GOP’s Lee Zeldin gains Democrats unhappy with Kathy Hochul on crimeBy Zach Williams, Carl Campanile and Kevin Sheehan
August 29, 2022
Some New York Democrats, disaffected with rising crime and left-wing policy priorities, now say they are ditching their party’s nominee, Gov. Kathy Hochul, in favor of Republican challenger Lee Zeldin ahead of the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election.
“We have a Democratic machine that has gone far too left – too extreme for even those moderate Democrats,” John Orlando, president of the New Era Democrats, said at a Monday press conference.
An endorsement by the Brooklyn-based New Era Democrats – which has backed lefty pols like former Mayor Bill de Blasio and presidential candidate Andrew Yang in the past – is one more sign of how Zeldin is wooing some party members away from Hochul as the race heats up.
“Lee is my candidate. He’s against crime. Hochul’s for crime. She refused to make any major changes to the bail law,” said the Rev. Rubén Díaz, Sr., a former city councilman who hosted Zeldin at his Bronx church last week.
Hochul has dodged questions on controversial public safety issues like repealing qualified immunity and changing cash bail laws by arguing that the timing was not good to express an opinion despite harsh criticism from her Republican opponent.
* * *
Source:
https://nypost.com/2022/08/29/lee-zeldin-gains-ground-with-democrats-disaffected-with-kathy-hochul/
