NEW YORK – Discussions over crime, abortion and the deadly US Capitol uprising took center stage Tuesday when New York Governor Kathy Hochul confronted her Republican challenger, US Representative Lee Zeldin , in the only televised government debate of the campaign.
Hochul criticized Zeldin’s previous support for abortion restrictions and former President Donald Trump, while Zeldin vowed to repeal liberal criminal justice reforms and criticized Hochul’s push. send millions to abortion providers to expand access to an early wave of out-of-state patients.
Hochul labeled Zeldin an “election denier” and a “climate change denier” while trying to link him to Trump, who enjoyed little support in New York.
“In Lee Zeldin’s world, you cancel election results that you disagree with,” Hochul said.
Zeldin voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Trump’s false claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election morphed into marching orders that summoned supporters in Washington, D.C., and then stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, trying to violently block the Democrat’s victory. Joe Biden.
Asked by a debate moderator whether he would vote against recertifying the results, Zeldin did not directly say yes or no.
Instead, he said he wanted to focus on the future and fight to institute voter identification laws to protect the integrity of the elections.
Hochul also asked Zeldin: “Is Donald Trump a great president? Yes or no?”
Zeldin praised Trump’s record on policies from Israel to US border policy for containing a pandemic.
And when a moderator asked Zeldin if he would accept the election results if he lost, Zeldin said, “Well, first of all, losing isn’t an option. Second, play with your hypothetical question, of course.”
Hochul, the former lieutenant governor of the state who took office after his successor stepped down to avoid possible impeachment, enjoyed a solid lead over Zeldin in much of this year’s polls.
But Zeldin remains a contender and enjoys support in large swathes of upstate New York. Some recent polls suggest that the gap between candidates could narrow.
The Long Island Republican spent much of the year criticizing a series of shootings and other violent crimes, including a series of unprovoked attacks on the New York City subway. Two teenagers were also injured in an outside shooting earlier this month.
Zeldin accused Hochul Tuesday of not taking New Yorkers’ concerns about subway crimes and hate crimes against Jewish and Asian-American communities seriously.
He also said liberal opposition to natural gas drilling and new pipelines in New York is hurting the state’s economy.
“You are poorer and less secure because of Kathy Hochul and extreme politics,” Zeldin said, adding, “You deserve better.”
New York was one of the first states to reduce the use of cash bail for crime accused starting in 2020.
Both before and after the reforms, only a small fraction of the people released pending trial, less than 1%, were arrested again for violent crimes.
Hochul pointed out that other cities and states without similar cash bail laws have seen crime spikes since 2020.
