President Joe Biden is set to campaign for Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul in New York Sunday amid panic that she may lose against Republican Lee Zeldin.
Biden scheduled a campaign event with Hochul Sunday afternoon in Yonkers, according to a report from WNYC radio’s Capitol Press Room. The event is one of several high-profile stumps Biden has made for Hochul, and the latest rally that the incumbent Democrat has held with leading faces of her party. The event also comes amid reports of panic among Democrats that Hochul may very well lose to Zeldin on Tuesday.
The Hochul campaign confirmed the event to Capitol Press Room and The New York Times. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will also be in attendance, along with other party leaders. The event is a get-out-the-vote rally, attempting to drum up some enthusiasm among the Democratic base, the NYT added.
Biden previously attended an event on October 27 to promote the opening of a $1oo million semiconductor plant in New York. The Sunday event caps a busy week for Biden, who campaigned for Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Senate candidate Val Demings in Miami Gardens on November 1. Then on November 3, he traveled to New Mexico to stump for embattled Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. On Saturday, Biden campaigned for Democratic Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and Senate candidate John Fetterman.
Earlier this week, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared at another get-out-the-vote rally for women in support of Hochul.
Biden’s latest appearance in New York comes amid a report that Democrats in the state are panicking that Hochul could be on the losing end of a monumental upset in a state that has not elected a Republican governor since George Pataki in 2002.
According to a report from CNN, Democrats are bracing for a potential loss, and are blaming New York City Mayor Eric Adams for “overhyping the issue” of crime and “playing into right-wing narratives” that create fear among New Yorkers. “He was an essential validator in the city to make their attacks seem more legit and less partisan,” an anonymous Democratic campaign operative told CNN.
“The concern over crime is real. It is acute,” New York Congressman Mondaire Jones told the outlet. “But once this election is over, I hope people have an honest conversation about how Democrats like Eric Adams have validated a hysteria over crime that is uninformed and that has been debunked.”
Democrats’ panic is well warranted: a poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group showed that Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin holds a lead of just under one point against Hochul, 48.4%-47.6%, with 4% of voters undecided. Trafalgar Group chief pollster Robert Cahaly also reported that Zeldin was pulling support from an interesting group of Democratic voters in the race.
“I’ve been saying that I had a theory, based on our last two #NYGov #polls, that what’s left of the #Cuomo machine could back @leezeldin,” Cahaly tweeted. Included in his tweet were two screenshots of hypothetical polls that showed disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo would have led Zeldin by 10 points, 55%-45%; a sizeable majority of voters said that Cuomo did a better job as governor than Hochul, 59.4% to 40.6%.
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