Kathy Hochul’s reelection strategy is not working as planned. After enjoying a comfortable lead over Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin all summer long, the tide seems to be turning. Hochul’s strategy has been to pound Zeldin as an anti-abortion, Donald Trump follower, but now Hochul is finding out what other Democrats across the nation are also learning: these are not the top priority issues for voters. Crime and the economy are crowding out abortion rights and the former president’s troubles as top of mind issues.
The New York governor is responding with a last-minute shift in approach just weeks ahead of the election by promoting her efforts to create jobs and fight crime. “You deserve to feel safe,” Hochul says in a new TV ad released Saturday as part of a $1 million-plus buy in New York City. “And as your governor, I won’t stop working until you do.”
A similar shift in themes has played out across the nation in recent weeks as Republicans in Senate races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have found success with putting more emphasis on crime, as well as in Oregon’s open race for governor that has become surprisingly close.
Zeldin, a congressman from Long Island, holds almost daily press conferences outside subway stations in New York City to highlight violent crime and what he argues is Hochul’s failure to address it – aided by millions of dollars in ads from his campaign and a super PAC drilling home that message.
New polls this week showed the race tightening — maybe to low single digits, uncomfortably close for Democrats after two decades of statewide dominance in New York.
A Siena College poll Tuesday showed Hochul with an 11-percentage-point lead over Zeldin, down from 17 points a month ago. Later in the day, a Quinnipiac University poll gave Hochul a 4-point lead, raising the prospect of a remarkable upset in the blue state. The Quinnipiac poll ranked crime as the top issue among voters — above protecting democracy.
Hochul’s advisers say the governor’s closing message ahead of Nov. 8 will emphasize those additional themes and, in particular, specific actions she’s taken since assuming office last year.
“These are the things we’re going to have to talk to voters more about, that I think are important to voters,” State Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs said in an interview, before going after Zeldin. “He can complain and bellyache. He does that very well. She produces. That’s what it’s all about
