Assembly Republicans pick Edward Ra as leader, first from LI since 1978

ALBANY — Assemb. Edward Ra was chosen Monday morning to lead the Assembly Republicans, the first Long Island representative to lead the minority conference since 1978.

Ra is the ranking member on the Assembly’s Ways and Means committee. He replaces Assemb. Will Barclay, who announced last week that he was resigning from his leadership position and did not intend to run for reelection.

Republican Floor Speaker Mary Beth Walsh nominated Ra, and the vote in support was unanimous. Walsh, who represents parts of Schenectady, Saratoga and Fulton counties, was also one of the potential successors to Barclay.

Speaking to reporters after the conference vote, Ra did not commit to any immediate changes to the minority conference.

"I certainly have some different ideas, but leader Barclay has led this conference, really in a direction that I am fully in support of," he said.

Ra said he has a good relationship with state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and would work with him on issues where there is common ground.

"There are any number of things that I think that we can collaborate on," Ra said. "Where there's disagreements, we're going to raise them and we're going to raise them loudly, but I think there are a lot of issues that we can collaborate on, and I think we all believe that we need to bring our perspectives from our respective districts and try to make New York State better."

Ra made it clear that the Republican conference’s approach will still differ from the Democrats on major issues, including ideas on how to tackle the cost of living in the state.

"The other side believes that affordability means spending more money," Ra said. "And I am not a believer that we will make New York State more affordable by just continuing to increase our budget by $5, $10, $15 billion every single year."

Ra is the first Long Island representative to lead the Republican conference since Assemb. Perry B. Duryea, Jr. 

Assemb. Phil Palmesano, who represents parts of the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, said that although the Republican conference has members from across the state with different perspectives, Ra has always made a point to reach out and build collaboration within the conference. The two men were sworn into the state Assembly together in 2011.

"His understanding, his experience, his expertise, especially on the policy side ... he’s done every angle of this operation and he understands it in an expert way," Palmesano said. "He looks out for every member of this conference. He’s going to do a fantastic job."