The host of “The Five” criticizes New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s ongoing attitude on the crime surge in the Empire State.
According to a Thursday New York Times article, Democrats are “frantic” at reports that the campaign for governor between Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-New York, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-New York, is becoming more competitive.
The publication said that the party and its supporters, including labor unions, have “gone into overdrive” to support and donate to Hochul, who appears to be losing ground with Black and Latino voters, in an article headed “As Governor’s Race Tightens, a Frantic Call to Action Among Democrats.”
According to current polling, Zeldin is inching closer to Hochul.
You don’t need to examine the most recent polls to recognize that the race for governor of New York between Gov. Kathy Hochul and Representative Lee Zeldin appears to be tightening up — just follow the line of Democrats’ summons to action this week, The Times stated in its opening paragraph.
Republicans Lee Zeldin and Kathy Hochul, the current Democratic governor of New York. from Getty Images
According to the newspaper, Democrats “and their supporters” were making a frantic effort to retain Ms. Hochul in office by spending millions on last-minute advertisements and holding a flurry of campaign rallies to rouse their base.
Democrats have been concerned that “their traditionally steady bedrock of Black and Latino voters might not turn out,” the article’s addendum stated.
In a statement that read, “Labor unions have gone into overdrive, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on television and radio ads to cajole those voters to turn out for Ms. Hochul,” it was noted that labor unions had done a lot of the heavy lifting to elect the Democratic incumbent in November.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, is also supporting the incumbent governor in his political endeavors. Hochul will also campaign in “southeast Queens with Mayor Eric Adams over the weekend,” according to the newspaper, who called him “a party power broker whose Brooklyn district delivers key votes for the Democratic base.”
According to the article, the Hochul campaign is so determined to succeed that it “has even turned to its former adversaries for help, including progressive lawmakers who opposed her during the Democratic primary in June, and the left-leaning Working Families Party, which called for a ’emergency all-hands-on-deck meeting’ of its leadership earlier this week to mobilize in favor of Ms. Hochul.
On Tuesday, September 20, 2022, in New York, the US, Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, addresses at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual gathering. (Image courtesy of Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty)
The Times acknowledged Hochul’s lead in the polls but said, “she also still has an overwhelming financial lead over Mr. Zeldin, as well as an electoral one: Democratic voters outweigh Republicans in New York by a two to one margin.”
It was stated in the newspaper that “many Democrats have grown anxious that they have not done enough to stir the party’s liberal base in New York, where Ms. Hochul’s win was long thought to be safe.”
According to the New York Times, the situation has changed: “Recent public polls show Mr. Zeldin, a Republican congressman from Long Island, drawing closer to Ms. Hochul, and during a head-to-head debate on Tuesday, Mr. Zeldin repeatedly tried to appeal to New Yorkers disenchanted with the economy or afraid of crime.” ‘
Nevertheless, the newspaper stated that Democratic strategists predict Hochul will more than balance any advances Mr. Zeldin makes in the suburbs and rural expanses of upstate, where “Zeldin” is more competitive, as long as Hochul garners enough votes in New York City.
Reiterating the party’s worries about Hochul, The Times reported that Democratic operatives “have questioned whether Ms. Hochul, who is from western New York, has done enough to energize minority voters in the city.”
Others have expressed worries that her campaign, which has been mostly managed by outside consultants, has fallen short in terms of traditional organizing strategies and voter mobilization, and may have depended too heavily on the prestige of the governor’s office and not enough on retail politics.
Others remark that Ms. Hochul did not begin to frequently appear at Black churches, typical campaign locations for Democratic leaders, until quite recently, the article said, giving an example.
We’re realizing there is some voter apathy and a fear that people are staying home, so we want to remind people not to stay home and what’s at stake in this election, Candis Tolliver, political director for 32BJ SEIU, one of the unions contributing sizable sums of money to Hochul’s campaign, told the Times.
Fox News Digital’s assistant editor is Gabriel Hays.
