Republicans for the last two decades have faced setbacks in New York. Now a new chairman is taking over in the coming weeks with plans to grow the party.

A press conference at New York GOP headquarters on Tuesday was meant to highlight unity after a battle for the chairmanship of the party.

“The party is unified and we are passing the baton to a vigorous, new chair, who is going to really reignite the party from the base up,” said State GOP Chairman Ed Cox. “He's certainly got a lot strength in the base of the party.”

And that battle was won by Erie County's Nick Langworthy, who will formally takeover the leadership of the party in July after mounting a leadership bid to longtime Chairman Ed Cox.

“Our greatest challenge as a party is enrollment and we need to register new voters,” said Langworthy. “We are going to tackle the issue of voter registration. There are so many things to be done as a minority party in a state like New York.”

Republicans are outnumbered by Democrats 2 to 1 in New York. They have not won statewide since George Pataki's third term victory in 2002. Langworthy has lofty ambitions.

“My mission and goal is to get us to the point where a Republican occupies the second floor of the Capitol,” said Langworthy. “That will be mission critical to put the infrastructure in place across this state to win a statewide election.”

Langworthy backed Carl Paladino's bid for governor in 2010 and was an early supporter of President Donald Trump. He expects the president to do well in his re-election bid.

“I think you have to look at the economy,” said Langworthy. “This is going to be a pocketbook election and the economy is on fire.”

And Langworthy has won the backing of the GOP leadership in the Legislature, now firmly in the minority and out of power.

“I think it's an excellent change,” said Assembly minority leader Brian Kolb. “It's time for a change. I want to thank Chairman Cox for his service to the party. But Nick Langworthy brings new dedication to our party. I think he proved that by crisscrossing the state.”

Langworthy's first order of business, he says, is to increase donations, especially among small-dollar donors.