KASSAR UNANIMOUSLY REELECTED AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NEW YORK STATE CONSERVATIVE PARTY
State Committee elects new leadership in White Plains; Party unified behind Blakeman, Hood, Komatireddy and Hernandez for November
White Plains, N.Y. – Sept. 19…Gerard Kassar has been unanimously reelected Chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, it was announced today. Mr. Kassar was voted into a fifth two-year term by the Party’s State Committee, which met in White Plains on Saturday, September 19, 2026, to elect officers and attend to other party business.
“I am honored that the State Committee has asked me to serve again, and I could not be more optimistic about the year ahead,” Mr. Kassar said. “The Conservative Party has never fielded a stronger statewide ticket. Bruce Blakeman has done in Nassau County exactly what Albany has refused to do for a generation: he cut taxes, backed the police and balanced the books, and he did it in a county Democrats were told they owned.
“Saritha Komatireddy is a former federal prosecutor who put al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists and international drug cartel smugglers in prison. The crime-fighting mother of four will put the Attorney General’s office back to work for New Yorkers instead of against them.
“Joseph Hernandez arrived in this country as a seven-year-old Cuban refugee and built companies that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. He understands what a pension fund and a state budget are supposed to do, and he will audit Albany in real time, not years after the money is gone.”
Mr. Kassar continued: “These are serious, accomplished people running against an Albany establishment that has driven families, employers and retirees out of New York by the hundreds of thousands. New Yorkers are tired of paying the highest taxes in the nation for the privilege of watching the state decline. Bruce Blakeman, Todd Hood, Saritha Komatireddy and Joe Hernandez are offering something the state has not had in more than 20 years – a real chance at competent, affordable, safe government. The Conservative Party intends to be the difference in November, as it has been in so many races before.”
The New York Conservative Party was formed in 1962 to restore a meaningful choice to the voters of New York State. At that time, the three existing political parties espoused the doctrinaire liberal philosophy of the welfare state at home and the collectivist ideology abroad. In more than six decades, the party has grown from a small band of conservative-minded men and women to a statewide organization dedicated to the traditional American values of individual freedom, individual responsibility, and individual effort. Its endorsement remains the most consequential minor-party line in New York politics; no Republican has won statewide office without it in the modern era.
The full slate of elected Conservative Party leaders follows:
STATE CHAIRMAN Gerard Kassar
EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN Ralph C. Lorigo
SECRETARY Howard Lim
TREASURER Matthew J. Beadnell
STATE VICE CHAIRMEN James J. Barrett, Jr. • Daniel M. Donovan • Hugh Fox, Jr. • Jason J. McGuire Allen H. Roth • James M. Thomas • Michael E. Torres • Frances T. Vella-Marrone
REGIONAL VICE CHAIRMEN Hudson Region – William R. Beckmann • Western Region – Russell C. Gugino Capital District – John J. Hayes, Jr. • South Central Region – Christopher J. Kendall Mid-Western Region – Donald S. Mazzullo • Northern Region – William H. McGahay, III North Central Region – H. Leonard Schick
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS Richard Amedure, Jr. • Stuart Avrick • Ross Brady • Michael Buttino William H. Chellis • David M. Curcio • Andrew A. Davis • Chung K. Dick James Dobkowski • John E. Flynn • Robert A. Fois • Gary T. Forte Mario Fratto • Michael J. Garlock • David Giacalone • Ronald K. Greenleaf Douglas L. Hoffman • Eileen Johnson • Jim M. Kerr • Paul Kosowski Thomas M. Long • Patrick A. McManus • Donald F. Minichino • Christopher M. Mistron Dimitry Edward Naemit • Scott D. Nasca • David A. Pappert • George J. Passariello James F. Quinn, Jr. • Reid W. Robbins • Brett A. Robinson • David H. Ryan Thomas J. Sartin • Grace E. White • Robert E. White • Anna M. Wilcox
KASSAR UNANIMOUSLY REELECTED AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NEW YORK STATE CONSERVATIVE PARTY
State Committee elects new leadership in White Plains; Party unified behind Blakeman, Hood, Komatireddy and Hernandez for November
White Plains, N.Y. – Sept. 19…Gerard Kassar has been unanimously reelected Chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, it was announced today. Mr. Kassar was voted into a fifth two-year term by the Party’s State Committee, which met in White Plains on Saturday, September 19, 2026, to elect officers and attend to other party business.
