Wilson attacks GOP Endorsed Candidate for Governor in TV Ads
By Dan Murphy
Harry Wilson, republican candidate for NY Governor, launched a TV ad tying Congressman Lee Zeldin, the NY Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for Governor, for his past association and support for former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Titled, “Cuomo’s favorite Republican,” Wilson’s AD states, “In Albany, Lee Zeldin was Andrew Cuomo’s favorite Republican. He voted for Cuomo’s billion-dollar tax hike in every Cuomo budget. No wonder Zeldin said Cuomo should be president. No wonder Zeldin said Cuomo should be president. If you (Cuomo) were in the White House right now, our nation would be in a better place.”
Zeldin served in the NY State Senate before serving in Congress, and made the comments while a State Senator in his first term in 2010-11.
Wilson then narrates the rest of the TV ad, saying “Lee Zeldin has it all wrong, New York needs fundamental change. A politician can’t do that. I will. I’ll fight crime, deliver the biggest tax cut ever and stop corrupt, go-along-to-get- along politicians of both parties. That’s how we turn around New York.”
Wilson’s attack on Zeldin has also been echoed by the other two republicans in the race for NY Governor: Andrew Giuliani and Rob Astorino. But neither have the resources that Wilson has to put these ads on the air. Reports have the Wilson campaign spending $1 Million on the Zeldin-Cuomo ad buy, and when he announced his campaign for Governor, Wilson said that he would spend $12 Million out of his personal fortune to become the next Governor.
Zeldin’s campaign spokesperson Katie Vincentz blasted Wilson, telling the NY Post, “Harry come lately is going to get crushed in a Republican Party primary for governor for the best of reasons. No surprise that liberal Harry Wilson’s first fictitious attack ad is against a Republican and not Kathy Hochul. Liberal Harry Wilson refused to vote for the sitting Republican Party President Donald Trump in 2020, but donated to Alvin Bragg’s campaign for Manhattan District Attorney. How backwards is that?”
But Vincentz was unable to explain away Zeldin’s embrace of the disgraced former Governor. “Congressman Zeldin then endorsed and campaigned with the Republican candidates for Governor against Cuomo in 2014 and 2018. He’s also been leading the charge calling for Cuomo’s prosecution for his wide-ranging misconduct. It’s not surprising that Liberal Harry Wilson is attacking Congressman Zeldin for saying Cuomo may have been a better President than Barack Obama in 2011 being that Obama was Liberal Harry’s boss!”
Wilson served on President Obama’s Auto Restructuring Task Force in 2008, when the American economy was collapsing. Wilson helped save General Motors from Bankruptcy, and many New Yorkers want Wilson to help save New Yorkers from their own state government.
The Zeldin’s campaign explanation that he wanted Cuomo for President instead of Obama for President is strange and curious. If you asked many New Yorkers to pick between Andrew Cuomo and President Obama, their answer would be ‘neither.’
But Zeldin did explain that he campaigned for Rob Astorino for Governor in 2014 and Marc Molinaro for Governor in 2018, both republicans who ran against Cuomo. The Zeldin campaign also identified another interesting fact for moderate and independent minded New Yorkers: that Zeldin voted for President Trump in 2020 while Wilson did not.
Zeldin’s passion for Trump to be re-elected ran so deep that Zeldin voted not to certify the election results of 2020 in the states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.
