The governor’s race in New York State, between Kathy Hochul and Lee Zeldin, has been tightening with every new poll. The latest poll by independent co/efficient survey, Zeldin was up by just under a point. Tuesday’s debate proved why the race for governor has been tightening, by showcasing just how out of touch Kathy Hochul is with her constituents and their concerns. While Lee Zeldin focused on what’s hurting New Yorkers in the here and now, Kathy Hochul focused on abortion, gun control, climate change, and Donald Trump, using them as a distraction for her horrible performance as governor of New York state. Just like the rest of the Democrats running in other elections across the country, Kathy Hochul is more focused on winning a position, than doing what’s right for citizens that are concerned about their safety, inflation, and high taxes, that are squeezing New Yorkers right out of the state.
Kathy Hochul is Dismissing New Yorkers’ Concerns
In their one and only debate, on an obscure cable news channel that Hochul approved of, Kathy Hochul reminded New Yorkers why the polls have been moving in Lee Zeldin’s favor. When asked about soaring crime, one of Hochul’s responses was how her and New York City DA Alvin Bragg were the first mayor and governor to work together in the state’s history. Kathy Hochul seems to have conveniently forgotten about the relationship between George Pataki and Rudy Guiliani. And tying yourself to a DA that lets criminals right back out onto the streets, after committing violent offenses, is probably not the best strategical move. Hochul also brought up gun control and how her administration responded to the Supreme Courts overturning of a 100 year old unconstitutional conceal carry law, by unconstitutionally banning guns everywhere there’s oxygen. Hochul let New Yorkers know on Tuesday, that she was more concerned with taking guns out of law abiding citizens’ hands, than the violent crimes that are happening everyday on New York state streets. She also made it abundantly clear that those everyday violent and broken window crimes, were irrelevant when she asked Lee Zeldin why he cared so much about locking those kinds of criminals up. Talk about your out of touch moments with what’s going on in everyday New Yorkers’ lives. That comment was akin to Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi moment, when she said what does it even matter anymore, in reference to the the murdered CIA agents and Ambassador Stevens. People are afraid governor Hochul…and you just dismissed that. Lee Zeldin should place that in TV ads across the state until November 8th.
Kathy Hochul Was Evasive and Non-Specific
Abortion came up as a topic, and Kathy Hochul lost that debate as well, claiming abortion was a constitutional right, which it never was. She also tried to falsely claim that Zeldin was against abortion, and has been using TV ads to say that Lee Zeldin is going to ban abortion outright. Lee Zeldin came back with the receipts and emphatically denounced any such claims, and stated that he wasn’t going to touch the existing abortion laws in New York State. Hochul also tried to weave around her strict covid mandates last year, by saying that New Yorkers were terrified of the Omicron variant…which most weren’t…and said she would do it all over again as long as it kept New Yorkers safe. If there’s any one reason to elect Lee Zeldin, that’s the one. Kathy Hochul locking New Yorkers up again, or unnecessarily masking and mandating vaccines for our kids should be a red flag to every New Yorker. When asked during the debate whether she would be following the CDC’s guidance on the covid vaccine mandate for schools, Hochul cloyingly said she wasn’t going to do that at this time, and said it was a matter for the state legislature. Most New Yorkers probably don’t know this, but those mandates are all triggered to go if Hochul is elected to office. She also alleged New Yorkers were concerned about climate change in defense of her job killing new regulations of a fossil free New York, and claimed her pay to play, taxpayer funded projects, like the Buffalo Bills new stadium, was all on the up and up, and would eventually be paid for with the revenue generated from the new stadium. I’m no math wiz, but I think the taxpayer gets screwed from all sides on that deal. Kathy Hochul was evasive during the debate, and very non-specific on how she was going to help New Yorkers navigate the violent crime, high taxes, and high inflation. Instead, her only answers were wrapped in jabs linking Donald Trump to Lee Zeldin, and talking about things like abortion and climate change that New Yorkers simply just don’t care about right now.
Lee Zeldin is Committed to Saving New York
Related: Dark Days Coming for New York
Zeldin however was inspiring and emotionally convicted about his beliefs and how he wanted to solve New York’s out of control crime and inflation He was specific in his solutions and answers, saying that he would have state spending caps, stop the Federal government bailouts that have selfishly increased spending in NY under a democrat led super majority, would bring down taxes and reverse bans on natural gas drilling, which would generate revenue and thousands of good paying jobs. He also said he would institute a crime emergency on day one, and fire New York City DA Alvin Bragg immediately. Zeldin was passionate and backed that up with his own experiences including an attempted stabbing on him while he was campaigning, and gang related gun violence right outside of his home. Lee Zeldin, in my opinion, is committed to saving New York State. He has campaigned all over the state including the city, while his opponent has rarely been seen on the campaign trail, and is hoping to pull a Joe Biden to win this election.
New Yorkers are Leaving the State Because…
Kathy Hochul is somehow hoping that New Yorkers will not think about her disastrous record on crime and suffocating economic policies, by talking about ridiculous climate change regulations, Donald Trump, and abortion. It’s not working, and New Yorkers have had enough. This is why the democrats are losing in states they should be winning, and generally across the board, and also why polls between candidates like Lee Zeldin and Kathy Hochul…in a very blue state…are closing to within single digits. So what does Kathy Hochul do? She runs a campaign devoid of what New Yorkers care about, because she can’t actually run on her record. Lee Zeldin said it best during the debate, when he asked if Kathy Hochul could answer the question…”New Yorkers are leaving the state because…” She can’t, and she won’t, because the answer is obvious, and that’s a losing formula for a Kathy Hochul campaign.
