William H. Seward
The Republican Party had been founded in 1854, in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Its anti-slavery stance was attractive to Seward, but he needed the Whig structure in New York to get re-elected. In September 1855, the New York Whig and Republican parties held simultaneous conventions that quickly merged into one. Seward was the most prominent figure to join the new party, and was spoken of as a possible presidential candidate in 1856. Weed, however, did not feel that the new party was strong enough on a national level to secure the presidency, and advised Seward to wait until 1860. When Seward's name was mentioned at the 1856 Republican National Convention, a huge ovation broke out. In the 1856 presidential election, the Democratic candidate, former Pennsylvania senator James Buchanan, defeated the Republican, former California senator John C. Frémont, and the Know Nothing candidate, former president Fillmore.
New York Republican State Committee
The establishment of the Republican Party in New York in the 1850s was a difficult task. At the time, the nativist American Party, (a party evolved from the Know Nothing Party) was active. However, the committee presented nominees from a party with well-recognized members, a defined set of principles, stable, powerful, well-known leaders and a well established structure. The committees nominees were first successful in 1856.
Around 1894, when immigration was at its peak, the New York State Constitution created a clause which caused upstate New York to have reappointed districts so that there would be more votes per district. This gave native New Yorkers more votes than immigrants. It was not until 1974 that the US Supreme Court deemed this clause unconstitutional. This created a turmoil in the politics of New York because the Republican party lost its hold on the state legislature. Since 1959, Nelson Rockefeller (1959–73) and George Pataki (1995-2006) were the only two major Republican governors of New York.