ALBANY – The conflict within state Republican circles over next year’s U.S. Senate race intensified yesterday as the emergence of yet another willing opponent of Senator Clinton increased the likelihood of a primary fight, which party leaders hope to avoid.

The chairman of the state Republican Committee, Stephen Minarik, rankled a Manhattan lawyer and son-in-law of Richard Nixon, Edward Cox, last week by sending signals of support for the district attorney of Westchester County, Jeanine Pirro, in the upcoming race.

Ms. Pirro recently said she would leave her job at the end of the year to focus on a statewide race, but she did not say which race. Mr. Minarik has urged her to forgo a campaign for attorney general in favor of a race against Mrs. Clinton aimed at hindering the former first lady’s chances at a presidential bid while raising Ms. Pirro’s profile. A spokesman for Mr. Cox, I. Lynn Mueller, told The New York Sun last week that Mr. Minarik’s courtship of Ms. Pirro was “inappropriate” and damaging to the ordinary process of grass-roots campaigning. Mr. Minarik responded by joining 45 other county chairmen in a letter urging Ms. Pirro to take on Mrs. Clinton.

“Your record is one that all New Yorkers can take pride in, and one that stands in stark contrast to Senator Clinton,” the letter read. “Jeanine, we are on your side. Join the fight for all New Yorkers, and declare your candidacy for the United States Senate.” Mr. Minarik is chairman of the Republican Party of Monroe County in addition to his role at the state committee.

The day after the letter was issued, a former mayor of Yonkers, John Spencer, established a campaign Web site for next year’s Senate run. Contacted by the Sun, Mr. Spencer accused the state Republican committee of “shenanigans” and said efforts to avoid a primary by lining up a candidate like Ms. Pirro early on would backfire.

“If Steve Minarik wants to avoid a primary, he’s doing it the opposite way,” Mr. Spencer said. “By violating the process of reviewing candidates from county to county, his actions are going to cause a primary. He’s just going to force candidates like me to get their backs up and say, ‘I’m not going to allow a dysfunctional process [to] name a candidate.’ “

Mr. Spencer, who was Yonkers mayor between 1996 and 2004, wrote in a letter on his Web site – available online at www.spencerforsenate.com – that Republicans in New York have lost a number of statewide races in the past decade by capitulating on conservative principles. He cited his record as a tax-cutter and crime-fighter as reason for his election in two landslides.

“Some misguided Republican leaders think we need to nominate someone who holds the same positions as Hillary Clinton on some important issues,” Mr. Spencer writes on the site. “I think they’re wrong. That’s why we’ve been losing ground for 11 years and if they have their way, the core of our party will have no choices and stay home, and we’ll lose again.”

Mr. Cox, who recently established an exploratory committee for a race against Mrs. Clinton, established his own Web site online this week at www.edcoxforny.com. The site casts Mr. Cox as a fiscal conservative who would be a more effective advocate in Washington by being a member of the majority party.

He takes a light jab at Mrs. Clinton by saying he’d be a candidate “who can think of no greater honor than being the Senator from New York.”

Another spokesman for Mr. Cox, Thomas Basile, added to the criticisms of the state Republican leadership by Mr. Mueller last week. “It’s not the party’s role this far out from a primary or convention to be strong-arming people into signing letters or getting involved in picking a candidate when there are several people out there thinking of doing it,” Mr. Basile said. “The voters of New York should be given the opportunity to meet these different candidates and make a decision in due course.”

Republican candidates for statewide office will be chosen at a party convention next year. Two representatives from each of the 150 Assembly districts can vote, with votes weighted by a county’s Republican strength in the most recent gubernatorial election. Candidates need 25% of the vote to qualify automatically for a party primary.

State Republican leaders have defended efforts at getting behind a single candidate more than one year ahead of the Senate race by pointing to the 2000 race, in which a former congressman, Rick Lazio, raised tens of millions of dollars with only six months to go before the election but still lost to Mrs. Clinton by a double-digit margin. Mr. Lazio entered the race when Mayor Giuliani backed out, citing health reasons.

The executive director of the state Republican Committee, Ryan Moses, denied Mr. Minarik has brushed off Mr. Spencer as a potential candidate. “When Steve talked to John Spencer, he encouraged him to go out and talk to the county chairs and the state committee people to garner support,” Mr. Moses said. “They’re the decision-makers in this process.”

Ms. Pirro, meanwhile, continues to keep her options open. “I appreciate the strong support from so many people who know that New York needs a committed and effective voice in Washington again,” she said in response to Monday’s letter by the county chairs. “Their support and friendship will be a critical factor in my decision, which out of respect for them I now expect to make sooner rather than later.”

A Republican source familiar with the party’s strategy, who declined to be quoted by name, predicted yesterday that Ms. Pirro would run against Mrs. Clinton. “I think she’s close to a run for U.S. Senate,” the source said.