NY GOP Governor Candidates Debate Crime, Economy and Trump
ALBANY (AP) — Four Republican candidates for New York governor faced off Monday in their first broadcast debate, trying to bruise each other — and Democrats — with two weeks to go until the state’s primary election.
Some of the sharpest exchanges of the night came between U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin and businessman Harry Wilson, who has said he didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2020.
Zeldin repeatedly assailed Wilson as a “Never Trumper” and a “Republican in name only.” The businessman responded by dismissing Zeldin as a “failed politician,” and said that in January, Zeldin had asked him to be his running mate, which Zeldin forcefully disputed.
By Tuesday, Wilson, through his campaign spokesperson Alex Wilkes, told The Associated Press that he meant to say that Zeldin had asked him to run as state comptroller as part of his slate of candidates.
But Wilson’s Monday night remark was seen as an insinuation that Zeldin had asked him to run as his lieutenant governor. And Wilson didn’t clarify his remark when Zeldin pressed him on the debate stage.
“I wouldn’t want you to serve as lieutenant governor. I asked Alison Esposito,” Zeldin said, referring to his own lieutenant governor pick.
“You asked, stop lying,” Wilson said. “She was the 15th person you asked and you know it.”
Wilson made the comment as part of his efforts to paint Zeldin as a failing candidate who was “lying” on the primary debate stage.
In turn, Zeldin, a Trump ally and Army veteran who has represented New York’s 1st Congressional District since 2015, vigorously denied that he ever considered Wilson for his ticket as he attacked Wilson as a dishonest “Never Trumper” with Democratic ties.
Wilson, of Johnstown, entered the race this spring by launching a $12 million TV advertisement campaign. He’s worked for Goldman Sachs and founded a White Plains advisory firm, and also served as a U.S. Treasury Department advisor under former President Barack Obama.
“I never asked, and I wouldn’t ask ‘Never Trumper’ Harry Wilson,” Zeldin said.
Wilson shot back: “January 12 you did. I got the notes from that conversation. Don’t lie.”
Zeldin said there was a “zero percent chance” he would have considered Wilson.
“You can lie as much as you want, but Republican voters are smarter than you,” Zeldin said.
The Republican field also includes former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Andrew Giuliani, the son of New York City’s former mayor.
The Republican field also includes former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, businessman Harry Wilson and Andrew Giuliani, the son of New York City’s former mayor.
Giuliani, a former adviser to Trump, appeared in a separate television studio than the other candidates because he was barred from being on the same stage after since he doesn’t have the COVID vaccine.
Giuliani said if elected, he will restore the jobs of public workers fired for not getting the vaccine. He pledged Monday to empower the police and called for a return of the “stop and frisk” policing tactic in New York City, which was scaled back by police after a judge found it had violated the civil rights of many law-abiding black people.
Astorino, a former radio industry professional and two-term Westchester County executive from 2010 to 2017, is running for governor for a second time. He’s promised to release an agenda to address New York’s steep job loss stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as address government corruption and the state’s high taxes and cost of living.
During the debate, each candidate was asked whether they thought Trump should run for president again, and what they thought of the ongoing Congressional hearings into the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Astorino said Trump “bears some responsibility” in the insurrection but said it’s time for the country to move on.
Giuliani praised Trump as a “great president” and pledged to do for New York what Trump did for the country.
Zeldin, a Trump ally and an Army veteran who has represented New York’s 1st Congressional District since 2015, touted his support from the National Rifle Association and said he wanted to repeal a 2013 state gun control law that broadened the definition of assault weapons and required universal background checks.
When asked if New York should ban guns from specific public places in case the Supreme Court overturns the state’s concealed carry restrictions, Zeldin said: “Gun-free zones don’t work. They actually become a target.”
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