NY Governor’s Race by Tom Reynolds
Many gun owners will not vote and one of their excuses is that they cannot overcome the NY City population advantage so…why bother. But that excuse doesn’t seem to hold-much-water in this year’s elections.
Real Clear Politics (RCP) tries to compile the results of several polls in order to get a truer picture of a race. Just after Labor Day, when voters are only starting to pay attention, Lee Zeldin trailed Kathy Hochul by 14 to 16 points in the governor’s race.
As voters started paying attention, Zeldin’s polls got better and RCP rated the race as “Leans Democrat”, a tighter category.
Now, RCP rates the race as a “Toss Up”. Hochul’s lead is only a few points and dropping.
Trafalgar, which has a history of being an outlier - but a correct outlier - has Hochul ahead by only 2 points.
Doug Schoen, a Democratic strategist and consultant to President Bill Clinton, said, “It’s a very competitive race.”
A “toss up.” “Competitive.” Perhaps those non-voting gun owners should start paying attention because, as voters learn the difference between the two, Zeldin is gaining momentum.
This is especially true in bigger cities where increased crime is a huge issue. Zeldin says he will fire Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg and Hochul won’t. Zeldin vows to fix no-bail and other “reform” disasters and Hochul’s attitude is: change – what change?
Hochul Is also burdened with her party’s politics that have opened our borders to unprecedented illegal immigration leading to increased crime and drug trafficking. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) rates New York State as an illegal alien sanctuary on the basis of a Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2017 Executive Order, which covered state agencies. In 2018, a New York state appeals court ruled that state and local governments cannot honor ICE immigration detainers. New York also began allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses in 2019. NY City tried allowing non-citizens to vote but that was struck down by the courts.
Hochul also has several ethical issues focusing around money, the number of which is impressive considering her short time in office. Trust the main stream media to take-a-pass on this, as they did with Hunter Biden. But it is worthwhile to read SCOPE’s report of September 22nd “Following in Andrew’s Footsteps”. S.C.O.P.E. Shooters Committee On Political Education - Following in Andrew’s Footsteps (scopeny2a.org)
Per the NY Times, Hochul “will enter the homestretch of the race with nearly $10.9 million in cash at her disposal — two and a half times as much money as Mr. Zeldin.” But Evan Stavisky, a Democratic strategist, said “Lee Zeldin is raising enough money to run a more competitive race than the last few Republican gubernatorial nominees.”
Zeldin’s goal is to inform the electorate. Like Democrat candidates nationwide, Hochul is trying to distract voters from the issues voters are most concerned with, since the Democrats have been in power when most of these problems were created. Distraction costs a lot more. Hochul has spent more than $1.5 million a week, since Labor Day, in an ad campaign to try to highlight Zeldin’s opposition to abortion and support for President Trump. Inflation, crime, immigration, drugs, murders and assaults…not so much.
Lee Zeldin is generally considered the strongest Conservative Republican candidate for governor in many years and solidly supports the 2nd Amendment. Both SCOPE Chairman Jack Prendergast and SCOPE President Tom Reynolds have spoken with him several times and they are convinced his positions on 2A are NOT lip service and that he genuinely believes in and understands the right to “keep and bear arms”.
Kathy Hochul’s opposition to the 2nd Amendment has been well documented by SCOPE in Emails over the past few weeks.
Here’s a prediction: Hochul will start accusing Zeldin of racism in his fight against crime. This has been a favorite strategy of Democrats since the first George Bush highlighted Willie Horton in ad campaigns. For those that don’t remember, Horton was a convicted felon who, while serving a life sentence for murder without the possibility of parole, was the beneficiary of a Massachusetts weekend furlough program while Bush’s opponent was governor of Massachusetts. Horton did not return from his weekend furlough and committed assault, armed robbery, and rape before being captured. That Bush pointed this out was considered by the left as being racist.
A weekend furlough for a convicted murderer! And you though New York’s new bail laws were crazy.
Former President Trump endorsed Zeldin with these words. "I have watched and known Congressman Lee Zeldin for many years. He is a great and brilliant lawyer who was a ‘must see’ for others in Congress when they had a complex legal problem that was holding up legislation…Lee was strong on the Border, Crime, our great Military & Vets (like few others!), and fought hard to protect our 2nd Amendment, and succeeded. Lee Zeldin is a WINNER who GOT THINGS DONE. He will be a GREAT Governor of New York...”
There are an estimated 5 million gun owners in NY State and when Andrew Cuomo was reelected in 2014, 3.8 million total votes were cast and Cuomo won with 2.1 million votes. If gun owners had shown up to vote…
