candidacy and every day, Carl’s campaign continues to crater and hemorrhage support. Here’s a poll figure, 100% of Republican voters aren’t in favor of having a child pornographer on payroll. We have every confidence that voters see the clear choice in this election and Nick Langworthy will be victorious on August 23rd.”
Paladino also came under fire recently for making pro-Adolf Hitler comments.
“That’s the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it,” Paladino said in a 2021 radio interview recently unearthed by the liberal watchdog Media Matters, referring to Hitler, who was responsible for the extermination of 11 million people in Europe, including 6 million Jews.
He later said he regretted invoking Hitler’s name.
Perhaps his lowest moment came in 2016 after saying he wanted to see then-President Barack Obama die of mad cow disease and first lady Michelle Obama “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
The outcry triggered a movement to remove Paladino, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, from the Buffalo Board of Education.
The Post recently reported that the firm he founded, Ellicott, now run by his son, William Paladino, airbrushed Carl from the company website.
The firm’s hotel division has a partnership with the Buffalo Bills football team.