“I am honored that the State Committee has asked me to serve again, and I could not be more optimistic about the year ahead,” Mr. Kassar said. “The Conservative Party has never fielded a stronger statewide ticket. Bruce Blakeman has done in Nassau County exactly what Albany has refused to do for a generation: he cut taxes, backed the police and balanced the books, and he did it in a county Democrats were told they owned.
“Saritha Komatireddy is a former federal prosecutor who put al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists and international drug cartel smugglers in prison. The crime-fighting mother of four will put the Attorney General’s office back to work for New Yorkers instead of against them.
“Joseph Hernandez arrived in this country as a seven-year-old Cuban refugee and built companies that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. He understands what a pension fund and a state budget are supposed to do, and he will audit Albany in real time, not years after the money is gone.”
Mr. Kassar continued: “These are serious, accomplished people running against an Albany establishment that has driven families, employers and retirees out of New York by the hundreds of thousands. New Yorkers are tired of paying the highest taxes in the nation for the privilege of watching the state decline. Bruce Blakeman, Todd Hood, Saritha Komatireddy and Joe Hernandez are offering something the state has not had in more than 20 years – a real chance at competent, affordable, safe government. The Conservative Party intends to be the difference in November, as it has been in so many races before.”
The New York Conservative Party was formed in 1962 to restore a meaningful choice to the voters of New York State. At that time, the three existing political parties espoused the doctrinaire liberal philosophy of the welfare state at home and the collectivist ideology abroad. In more than six decades, the party has grown from a small band of conservative-minded men and women to a statewide organization dedicated to the traditional American values of individual freedom, individual responsibility, and individual effort. Its endorsement remains the most consequential minor-party line in New York politics; no Republican has won statewide office without it in the modern era.
The full slate of elected Conservative Party leaders follows:
STATE CHAIRMAN
Gerard Kassar
EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN
Ralph C. Lorigo
SECRETARY
Howard Lim
TREASURER
Matthew J. Beadnell
STATE VICE CHAIRMEN
James J. Barrett, Jr. • Daniel M. Donovan • Hugh Fox, Jr. • Jason J. McGuire
Allen H. Roth • James M. Thomas • Michael E. Torres • Frances T. Vella-Marrone
REGIONAL VICE CHAIRMEN
Hudson Region – William R. Beckmann • Western Region – Russell C. Gugino
Capital District – John J. Hayes, Jr. • South Central Region – Christopher J. Kendall
Mid-Western Region – Donald S. Mazzullo • Northern Region – William H. McGahay, III
North Central Region – H. Leonard Schick
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Richard Amedure, Jr. • Stuart Avrick • Ross Brady • Michael Buttino
William H. Chellis • David M. Curcio • Andrew A. Davis • Chung K. Dick
James Dobkowski • John E. Flynn • Robert A. Fois • Gary T. Forte
Mario Fratto • Michael J. Garlock • David Giacalone • Ronald K. Greenleaf
Douglas L. Hoffman • Eileen Johnson • Jim M. Kerr • Paul Kosowski
Thomas M. Long • Patrick A. McManus • Donald F. Minichino • Christopher M. Mistron
Dimitry Edward Naemit • Scott D. Nasca • David A. Pappert • George J. Passariello
James F. Quinn, Jr. • Reid W. Robbins • Brett A. Robinson • David H. Ryan
Thomas J. Sartin • Grace E. White • Robert E. White • Anna M. Wilcox
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