About Us
This new team included Lauren Whalen, the president of the club since 2008, which was reorganized at that time under the leadership of the newly elected Queens GOP Chairman, Phil Ragusa. Ragusa was a longtime resident of Whitestone and had served as the local leader and State Committeeman for the 26th Assembly District for many years. Also instrumental was Robert Hornak, former head of the NY Young Republican Club and Queens GOP Executive Director under Ragusa.
The rejuvenated Whitestone Republican Club held its first meeting in December of 2018 with Paladino as the new club president and Whalen as its vice president. Meetings were well attended from the start, with that first meeting serving as a recap of the 2018 elections where the GOP lost control of the state senate.
The Club began 2020 on an equally high note hosting such notable speakers as former NYC Police Commissioner Berni Kerik, Blue Lives Matter founder Joseph Imperatrice, and Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy. Coronavirus suspended club meetings temporarily for a couple of months, but Club activities began to resume over the summer with a well-attended Backyard BBQ style meeting in June. Many past speakers of the Club dropped in and shared their take on current events.
2021 with a strong focus on the upcoming city elections. Club President Vickie Paladino launched a campaign for City Council followed by Curtis Sliwa announcing his intention to run for Mayor, with both announcements first taking place at WRC meetings. Both candidates had Republican primary challenges with both of their opponents receiving the support of the Queens GOP. Paladino’s opponent also had the backing of the Conservative Party.
election. Unfortunately, Sliwa lost to Eric Adams (while performing very well in NE Queens), but Paladino went on to defeat former Councilman and Senator Tony Avella. This was a shocking victory as the conventional wisdom was that Paladino could not win with a third candidate on the Conservative Party line. But the strength of the club had become apparent and even with over 2000 votes for the Conservative Party candidate, Paladino still pulled out a close but impressive victory.
2022 was focused on NYS races, especially on the statewide races for governor, attorney general, and comptroller. All the republican candidates came and spoke to the club, including almost all of the candidates running in the Republican primary for governor. Locally the club backed a young new leader in Queens, Stefano Forte, who was running for the state senate seat previously held by Frank Padavan but lost to the democrats a decade earlier. Forte exceeded expectations, raising more money and gaining more votes than anyone in recent years. After the election Forte was asked to join the Club’s Board of Directors as Vice President.
The statewide ticket did very well and came close overall. They overperformed in NE Queens where the statewide candidates won many of the local districts. Between these races and Sliwa’s 2021 race many local districts were now shown to be trending Republican in the local media post-election analysis that showed these areas turning red in published heat maps to indicate where republican strength was growing.
NE Queens was now seen as turning strongly red with great potential for Republican pick-ups in future elections, no doubt thanks in large part to the efforts of the Whitestone Republican Club.
That was reinforced in 2023 where, during the off-cycle redistricting city council elections, Vickie Paladino once again defeated Tony Avella by 20 points, this time with the Conservative Party’s endorsement.
As the club goes through 2024 we are very proud to have a few very strong local candidates come out of our circle, including Kenneth Paek who is running for NYS Assembly in the 25th district, and Yiatin Chiu running for NYS Senate in the 11th district. The Club is also energized to help re-elect President Trump and to hold all the swing congressional seats we won in 2022.
Our Mission
Statement Of Principles
the Rule of Law – have made for an imperfect system of governance,
but remain the best system ever created by man.
when the country was founded.
of any free society and must be defended and protected.
our republic, and the government should act to protect the interests of
American workers through favorable trade and regulatory policy. We
oppose efforts to harm the middle class with burdensome taxes,
trade, and housing policy.
parents should be empowered to choose the best education for their
child.
DEI, gender identity indoctrination, political indoctrination of our
children of any kind, and censorship in all its forms.