U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, the favored gubernatorial candidate of state Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy, told Capital Tonight that Attorney General Letitia James has the most likely path to the Democratic Party’s nomination for the same office.
“We believe that she is most likely to be our opponent for the general election,” Zeldin said. “She is going to have the primary – not to herself – with others drawing some support from her. Jumaane Williams comes from her base in New York City.”
Another candidate who Zeldin believes might make inroads into James’ base is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“If he was to draw any votes, it probably would most likely come from New York City,” Zeldin said.
Continuing his analysis of the Democratic field, Zeldin commented that Gov. Kathy Hochul could see a challenge from fellow Long Islander Rep. Tom Suozzi.
“As far as our efforts go, we’re just going to continue campaigning hard all across the state," Zeldin said.
Zeldin said he has been to every county at least twice to build up support and raise money. He believes that last week’s elections have shown that Republicans can win in New York state.
“The issues are on our side. We saw that [on] Nov. 2 with a whole lot of seats flipping from blue to red,” he commented.
According to Zeldin, public safety and education will be the top issues in the race.
Capital Tonight also spoke with Zeldin about veterans’ issues and the just-released transcripts of the attorney general’s investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Some of these cases, there is a lot more evidence that substantiated allegations. Any process starts when someone makes an allegation. But what we saw with these investigations continuing is that you had more and more substantiation to those charges and the governor looked worse and worse,” Zeldin said. “He looked more guilty.”