Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Lee Zeldin making final campaign pitches on crime, economy, state of New York in home stretch
NEW YORK -- Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Lee Zeldin are making their final campaign stops Friday.
The candidates are making their last pitches to voters on crime, the economy and the direction of New York state with four days to Election Day, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported.
Hochul had good news for commuters. Facing a huge budget deficit, the MTA has already floated the possibility of a fare hike this spring, but Hochul said that train isn't leaving the station if she's elected.
"You don't raise the price of a product when you're trying to sell it," said Hochul.
Appearing on CBS2's Sunday morning political talk show "The Point," the governor said she will find the money to hold the line on fare hikes and had a dire prediction about the mass transit system if Zeldin gets elected.
"It will decline quickly because he won't have the resources to do what has to be done," Hochul said.
Zeldin has promised to stop the controversial congestion pricing plan - a promise that has some weight with commuters in the suburbs and city. And while Hochul said the money is needed to fix the flaws in a 100-year-old transit system, she said it's not anywhere near becoming a reality.
"Would you support postponing congestion pricing just for a little bit until we see the recession in the rearview mirror?" asked Kramer.
"There's nothing imminent anyhow. I want to let people know that this is a long process. There's a lot of environmental reviews, the governor of New Jersey has requested additional reviews, Washington is involved," said Hochul. "We'll wait and see what the headwinds look like with the national economy ... because I'm not going to do anything to hurt this city. I love this city."
"So in a sense, you're hoping that the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, will be successful in getting the Biden administration to do more environmental studies so it puts it off until the city's back on its feet," said Kramer.
"I'm just saying there's a path where that could be the outcome," said Hochul. "But it never was on such a fast track that it's imminent."
The governor also deflected Zeldin's constantly labeling her soft on crime, saying that as early as last Jan. 6 she held a press conference with Mayor Eric Adams on subway safety. She said it's part of a national Republican campaign to go after Democrats.
"So if you could talk directly to Lee Zeldin, how would you call him out on the crime issue?" Kramer asked.
"Stop lying, stop lying about it. Stop trying to pretend that you're tough on crime when you're in reality soft on guns," said Hochul.
"Right now, Kathy Hochul and her supporters are threatened by this conversation about having safer streets. Why is that?" Zeldin said at a news conference Friday.
Zeldin held the conference at a West Village pier where a jogger was raped on Thursday, using the incident to blame Hochul for being soft on crime. Protesters holding an "exploiting fear" banner attempted to drown him out.
"You know it's kind of ironic and I'm glad you guys have your microphones. You're hearing me talk about my plan being drowned out by people saying 'Well what's your plan?' Well, we're telling you what our plan is, but they're too busy screaming and yelling because Kathy Hochul doesn't want to hear about it," said Zeldin.
If elected, Zeldin said he will declare a crime emergency on day one and suspend bail reform and other laws that he says favor criminals.
Watch Dick Brennan's report
Political analyst David Birdsell weighed in on Hochul's campaign.
"They've done a terrible job of messaging on crime, a terrible job of messaging on the economy," he said.
Birdsell told CBS2's Dick Brennan the governor hopes she survives with a quick pivot to those issues.
"Her late catchup really only within the last two, two-and-a-half weeks, it may be enough to forestall a Zeldin victory, but it will not be enough to forestall an election that should be nowhere near as close as this one will be," he said.
Kramer's full interview with Gov. Hochul on "The Point" airs Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on CBS2 and CBS News New York. Zeldin appeared on the show last week. Click here to watch his interview.
Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton will join Hochul for a get out the vote rally tomorrow in Brooklyn. President Joe Biden will attend a rally in Yonkers on Sunday.
