A dozen years ago, Harry Wilson came within four percentage points of being the first Republican to win statewide office since Gov. George Pataki's third term victory in 2002. 

Now as he runs for governor this year, Wilson believes he's learned a lot from that initial statewide campaign from more than a decade ago. 

"That foundation is why a lot of people tried to convince me to run for governor for a long period of time because I've had the best showing in the state for a Republican in the last 20 years," he said in an interview with Spectrum News 1 in Syracuse. 

Wilson on Tuesday launched his bid for governor, joining what has become a crowded Republican field for the nomination in the lead up to the state party's convention. 

His narrow loss to Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has been closest any Republican running statewide has come to winning a general election. Since then, the state's Democratic enrollment has swamped Republican voters, who are now outnumbered by the number of voters who have chosen to not register in a party. 

The party's eight-year draught in 2010 is threatening to become a 20-year losing streak this year. 

Nevertheless, Republicans hope a combination of factors could help them this year, including the ongoing concerns over crime and public safety. 

"All the things that people need for their day to day lives are not working," Wilson said. 

Wilson's campaign launch includes stops in upstate cities like Syracuse as well as in Rochester later on Wednesday. He plans to tailor his message to each region of the state he's campaigning in. 

"What we'll do in our campaign for governor is really focus on a targeted regional focus to each region -- how do we address the key priorities and key problems for each region," he said.