Brian Kolb abruptly drops out of race for New York governor

ALBANY — Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb abruptly ended his campaign for governor Friday evening, surprising Republican leaders who had expected him at events in the coming days.

Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, issued a statement Friday evening bowing out of the race, though he vowed to continue as the Assembly's Republican leader.

His exit leaves the GOP with two announced candidates seeking the party's nod to challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Syracuse-area state Sen. John DeFrancisco and former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra.

In his statement, Kolb cited a desire to spend more time with his family.

"It is with a heavy heart that today I am announcing I am ending my campaign for governor of New York," Kolb said.

Kolb launched his campaign in December and had spent recent months traveling the state, meeting with Republican leaders in hopes of garnering their support for the GOP nomination to challenge Cuomo.

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And he had the endorsement of about a dozen county GOP committees, as well as support from Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who was the party's candidate for New York City mayor last year.

"It’s a quite a shock," said Assemblyman Steven Hawley, R-Batavia, as he learned of Kolb's announcement. "I was excited about his chances and it’s quite a shock for sure."

State GOP Chairman Ed Cox said Kolb did not call him before he dropped out.

"It was very spontaneous thing on his part, and it came from the heart," Cox said.

In his statement, Kolb cited family concerns as his reason for dropping out. He could not immediately be reached for further comment Friday evening.

"As I left my home before dawn this morning, saying goodbye to my incredible wife, I knew that I'd be spending the next week, the week after, and every week for at least the next nine months on the road, away from my loving family," Kolb said.

"That moment helped put what is truly important in life back into perspective."

Kolb's calendar remained packed in the coming days: He had been scheduled to appear at a press conference with Owego Town Supervisor Don Castellucci at 5:40 p.m. Friday.

At 3 p.m., Castellucci sent an email to reporters saying Kolb had canceled.

Kolb had also been scheduled to participate in a candidate debate Saturday in Erie County along with three other GOP gubernatorial hopefuls: DeFrancisco, Giambra and Joseph Holland, former Gov. George Pataki's housing commissioner, who is also toying with a run.

Nick Langworthy, the Erie County GOP chairman, said Kolb called him 10 minutes before releasing his statement Friday evening to tell him he wouldn't be attending.

Langworthy said it caught him "completely" by surprise given that Kolb had already locked up 14 counties and a significant share of the weighted vote of GOP leaders for the party's nomination.

"It's still early, but that was significant," Langworthy said. "Now he's out and we're back to the drawing board."

Broome County GOP Chairman Bijoy Datta said he hadn't heard from Kolb or his campaign before Kolb issued the statement dropping out of the race, which Datta said was "very unusual."

"Usually with something like this, you get a call from the candidate or at least somebody from the campaign team," Datta said. "I was surprised."

Whomever wins the GOP nomination will have a tough task in taking on Cuomo, who has more than $30 million in his campaign account and had his strongest poll numbers of his second term last month.

Cuomo is seeking a third term this year.

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DeFrancisco and Giambra, however, have sought to capitalize on the ongoing corruption trial of Cuomo's former aide Joseph Percoco, who is accused of accepting more than $300,000 in bribes from two companies with business before the state.

With Kolb's exit, Datta said it's time for the GOP to coalesce behind DeFrancisco, who officially entered the race last week.

"We have to look ahead and look at John DeFrancisco as the best candidate we have to defeat Andrew Cuomo," Datta said.

"I'm ready to step up and back Senator DeFrancisco."