Some New York Democrats, disaffected with rising crime and left-wing policy priorities, now say they are ditching their party’s nominee, Gov. Kathy Hochul, in favor of Republican challenger Lee Zeldin ahead of the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election.
“We have a Democratic machine that has gone far too left – too extreme for even those moderate Democrats,” John Orlando, president of the New Era Democrats, said at a Monday press conference.
An endorsement by the Brooklyn-based New Era Democrats – which has backed lefty pols like former Mayor Bill de Blasio and presidential candidate Andrew Yang in the past – is one more sign of how Zeldin is wooing some party members away from Hochul as the race heats up.
“Lee is my candidate. He’s against crime. Hochul’s for crime. She refused to make any major changes to the bail law,” said the Rev. Rubén DÃaz, Sr., a former city councilman who hosted Zeldin at his Bronx church last week.
Hochul has dodged questions on controversial public safety issues like repealing qualified immunity and changing cash bail laws by arguing that the timing was not good to express an opinion despite harsh criticism from her Republican opponent.
“Hochul’s no-response to crime attacks is likely giving the Republican what he wants,” political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Post.
A Hochul spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Support from conservative Democrats, and moderate voters more generally, could help Zeldin win despite Hochul’s currently big leads with fundraising and polling in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly two-to-one.
“I’m supporting Lee Zeldin. He’s the only choice with the mess New York is in. Does anyone believe that Hochul will make change and stand up to the radical wing of the Democratic Party?” former Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind asked Monday.
A Siena College poll released earlier this month showed Zeldin with a two-point lead among independent voters – 44% to 42% – and three-point leads upstate and in the suburbs despite Hochul’s overall 53% to 39% advantage in the poll of likely voters.
While Hochul and Zeldin each have 12% support from members of the opposite party, his 84% support among Republicans was higher than her 81% support among members of her own party in the poll, which had a margin of error of 3.5%.
Political experts say Zeldin will need more support than that from Democrats and independents to become the first Republican to win statewide in two decades, given efforts by Hochul to cast him as an extremist in line with former President Donald Trump.
“He positioned himself as the greatest of Trump acolytes in his primary which gives him no room to move to the center. Whatever disaffected or moderate Democrats there are, they’ll likely side with the party on issue of choice and fighting threats to democracy,” political consultant Basil Smikle, Jr., a former executive director of the state Democratic Party, said Monday.
Hochul has yet to announce any endorsements from Republicans or conservative groups, however, while the endorsement from New Era Democrats is part of a growing list of Dems who say they feel more at home with Zeldin than the party of Hochul and firebrand socialist Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Bronx-Queens).
Support from iconoclastic Democrats like Diaz comes as Zeldin aims to drive a wedge between Hochul and political moderates who might thing she has gone too far in efforts to make New York a beacon of progressive politics.
“Hochul is spending $25 million to make New York the abortion capital of America. We are against killing babies,” Diaz thundered Monday.
