Before the 2022 midterm elections, former President Donald Trump continues to have a significant impact on political contests, especially statewide contests.
The Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul took over as governor of New York when former Andrew Cuomo resigned last fall amid a roiling sex harassment scandal. According to the New York Post, Trump assisted GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin in raising about $1.5 million for his gubernatorial campaign against Hochul.
The money for Zeldin was raised during a reception held at the New Jersey residence of the Chera real estate family, where Trump appeared and campaigned for Zeldin on Sunday, according to The Post.
Zeldin helped the former president during “impeachment hoax number one, impeachment hoax number two, and a bunch other scams,” as well as court actions attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election.
“I faced off against these lunatics. According to a recording The Post got from the event, Trump said that he had “one of those tremendous voices.” Go lend a hand to Lee Zeldin.
Trump also praised his government for keeping its commitment to relocate the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama made similar promises but failed to follow through.
Zeldin, a Jew, spoke at the occasion as well and mentioned that Trump had backed him ever since his maiden bid for Congress in 2014.
“You can refer to some of the people you meet in politics as friends. These are the individuals who appear the day after you win. They claim to have been present at all times. They weren’t, I’m pretty sure. Then again, they are our friends,” Zeldin added during the occasion. He has a large and devoted following of people who support him and think highly of him. They also think that his policies have been and continue to be good for America.
Zeldin has been falling short of Hochul in the polls and terms of funding. Before the Sunday event, her campaign was said to have about $11.7 million on hand vs about $1.6 million for Zeldin.
Nevertheless, with around two months until the election, some surveys race narrowing, The Post noted, adding:
Hochul, who has claimed to voters that Zeldin’s backing for Trump makes him too extremist to lead the Empire State, has a significant funding advantage over Zeldin
In a recent press release highlighting information about Zeldin’s fundraising challenges in comparison to the incumbent Democrat, her campaign said that Zeldin was “desperately hunting for funds and a route ahead by doubling down on his devotion to the far-right MAGA agenda.”
The Republican congressman and former state senator have focused his vigorous campaigning on the subjects he believes New Yorkers should be most concerned about, such as the rise in violent crime. Additionally, The Post reported that Zeldin’s former colleague Ruben Diaz Sr., who served with Zeldin while he was in the New York Senate, is seeking his support from more moderate Democrats who are fed up with their party.
Zeldin said on Sunday about the New York City mayor’s attempts to block so-called “bail reform” in the face of opposition from Democrats like Hochul, whom Adams has yet praised, that “this isn’t about politics.”
Zeldin asserted on Sunday that he could still win in a blue state where Democratic registered voters outnumber Republicans by about a two-to-one margin while continuing to be at a significant disadvantage in polls and funding. Governor George Pataki was the last Republican to win a statewide election in 2002
