ELLICOTTVILLE — Michael Henry, a New York City commercial litigator with a background in business and finance, cites two main reasons he’s been willing to accept the admittedly uphill challenge of running for state attorney general as a Republican.
“First, in 2020, I saw with COVID how the state handled everything, with the lockdowns and the taking away of freedoms,” he said Thursday during a stop to meet with Republicans in Katy’s Cafe on Main Street in Ellicottville.
A second factor was how he began to note, when traveling Upstate, increasing problems with crime and drugs, issues that he believes are a given in NYC but have also become more pronounced in regions like the Southern Tier. The problems have increased, he believes, because of lax law enforcement and criminal justice policies enacted by liberal Democrats in Albany — and enforced by state Attorney General Letitia James.
“Unfortunately, in addition to the crime and the migrant crisis, we see that drugs, especially fentanyl, are even worse across the state, and then you also have the decimation of the New York economy, especially in rural New York,” he said. “There we see the lack of economic opportunity … leads to people leaving the state and in some instances it accelerates the drug issue because people are battling depression and are struggling to get by.”
Much of it has become a quality of life issue for New Yorkers, Henry believes, and many are looking for more of a sense of hope that elected leaders can take a more common sense approach to issues like crime and punishment while fostering a better climate for developing business and industry.
“Also, Tish James is a bully,” he said, insisting that she has used the office of attorney general as a weapon against political opponents and has little regard for middle-class, Upstate New Yorkers. “You have two kinds of people who run for office, you have politicians and you have public servants, and she uses her power of the office for all the wrong things.”
He said she was eager to make headlines taking former President Donald Trump and his business empire to court — a New York judge in February ruled that Trump inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to dupe banks and insurers — “meanwhile the state is falling apart.” Henry has also accused James of ignoring key issues like antisemitism and unrest on college campuses as well as the migrant crisis that has cost state taxpayers billions of dollars.
Henry lost the 2022 election to James, 3.2 million votes (54.6%) to 2.6 million (45.4%), relatively respectable numbers in blue New York state. James, who far outmatched Henry in campaign fundraising as well as institutional support for her party, campaigned relatively little and refused to debate her challenger.
Henry said he wants to push for greater vote totals Upstate if he secures the GOP nomination again for 2026. That’s why he’s already in the process of gathering support at the county level, hence the meeting Thursday that included Cattaraugus County Republican Committee chairman Mark Heberling and Allegany County GOP Chairman Mike Healy.
“Think it’s important to start early, especially against someone who doesn’t leave Brooklyn, N.Y., because I do think we have to improve our Upstate turnout,” Henry said.
He said he must get 33% to 33.5% in New York City as well as in Upstate counties like Onondaga (Syracuse), Erie (Buffalo) and Monroe (Rochester) but, again, his totals in counties across Upstate have to be higher to have a chance to unseat James.
“I talked to former Gov. George Pataki, the last Republican to win statewide office in 1994,” Henry said. “(Pataki) said the reason he was able to win in New York was that his turnout in Upstate was off the charts. That’s what we need to be successful and that’s why I’m out here, getting organized and preparing for what it’s going to take.”
James’s profile has risen to a national level in her two terms, based mostly for her role in taking on Trump as well as former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned from office in August 2021 over numerous allegations of sexual harassment. James commissioned an investigation of the former governor’s actions but then declined to press any charges. She briefly ran for governor in the aftermath of Cuomo’s resignation, but stepped aside as former Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul — now governor by appointment — garnered support for the upcoming election.
James has also been active in defending the state’s gun laws, abortion access, and environmental laws while investigating after incidents in which residents have been killed or injured in interactions with law enforcement officers.
