A disappointing election night for Republicans nationally led to a rush of blame and recrimination. Better-than-expected results in New York, though, have many calling attention to the state Republican Party’s organizing strategies and messaging, and asking whether they might be a national model for the party going forward.

The Republicans’ expected red tsunami was confined to two states: Florida and New York. Governor DeSantis cruised to re-election by nearly 20 points, but the Sunshine State has been leaning right in recent cycles. President Trump won the state in both 2016 and 2020. 

New York, however, is a Democratic bastion that hasn’t swung for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984. This year, a Trump-endorsed Republican came within six points of winning the gubernatorial race. Polls had narrowed during the final stretch of the campaign, but the close result shocked political observers. 

Eschewing national debates and focusing on local issues made the difference for the GOP in 2022, some New York political observers say. A Democrat who represented Brooklyn in the state assembly for 36 years, Dov Hikind, publicly campaigned for Republicans in the state this year. “Issue no. 1, no. 2, and no. 3 were crime, crime, and crime,” Mr. Hikind told the Sun. 

Republicans did especially well with certain Jewish communities at New York City, and Mr. Hikind believes that success can be built upon. “It’s not just the Orthodox community. Look at the Russian Jewish community, Borough Park, Crown Heights, Williamsburg,” he said, adding that the GOP will “invest a lot more money” in New York’s state legislative races in 2024 based on this year’s results.

Education will be a critical part of the state party’s platform going forward. As the Sun has written, the issue of religious schools has become more salient in New York as yeshivas are under fire. New York Republicans’ continued defense of religious education and school choice will be an important selling point as Governor Hochul cements her ties with the state’s public teachers’ union. The union endorsed Ms. Hochul this year; the Democrat was the first gubernatorial candidate it has endorsed since 2006. 

New York Republicans knew that candidate quality mattered. While Kari Lake in Arizona and Douglas Mastriano in Pennsylvania were capturing headlines for their extremist views, Congressman Lee Zeldin ran an issues-focused race not tied to Donald Trump’s stolen-election narrative. 

Despite Mr. Zeldin’s loss, his coattails helped buoy Republicans in key congressional districts. Once New York’s gerrymander was struck down and a more equitable map was drawn, it gave the GOP an opportunity to compete in more Empire State districts. Mr. Zeldin’s strength in the suburbs helped the party flip four House seats, and considering Republicans have a four-seat majority in the House, many are crediting Mr. Zeldin as a key player in Republicans winning the speaker’s gavel. Seeing his election as a model for the nation, Mr. Zeldin is even considering a run at the party’s top job. 

In toss-up congressional races, the state party has learned to nominate those who fit the profiles of their districts. The state GOP chairman, Nick Langworthy, dispatched the right-wing Buffalo real estate developer Carl Paladino in the Republican primary. Mr. Langworthy, like Mr. Zeldin, focused on crime and inflation during the campaign. 

To win statewide, Republicans have to cut down their margins in urban areas, especially New York City. Mr. Zeldin had the best performance in the city by a Republican since Governor Pataki. A gay, Jewish, first-generation American, George Santos, was elected in a Queens congressional district that President Biden won by 10 points. In immigrant-heavy communities such as those in Queens, Republicans fared 30 points better than they did just four years ago. The keys to the entire state runs through these diverse communities in the city that are open to voting for the GOP.

A Republican assembly member from the Hudson Valley, Mike Lawler, defeated Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney in his re-election bid. Mr. Lawler, another first-generation American, has said that in order for his party to expand its power statewide, it must invest in immigrant communities — those who came here searching for safety, opportunity, freedom, and prosperity.  

In an op-ed for the New York Post, Mr. Lawler said New York has the potential to be a competitive state if his party is willing to put in the work, go into communities that are not traditionally Republican, and talk about kitchen-table issues such as inflation, public safety, and education. Mr. Lawler says that Mr. Zeldin did just that. “Zeldin dived right into the city’s ethnic communities, and his high-water mark floated all local Republican boats,” the congressman-elect wrote.

There will be turnover In the state party come January. Congressman-elect Langworthy will resign his post as chairman after being sworn into his new office. Who will succeed him is an open question, but the roadmap to statewide success is there.