Exactly one week after President Joe Biden warned that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremist threat to the U.S., New York Democrats on Thursday sounded the alarm about who they say represents an extremist threat to the state: GOP gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin.
Standing behind a mobile billboard showing a photoshopped image of Zeldin in a red "Make America Great Again" cap, Erie County Democrats labeled Zeldin an extremist with radical views on everything from abortion to democracy itself.
“Lee Zeldin is not your typical Republican,” said Erie County Democratic Committee Chair Jeremy Zellner. “He is part of the far-right fringe of the Republican Party, and his dangerous agenda is way out of touch with New Yorkers.”
The West Seneca news conference was the first stop of what the New York State Democratic Party is calling the “New Yorkers Against Extreme Lee Zeldin” tour. It comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul launches what’s been reported to be a $2 million campaign blitz casting Zeldin as an extremist.
As for whether voters will be receptive to that strategy, Zellner points to the fact controversial Buffalo real estate developer Carl Paladino lost the GOP primary for New York’s 23rd Congressional District last month.
“They voted for a less extremist person and they voted against Carl Paladino,” Zellner said. “So I think New Yorkers are ready to move on, and I think that us sounding the alarm today that Lee Zeldin is not your grandfather's Republican resonates.”
Asked for a response, Zeldin’s campaign points to comments Zeldin made Tuesday in Manhattan.
“I believe it's extreme that Kathy Hochul refuses to repeal cashless bail,” he told reporters. “I believe that it's extreme when we watch videos on a Monday morning of all the crime that took place around the city, all weekend long, and Kathy Hochul doesn't do anything about it.”
Still, Erie County Democrats pointed to Zeldin’s stance on issues like reproductive rights. The Long Island congressman co-sponsored legislationthat would federally ban abortions after 20 weeks — with a few exceptions — and called the overturning of Roe V. Wade “a victory.”
While Zeldin couldn’t ban abortion in New York without the Legislature, he told anti-abortion group New York Right to Life that he’d appoint a state health commissioner who is anti-abortion, according to NY1.
“It is astonishingly arrogant, and it is astonishingly anti-woman,” said state Assemblymember Monica Wallace, a Cheektowaga Democrat. “He's basically saying to every woman in New York, ‘Don't you worry, honey, I got this. I'll make this decision for you.’”
Democrats also say Zeldin is a threat to democracy, pointing to his connections to Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Zeldin voted against certifying Biden’s 2020 victory in several states, and just this past week, Trump attended a Zeldin fundraiser in New Jersey.
“So what happens when individuals like this continue to perpetuate a lie and want to be the governor of the state of New York?” said County Executive Mark Poloncarz. “We know what happens: They will follow the same playbook as Donald Trump, disregarding not only the U.S. Constitution, but the New York constitution.”
Election Day is Nov. 8.
