About Us

Whitestone Republican Club-text-bg
The Whitestone Republican Club was reorganized and relaunched at the conclusion of Vickie Paladino’s 2018 campaign for the NYS Senate. Paladino and her campaign team committed to rebuilding the Whitestone Republican Club so there would be an active Republican organization in northeast Queens to help support future candidates for office and to fight for the community while defending the quality of life that the people had worked hard to build over the prior 30 years.

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 kicked off 2019 with WABC radio host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. It was another very successful night and set the tone for 2019 where the monthly meetings continued to bring in exciting speakers such as Manhattan Institute fellow Nicole Gelinas, “Mr. Call Screener” for the Mark Levin radio show Rich Valdes, and many other notable conservative personalities, authors, radio hosts, and intellectuals to address a packed house month after month.

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.

Both Paladino and Sliwa won their primaries and went on to the November
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

To build the Republican Party in northeast Queens based on shared principles and values that we see simply as commonsense and held across party lines in our community. To recruit and support good candidates for public and party office, and to build the Party organization to enable those candidates to be successful. Finally, to make sure that the voters know what we and our candidates stand for, the difference between us and the opposition, to offer them an agenda they can vote positively for that reflects the values of the majority in our community, and to make sure to get our Whigs to the polls.
who-we-are-overlay
OUR STATEMENT

Statement Of Principles

While we do understand that governing majorities come from building strong coalitions under a broad tent, we as a Club support and will promote basic Republican values and principles, including:
America is the greatest country in the history of the world.
The three pillars of our system – Individual Rights, Free-Markets and
the Rule of Law – have made for an imperfect system of governance,
but remain the best system ever created by man.
The Constitution is just as relevant and forward-looking as it was
when the country was founded.
Government should be limited in its power, small, and responsive to the needs of the governed, and the people elected to run it should serve the people, not the other way around.
The family and the community are the most valuable building blocks
of any free society and must be defended and protected.
An independent middle class must be preserved as the foundation of
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.
Government should tax responsibly and as little as possible and only to deliver the basic services that are required to sustain the community and the country.
Government programs should always be designed to empower individuals, so they can achieve the self-sufficiency required for maximum self-worth.
Education should put the needs of the children first and foremost, and
parents should be empowered to choose the best education for their
child.
The rule of law must reign supreme in a democratic society and anyone violating the law must be held properly accountable for their actions.
Our law enforcement professionals are the guardians of the rule of law and must be supported with proper funding and training to ensure they are able to perform their duties in the most professional way possible.
We stand against “social justice” dogma, progressive intersectionality,
DEI, gender identity indoctrination, political indoctrination of our
children of any kind, and censorship in all its forms.