(Trends Wide Spanish) — Rising crime, especially in New York City, could complicate the Democratic Party’s winning streak in the state. In this context, the Republican candidate Lee Zeldin will try to challenge the current governor Kathy Hochul for control of the Albany office, the capital, on November 8.
For many observers, the elections in New York were going to be more a coronation of the first woman governor than a real contest. This is because Hochul is a fundraising powerhouse with a good reputation among the party’s moderates, while Zeldin has a hard time admitting defeat to Trump in 2020. However, now that the election is two weeks away, polls Recent shows show a closer race than expected.
But who are Kathy Hochul and Lee Zeldin and how do they get into the race for upstate New York?
Kathy Hochul
Governor Kathy Hochul took office in August 2021, replacing now-former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned after leading state politics for a decade. Cuomo tendered his resignation after multiple sexual harassment claims against him — all denied by him — a dozen of which were corroborated by a prosecution investigation.
The Buffalo-born lieutenant governor, Cuomo’s second since 2015, had almost zero political branding at the statewide or New York City level, which has consistently given Democrats an overwhelming lead in recent elections.
Kathy Hochul is sworn in as Governor of New York
In his first public statements after Cuomo’s resignation, Hochul quickly distanced himself from the executive ahead of the upcoming election. He later toughened up his speech further and vowed to get rid of anyone singled out “for doing something unethical.” “No one,” Hochul said, “will ever describe my government as a toxic work environment.”
Hochul was first elected as New York’s lieutenant governor in 2014 as Cuomo’s running mate and won re-election alongside him in 2018.
He had achieved national attention after winning a special US House election in 2011 for New York’s 26th Congressional District, a seat that had been considered safe for Republicans holding the district. That bid was intended to fill the seat of former Republican Rep. Chris Lee, who resigned after reports of photos and emails of him trying to get a date on Craigslist.
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Before coming to Congress, Hochul spent some 18 years in local state politics, including 14 years as a Hamburg Town Councilman, followed by nearly four years as Erie County Clerk.
She also worked at M&T Bank, as a lawyer in a Washington city law firm, and as counsel and counsel to two former New York Democratic politicians: Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Rep. John Joseph LaFalce.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Hochul founded in 2006 with her mother and aunt a halfway house in Buffalo for victims of domestic violence called Kathleen Mary House. In 2014, she told Politico that her grandmother had been a victim of abuse, prompting her and her family’s activism on this issue.
Now 64, one of his biggest challenges since taking office has been getting out of Cuomo’s long shadow and winning over the leaders and lawmakers who used to clash with him.
Lee Zeldin
Republican Lee Zeldin—a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump—announced in April 2021 that he would run for governor of New York, arguing that he was running “to save our state.”
“From fiscal policy to public safety, through the attacks on our freedoms, we are seeing a governor weakened by all the scandals, the loss of life, the cover-up, the investigations (…); he affects us in many ways and it is time we do something about it,” Zeldin said in announcing his candidacy. Zeldin also made his announcement a Twitterwhere he said that “what was a beacon of what America could be has gone out” and that Cuomo is at the “helm” of the “fall of New York”.
US candidate Lee Zeldin (Republican of New York) participates in the annual Columbus Day parade (Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Since Cuomo tendered his resignation over the complaints against him, Republicans have realized that an opportunity could open up for them in the heavily Democrat-dominated state.
In October of this year, a shooting in which two teenagers were injured on Zeldin’s property gave the candidate the opportunity to deepen his discourse on the public safety crisis and the increase in crime in the state. He also used it to challenge Hochul over a controversial bail reform law enacted more than three years ago.
In addition to his focus on crime, Zeldin has taken aim at the Hochul administration with the script of the Republican Party in general, emphasizing the problems of the economy and inflation.
Zeldin was a strong supporter of Trump during his presidency, even defending him publicly during the second impeachment trial against him. He also echoed Trump’s baseless claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election and voted against certifying the 2020 election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Lee Zeldin (Republican of New York) at a press conference on the military conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza outside the US Capitol on May 19, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Zeldin was first elected to Congress in 2014, after serving four years in the New York State Senate.
The last Republican Party victory in New York state came in 2002, when Governor George Pataki won his third term.
