Republican Rob Astorino formally launched his long-in-the-works campaign for the state Senate this week as he seeks a comeback to elected office. 

Astorino, the 2014 GOP nominee for governor and the former Westchester County executive, is challenging Democrat Peter Harckham for a suburban Hudson Valley Senate district. 

“New York is being challenged as perhaps never before, and it’s imperative that taxpayers be vigorously defended in the coming legislative term,” Astorino said. “There are many in Albany already calling for dramatic new tax hikes, and middle class families can’t afford to pay a penny more. Without firm, common-sense voices at the table to push back against tax hikes — not to mention ill-conceived criminal justice blunders like cashless bail that’s putting dangerous criminals back onto our streets — the steady flow of families abandoning New York could become a torrent. We must not let that happen.” 

Astorino held the county executive post in Westchester for two terms, losing re-election in 2017 to Democrat George Latimer. 

Astorino since then has also been named as a potential candidate for an open congressional seat in the northern suburbs. 

Harckham first won the district in 2018, unseating Republican Terrence Murphyin what proved to be a Democratic wave year. 

“I welcome Rob Astorino’s candidacy for the New York State Senate," Harckham's campaign said in a statement. "In 2018, however, I was elected to the State Senate because voters rejected Donald Trump’s divisive and reckless politics. And I am confident that voters will send me back to Albany in November because they are even more ready this year to say ‘no’ to Trump and surrogates like his close friend Rob Astorino."