NY’s Crime Rate Dominates Only Debate In Narrowing Governor’s Race

Crime, abortion and election integrity dominated New York’s first and only debate between Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Lee Zeldin on Tuesday night, two weeks before a general election that polls suggest has narrowed.

Zeldin, 42, managed to keep Hochul on the defensive as she ducked criticism over her donations from companies with business before the state and the $600 million in taxpayer dollars she committed to keep the Buffalo Bills football team in New York. She also sidestepped questions over the state’s migrants crisis and her inaction over a proposed crypto mining ban.

Hochul, 64, mostly stuck to a long-held script of attacks she’s used throughout the campaign on the Long Island Congressman’s anti-abortion views, his support of former President Donald Trump and his denial of the 2020 election results.

There are “very few people in Congress who have a more pro-life record,” Hochul said of Zeldin during the debate, which was hosted by Spectrum News NY1. “Women need to know that that’s on the ballot this November.”

The governor commanded a double-digit lead for months in a state where Democrats make up about half of New York’s 12 million active voters. Hochul, who assumed office when Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned last year, limited public campaign stops and rarely engaged with a Republican opponent she portrayed as out of touch with New Yorkers.

However, recent polls showed a narrowing race as Zeldin’s message about public safety and pocketbook economic issues began to resonate with voters.

Zeldin joins a wave of Republicans making crime central to the November elections, describing New York as “out of control” and blaming a pandemic spike in crime on Hochul’s support of the state’s bail reform laws.

“People are getting pushed in front of oncoming subway cars,” he said. “Kathy Hochul is too busy patting herself on the back, job well done.”

During the debate, Hochul downplayed the severity of the crime rate, citing a recent 14% decline in murders and shootings. Meanwhile, she’s shifted her tone in the last week to put a sharper emphasis on crime in new television ads and public appearances, including a weekend announcement to spend $62 million on transit safety.

“You can either work on keeping people scared, or you can work on keeping them safe,” she said. “It’s not about governing by sound bites, I’m governing by sound policies.”

Zeldin was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential bid and voted against certifying the 2020 election in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Text messages offering guidance to Trump advisers surfaced during the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.

Asked whether he would vote that way again, Zeldin said “the issue still remains today.”

Regarding election integrity in his own race for governor, Zeldin was asked whether he will respect the results if he lost.

Losing isn’t an option, Zeldin said. Then, he added that in a hypothetical scenario, he would accept the results of a loss.

Zeldin also called out New York’s largest-ever budget and Hochul’s role in increasing state spending. He pledged to implement a state spending cap and decrease taxes, without elaborating on what cuts he would make.

“New York is going to be back open for business, baby. January 1st,” he said.

He said the state should allow natural gas extraction to benefit the economy and decried the legalization of recreational marijuana and a congestion pricing plan Hochul has championed.

Hochul, meanwhile, touted a recent Micron deal to invest $100 billion over two decades to build a memory chip plant upstate.

(c) 2022, Bloomberg · Emma Court