Lee Zeldin, a supporter of Trump, wagers that New York will vote to remove Hochul in November.

In New York, Republicans haven’t prevailed in a governor election in 20 years. Long Island-based Republican congressman Lee Zeldin wants to alter that.

Zeldin won the GOP primary on Tuesday after defeating three challengers. He will now take on Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, who was elected to the position last year after Andrew Cuomo resigned due to charges of sexual harassment.
The route to Albany for a Republican in a firmly Democratic state like New York has always been difficult, but Zeldin and his allies claim this year is different. Some GOP strategists believe that if a change in the wind occurred in the wake of the greatest inflation rates in forty years, growing worries about public safety, and an anticipated national Republican wave,

In an interview conducted before the primaries, Zeldin stated that “there are millions of people who aren’t Republican or Democrat.” “They swung left in a year like 2018. They are swinging right in a year like 2022.

Zeldin, a 42-year-old former US Army intelligence officer and attorney who served a tour of duty in Iraq in 2006, is hoping that his campaign’s emphasis on the economy and public safety will outweigh his outspoken support for former president Donald Trump, who is still incredibly unpopular in his home state. Zeldin joined his more than 100 fellow Republican House members in voting against the certification of President Joe Biden’s election on January 7.

Democrats are doing a grave injustice, according to Zeldin, who served on Trump’s media response team during his first impeachment trial in 2020, if they concentrate on his backing for the outgoing leader.

If the Democrats continue to fixate on it and not just persuade themselves of it, Zeldin said, “The Democrats are heading directly into their own trap.” If somebody were out there attempting to help me out by giving them poor advise, tell them to certainly obsess about Trump in September and October when I’m talking about the issues that are driving New Yorkers to the brink of insanity.

Abortion Decision
The fact that the electoral environment for Republicans became more challenging following the US Supreme Court ruling on June 24, which struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, presents another hurdle for Zeldin, a four-term congressman who has won seven straight elections. According to a recent study, 63% of New York state’s registered voters favour strengthening the legal safeguards for those seeking abortions. In the state, Democrats outweigh Republicans by a ratio of more than two to one.

Lee Zeldin released a statement praising the “win for life” an hour after the Supreme Court decision was announced. Zeldin stated that if elected, he will do everything in his power to overturn New York laws that permit late-term abortions when a woman’s health is at risk.

“Since before it was formally enacted and signed into law, I have opposed the legalisation of late-term and partial-birth abortions,” he declared. I didn’t support legalising it back then, I didn’t support legalising it now, and I won’t support legalising it tomorrow.

In an election when he will need to attract independent female voters to carve out a road to success, Zeldin’s wholehearted support for the Supreme Court ruling, according to veteran Republican strategist Tom Doherty, was a critical error. According to surveys, around a third of Americans who are registered to vote identify as independents.

Doherty, a former employee of George Pataki, the three-term Republican governor who was infamously pro-choice, claimed that this is the antithesis of how Pataki would have reacted. Where is the way, I wonder when I see Zeldin make a comment like that?

However, the Zeldin team is betting that concerns about the economy and public safety will triumph among voters in November, giving him the edge against Hochul. Residents of the suburbs are experiencing difficulty at the gas pump, while an increasing percentage of New York City residents claim they are frightened to utilise public transportation. The congressman’s support from the Asian Wave Alliance, a recently founded nonpartisan organisation, was motivated by those two crucial concerns — the economy and crime.

Yiatin Chu, the alliance’s president and a well-known supporter of merit-based education in municipal politics, said why her organisation is endorsing Zeldin: “It’s the subway assaults.” You can’t open a Chinese newspaper without finding news of a crime or an attack every day.

Public Security
The public safety measures in Lee Zeldin plan go well beyond those for late-night travellers. If elected, he promises to undo the reform of cash bail, expand the state’s police force, strengthen qualified immunity, reform the parole hearing procedure, and repeal the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, a law Hochul signed in March that limited the use of solitary confinement in New York prisons, a form of punishment that the UN considers torture.

In a contest where the nominee must win over independents as well as disaffected Democrats, GOP strategists believe that going all-in on a “law and order” plan is the safest choice. In a recent Siena College survey, 92 percent of New York’s registered voters said they thought crime was a “very significant” or “fairly serious” problem in the state.

Zeldin supported property tax limitations in the state Senate, opposed same-sex marriage legalisation, presented legislation to stop the Common Core curriculum in public schools, and voted against a measure allowing undocumented students to be eligible for in-state university financial assistance.