New York Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin is set to debate incumbent Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday (Oct. 25). The debate will be broadcast on Spectrum News NY1.
The debate comes after months in which Zeldin urged Hochul to face him in a debate, calling her a “coward.”
Zeldin, a US Congress member who represents parts of Long Island, said in a statement that he has “tirelessly called on Hochul to accept a series of debates on broadcast and across various media markets.
“The first question should be why Kathy Hochul thinks that the bare minimum, rock-bottom standard of a single cable debate for one hour after so many New Yorkers have already cast their vote is what she thinks the people of New York deserve,” he said.
Zeldin has managed to narrow the gap with Hochul from more than 30 percentage points this summer to a mere four to six percentage points in the most recent polls.
In response, Hochul campaign spokesperson Jerrel Harvey said that “after months of hiding, we’re glad that Congressman Zeldin has finally agreed to participate” in the debate. He added the governor “looks forward to highlighting her strong record of delivering results and exposing Lee Zeldin’s dangerous lies.”
Harvey did not specify which “dangerous lies” the campaign was referring to.
