Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) is enjoying the backing of a Democrat on the New York City Council as he apparently gains ground in his uphill quest for governor.
Councilman Robert Holden is endorsing Zeldin because he has been disgruntled with incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul’s management of various problems plaguing New Yorkers, such as crime, he said Wednesday.
LEE ZELDIN CLOSING IN ON KATHY HOCHUL IN NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S RACE: POLL
“Fifty years I’ve been a Democrat, and we can see it on our streets. Anytime you go outside in New York City, there seems to be problems,” Holden told Fox News. “I’m a commonsense Democrat. That means I’ll endorse Republicans when I think they’re better for the job, and certainly, Lee Zeldin is better for the job than Kathy Hochul, our current governor.”
Holden represents District 30 in the city. New York City has seen a jump in certain types of crime this year. Although homicides are down, robberies have spiked from 12,096 to 8,711 compared to last year, according to year-to-date data from the New York Police Department.
DEMOCRAT NYC Councilman Robert Holden endorses @leezeldin
“I am a common sense Democrat that means I will endorse Republicans when I think they are better for the job and certainly Lee Zeldin is better for the job than Kathy Hochul”
“We are under siege & we need help” pic.twitter.com/2pucWLZNr9
— Brianna Lyman (@briannalyman2) September 14, 2022
He dinged Hochul for her failure to stop the “revolving door that we have in our courts” and argued, “We’re under siege here and we need help.”
But crime isn’t the only topic motivating Holden’s defection to Zeldin, saying he is also concerned about New Yorkers moving to Florida and COVID-19 suppression measures.
“The ridiculous mandates that she put on on the population and continues to do so, even though we’re kind of out of the pandemic,” the councilman said. “Look at the numbers — 61,000, over 61,000 New York state residents switched to Florida license plates last year. And it’s going to be surpassed in 2022.”
“I’m getting a lot of people coming out and saying, ‘Great. You know, it’s wonderful that you’re doing that. You have guts.’ It’s not guts. It’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Holden isn’t the only Democrat in Zeldin’s corner for the governor’s race. The Republican nominee is also enjoying the backing of Rev. Ruben Diaz, a former New York state senator and member of the City Council, and former Assemblyman Dov Hikind, the New York Daily News reported.
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Hochul and other Democrats have painted Zeldin as an extremist who wants to ban abortion and propel the MAGA agenda. During a rally last month, she told supporters he should “just jump on a bus and head down to Florida, where you belong.”
Polling consistently shows Zeldin trailing Hochul in the battle for governor, though he appears to have gained ground in the heavily Democratic-leaning Empire State. He is down by a considerable 10-percentage-point margin against her in the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
