As he voted on Election Day Tuesday, Lee Zeldin blasted Gov. Kathy Hochul for her “strategic decision not to focus on the issues that matter most to New Yorkers” — insisting she will “pay a hefty price” at the polls.
“We believe that this is a campaign trying to save the state,” the Republican Long Island congressman said of his own pitch to voters, centered on reining in rampant crime.
“For Kathy Hochul, she’s been campaigning like this is an effort to save Kathy Hochul,” he insisted of the Democratic governor.
His incumbent rival, he insisted, has been constantly “digging herself holes,” most noticeably dismissing fear over rising crime fueled by soft, progressive bail laws as “all just perception.”
Yet “New Yorkers are hitting a breaking point,” he insisted, noting how even left-leaning TV network interviewers have told Hochul they feel terrified by rising street and subway crime.
“They feel like their wallet, their safety, their freedom, and the quality of their kids’ education are under attack, and they want to reverse it,” Zeldin said.
“Kathy Hochul chose to instead focus on other issues, other than the issues that matter most to New Yorkers. She’s going to pay a hefty price for that at the polls,” he insisted.
Zeldin spoke out after casting his own vote in the general election at Mastic Beach Fire House on Long Island. He insisted it would be “very difficult to impossible” for him to lose the race if all his Big Apple supporters turned out to vote Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a hard-fought, well-earned victory,” he predicted confidently.
“I look forward to getting to work. My first phone call tomorrow morning will be to New York City Mayor Eric Adams [to] ask him, ‘What do you need? What support are you not getting from Albany that we can start helping with?’
“And we know that right towards the top of the list is the need to fight rising crime,” he said.