Zeldin Earns Donald Trump’s “Complete and Total” Endorsement
By Dan Murphy
With the race for Governor tightening between Governor Kathy Hochul and republican challenger Congressman Lee Zeldin, former President Donald Trump endorsed Zeldin on October 16.
“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, and has my Complete & Total Endorsement. GOOD LUCK LEE!” posted Trump on Truth Social.
The endorsement was promoted and highlighted in the NY Media by the Hochul campaign, who wrote “Just three weeks before election day, MAGA Republican Lee Zeldin scored a long-awaited endorsement from disgraced former president Donald Trump — a stamp of approval he’s been chasing for months.”
Trump held a fundraiser for Zeldin in September, and Zeldin has said that he would consider campaigning with Trump before election day Nov. 8.
Zeldin was also one of more than 150 republicans in Congress to vote against certifying the Presidential election results of 2020. Trump remains underwater in NY, with more than 60% having an unfavorable opinion of the former President.
But Zeldin has not backed off his ties to Trump and thinks that the media is exaggerating its importance. “There are people who are obsessed over this theory that the top three issues of New Yorkers are orange man bad, orange man bad, orange man bad,” said Zeldin earlier this year.
Former Republican George Pataki, said that is was “not a winning strategy,” for Zeldin to stay close to Trump.
But recent polling has the race for NY Governor closer each month, with RealClearPolics average of all polls giving Hochul a lead of 5.3%, and they now call the race a “Toss Up.”
“With an endorsement from Trump himself, Lee Zeldin now has a formal stamp of approval as the most extreme and dangerous candidate to ever run for governor in New York State history,” said Campaign Spokesman Jerrel Harvey. “While Trump’s endorsement doesn’t come as a surprise, becoming the former president’s handpicked choice for governor proves Zeldin’s full embrace of the MAGA agenda and shows just how out of touch he is with New York voters.”
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