BUFFALO, N.Y. -- There appears to be a groundswell of support for New York City real estate mogul Donald Trump in Western New York.
"We're the type of people that like this political revolution that's going to happen," said Carl Paladino, a Buffalo businessman best known around the state for a Republican gubernatorial run in 2010. "This isn't an election. This is a political revolution that we're witnessing."
Paladino says he's one of about 30 Republicans across the state working behind the scenes on the Trump for President campaign.
"Right now," Paladino said, "we're trying to structure up an organization in upstate New York and in Long Island of people that will be ready for the primary campaign when it comes around."
In Buffalo and Rochester, Paladino says the core group consists of many of the same people who tried to convince Trump to run for governor last year. Trump traveled to Buffalo in Jan. 2014 to speak before his eventual decision not to run.
"He knew he wanted to run for president. He was preparing to run for president. It would've been unfair for him to come in and just occupy the office for a year before he's running for president. He had that wisdom that we didn't have at the time," said Paladino.
Paladino says he's spending his time and some of his own money to get people to join this Trump campaign. He sent an email Tuesday to Republicans across the state, soliciting volunteers.
"If they were smart, they'd get on the bus right now but they don't want to. Ed Cox doesn't want to because he wants to be an ambassador and he's part of the Washington establishment."
Like when he won the GOP nod five years ago, Paladino believes he's fighting against the Republican establishment and state party chairman Ed Cox.
"We are, in fact, being helpful to all the candidates," Cox told Time Warner Cable News on Tuesday. "Donald Trump did an event at the Plaza here. We were there and we did everything we could to be helpful with that event."
Cox expects the New York primary to be more relevant than it has been in the last two presidential election cycles.
"We anticipate there will be a number of candidates remaining in the race and we expect that they will be campaigning in each congressional district in New York state," Cox said.
Paladino says he expects to help organize an event himself before the April 19 primary.
"Will we have Trump here in Buffalo? Yes, and I swear I will fill the arena for Donald Trump," Paladino said.