Exclusive— Rep. Lee Zeldin on Challenging Andrew Cuomo: Many New York Democrats ‘Feel Like Their Party’s Left Them’

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who is campaigning to be governor of New York, said many Democrats in the Empire State are disillusioned with the leftist policies imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other Democrats such as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“You have Democrats who feel like their party’s left them,” said Zeldin on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Joel Pollak. “We have AOC-type Democrats who are far-left, and they support the defund the police movement. They don’t support law enforcement, they like tax hikes, and they have no problem with the fact that not all of our kids are yet fully back in school.”

He continued, “But I’ll tell you what, there are a whole lot of Democrats who aren’t happy with the leadership of Bill de Blasio in New York City or Andrew Cuomo and the outsized influence of self-described socialists in charge in Albany.”

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Zeldin linked New York’s left-wing politics with the decades-old exodus of New Yorkers to states with lower tax burdens and less government-decreed social controls.  He described popular frustration with New York Democrats’ leftism as a political opportunity for his gubernatorial campaign.

He remarked, “More people are hitting their breaking point, and they’re saying, ‘I’m more mobile than ever. I’m out of here. I’m fleeing for other parts.’ Are there enough Republicans — just Republicans? No, but there are enough pissed off New Yorkers who are really angry. They’re really frustrated, and they want to save the state. They’re hungry for it, and everyone everywhere is all in, across party lines. Yeah, the votes are there when you look at across the board.”

Pollak asked if Cuomo is likely to become the Democrat gubernatorial nominee for New York in 2022.

“Andrew Cuomo would love to miracle himself on the Democratic Party line, and if he is, we’re going to be ready for him,” Zeldin replied. “We are living through the final chapter of Andrew Cuomo’s time in elected office.”

He concluded, “Whether it ends through resignation, impeachment, indictment, loss at the ballot box, or not running again, what we do know is that no later than the end of 2022, Andrew Cuomo is leaving the governor’s mansion and moving on to whatever else he has in front of him to the rest of his life, but it’s not going to be in elected office.”

In February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) top aide admitted the governor’s office withheld the number of deaths related to the coronavirus in New York’s nursing homes to shield the Cuomo government from federal investigation and political scrutiny.