Rep. Lee Zeldin closes in on Gov. Hochul in new poll: 'People want to save the state'
New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin (R) discusses his odds of defeating incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and announces his plans to change the trajectory of New York's crime crisis.
New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin is in a tight race against Democrat incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, and on Sunday he discussed what he hopes to do as soon as possible if he wins.
In an interview with "Sunday Morning Futures," host Maria Bartiromo asked what Zeldin's first 100 days in office would look like. Zeldin said his plans are far more immediate than that.
"I want to do everything I possibly can in the first 100 minutes," Zeldin said. "I want to have a very active day one. I just announced a couple days ago that as soon as I am sworn into office I'm going to be declaring a crime emergency here in the state of New York, I'm going to suspend New York's cashless bail laws and some other pro-criminal laws that have been passed, force the legislature to come to the table to negotiate an improvement because we have to take back our streets."
Zeldin also recalled how he already said that his first act in office would be to remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
NEW YORK GOVERNOR RACE BETWEEN GOV. HOCHUL AND REP. ZELDIN TIGHTENS TO ‘TOSS UP’
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 05: Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) participates in the annual West Indian Day parade on September 5, 2022 in the Brooklyn Borough of New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images) (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
"But it doesn't stop there," Zeldin said. He added that laws like the one that raised the age when someone can be prosecuted as an adult to18 and newly-implemented parole reforms under the Less is More Act "are resulting in people getting hurt."
The Republican added later in the interview that police "should have all the tools and resources they need to do their job safely and effectively."
NEW YORK GOV. KATHY HOCHUL SAYS STATE'S MIGRANT CRISIS NEEDS ‘FEDERAL SOLUTION’
Zeldin said that if he is elected, people currently looking to move out of New York due to rising crime will change their minds because they will see the city "is heading for a different direction."
Hourse before the interview aired, Zeldin received an enthusiastic endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
"I have watched and known Congressman Lee Zeldin for many years. He is a great and brilliant lawyer who was a ‘must see’ for others in Congress when they had a complex legal problem that was holding up legislation," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The former president added that "Zeldin is a WINNER who GOT THINGS DONE," "will be a GREAT Governor of New York, and has my Complete & Total Endorsement."
In response, Hochul's campaign said the endorsement "proves Zeldin’s full embrace of the MAGA agenda and shows just how out of touch he is with New York voters."
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