New York elections: GOP chooses Zeldin, Democrats picks Hochul

 

Photo Credit: AP.

Republicans on Tuesday chose Lee Zeldin while Democrats on the other hand, picked serving governor Kathy Hochul in the New York primary elections. The state governorship election is coming up in November later this year. Hochul was serving as a lieutenant governor last year until Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned over sexual harassment allegations. 

Huchul beat New York City’s elected public advocate, Jumaane Williams, and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, from Long Island.

Speaking after his victory, Hochul said:

“I’m also here because I stand on the shoulders of generations of women, generations of women who constantly had to bang up against that glass ceiling. To the women of New York, this one’s for you,” The Associated Press reports.

The Republican nominee U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin won the Republican Party’s nomination on Tuesday. He is a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump and voted against certifying the 2020 election results following the defeat of Donald Trump.

“Are we ready to fire Kathy Hochul?” Zeldin said to cheers as he spoke at a victory party on Long Island, according to The Associated Press.

The Associated Press reported that Zeldin will become the first Republican elected governor in New York since Gov. George Patak was reelected in 2002.

“This November, in the state of New York, one-party rule will end,” he said, according to the website. “Kathy Hochul will get fired. We will restore balance and common sense to Albany again.”

Hochul used her Tuesday victory speech to reiterate her commitment to protect abortion rights which has been a key focus of her campaign.

 She said New York had “gone on offense to protect abortion rights” and “making the world know that New York State is a safe harbor for America’s women.”

 The U.S. Supreme Court had recently overturned the Roe v Wade precedent which provident unprecedented access to abortion for women of reproductive age.

Zeldin is an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who began representing eastern Long Island in Congress since 2015.

He defeated former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, businessman Harry Wilson and Andrew Giuliani. Andrew Giuliani is the son of New York City’s former mayor Rudy Giuliani, a close ally of Trump. Zeldin said he would fight crime and had criticized Hochul for not toughening the state’s bail laws, for imposing COVID-19 mitigation mandates and for rising costs, according to The Associated Press.

Zeldin described her administration as the “Cuomo-Hochul Administration.”

“New Yorkers are hitting their breaking point. They’re deciding whether or not to stay here or head to other places,” he said.