What makes the perfect Republican candidate for governor? Someone who has money. Someone who can appeal to upstaters and downstaters. Someone who can get Democratic voters to crossover. 

It's not yet clear whether this person exists. But Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy is getting as early a start as possible on finding their nominee more than a year before a primary vote is even cast.

Potential Republican statewide candidates, including first timers and those who have run before, met in Albany on Monday as a sort-of audition ahead of 2022. 

Langworthy in a Capital Tonight interview on Monday said he wants to not just be competitive, but recapture an office the party has not held since George Pataki concluded his third term in 2006. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is embattled and plagued by controversy, and polls have shown voters are eager for a change after three terms of his administration. But Republicans face a daunting task of a widening enrollment gap with Democrats and the potential for voters to continue to associate the party with former President Donald Trump.