Ed Cox is fine no longer being chairman of the New York state Republican Party. While he held that mantle for 10 years between 2009 and 2019, he told Capital Tonight that his new job as a behind-the-scenes strategist is a better fit.  

Cox, along with the state Republican Party and allies including former U.S. Rep. John Faso, successfully launched a legal challenge against the Democratic attempts to implement newly redistricted congressional lines. 

“I really enjoyed what I was doing here,” Cox said. “I could focus totally on the redistricting part, which was perhaps the most important part of what we did. A political legal theory which I was absolutely suited for.”

Additionally, Cox spent the latter part of the midterm election cycle raising money from cosmetics titan Ronald Lauder to help elect Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. 

“We did an I.E. for him,” Cox said, referring to an independent expenditure committee which helped raise $17 million. “In the last six weeks, that put a little bit of lift under his [Zeldin’s] very good wings.”

Cox has been active in Republican Party politics for decades. As Richard Nixon’s son-in-law, he joined the family business prior to 1968. Here in New York, Cox helped elect former Gov. George Pataki in 1994. In 2009, he was himself elected to serve as chairman of the New York State Republican Committee. But after electoral losses in 2018, he stepped down, making way for Nick Langworthy to take over the job as chairman, while Cox pivoted to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. 

Now that Langworthy has been elected to Congress, the party chairman position is once again open.  

When it comes to who would make the best candidate, Cox is keeping his cards close to his vest.

“It’s wide open. At the moment, there are some new, young candidates,” he said. “We need people who can raise money to build the party, and who will spend it to wisely to build the party. That’s what we need.”

Cox also discussed California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker of the House, President Donald Trump’s campaign for president and the fabrications that have caught up with Republican Rep.-elect George Santos.

“He’s a fabulist,” Cox said.