Republican gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin took Kathy Hochul to the woodshed Tuesday, reprimanding the Democrat New York governor over her failure to scale back violent crime in the state.
During their first and only debate at Pace University in Manhattan, Zeldin went on the attack putting public safety front and center after Hochul attempted to attribute the rise in crime to guns.
“Unfortunately Kathy Hochul believes that the only crimes that are being committed are these crimes with guns, and you’ve got people who are afraid of being pushed in front of oncoming subway cars. They’re being stabbed, beaten to death on the street with hammers. Go talk to the Asian American community and how it’s impacted them with the loss of lives. Jewish people targeted with raw violent anti-Semitism on our streets. It just happened yet again. We need to be talking about all of these other crimes, but instead Kathy Hochul’s too busy patting herself on the back, ‘Job well done.’ No, actually right now there should be a special session. The state legislature should come back and they should overhaul cashless bail and these other pro-criminal laws with zero tolerance, but they’re saying, ‘Elect me.’ She says, ‘Elect me and then you’ll find out where maybe I’ll stand on this issue in January.’”
One such unprovoked violent incident happened under Hochul’s watch in a Brooklyn subway last Friday, where a deranged 41-year-old repeat offender shoved an unsuspecting man onto the subway tracks.
Elsewhere in the debate, Hochul attempted to downplay the issue of bail reform and New York’s flawed cashless bail system, which Republicans blame for allowing criminals back on the streets, with her telling Zeldin, “I don’t know why that’s so important to you.”
Zeldin’s performance evidently struck a chord with voters as the New York Times reported late Tuesday the gubernatorial contest was “suddenly too close for Democrats’ comfort.”
“…[F]or Democrats who are not accustomed to close statewide races in New York, some level of panic appears to be setting in — that Mr. Zeldin could flip Black, Latino and Asian voters worried about public safety, but also that other rank-and-file Democratic voters may simply sit the race out because of apathy about Ms. Hochul and her low-key campaign.”
Check out the full debate:
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