Republican candidate for governor Harry Wilson accused his fellow candidate for the GOP nomination, Lee Zeldin, of trying to dissuade people from signing petitions for rival campaigns to gain access to the June primary ballot.

In a blistering letter sent this week to New York Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy, Wilson accused Zeldin of running a "Soros-style call to harass Republicans" by calling for volunteers for an "election integrity task force" while petitions for the ballot are under review.

Wilson's campaign said it was an effort to "frustrate the will" of thousands of Republicans who are backing Zeldin's rivals for the nomination.

"I ask that you and the state party leadership make clear to all Republicans that their voices will be heard, and that all candidates delivering the requisite number of signatures will be competing in the primary on June 28," he wrote.

Zeldin's campaign declined to comment on the letter.

Langworthy, who has endorsed Zeldin's bid for governor, in a statement said rival campaigns should not worry if they meet the minimum threshold of appearing on the ballot.

"Any registered Republican candidate that has 15,000 valid Republican signatures and meets the congressional district distribution will qualify for the primary ballot," Langworthy said. "It’s simple math. If a candidate has enough valid signatures they should have no worries."

Zeldin, a Long Island congressman, is the preferred nominee of the state Republican Committee after he won the vast majority of delegates at the party's convention in February.

But three of his rivals -- Wilson, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and former Trump administration official Andrew Giuliani -- are using the petitioning process to appear on the June primary ballot later this year.

Republicans hope to recapture the governor's office for the first time since George Pataki secured a third term in 2002, the last Republican to win statewide in New York.

Zeldin early on locked in the support of county Republican leaders and was deemed the party's "presumptive nominee" by Langworthy prior to the convention.

As the party's preferred nominee, Zeldin did not have to go through the time-consuming petitioning route. But Wilson in his letter sought to frame the tens of thousands of signatures expected to be filed this week as a repudiation of Zeldin's candidacy.

"He has had the backing of almost the entire state party establishment during that time, and yet he has failed to make any meaningful inroads in any of the public polls," the letter from Wilson states.

Various Republican-backed polls touted by Zeldin's campaign in recent weeks have shown him running competitively against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul this fall.