Republican Lee Zeldin won the debate with Democrat Kathy Hochul in the race for New York governor last night.
Zeldin performed well throughout and slammed Hochul on New York’s crime problem.
Hochul’s loss of the debate came during one particular exchange when she said, “I don’t know why that’s so important to you” in response to Zeldin pointing out that, halfway through the debate, Hochul still hadn’t talked about locking up people who commit crimes.
The New York Post reports:
Gov. Kathy Hochul stunningly said she didn’t know why it’s “so important” to lock up criminals when confronted by Republican challenger Lee Zeldin over the state’s controversial bail reform law during their first and only debate Tuesday night.
Zeldin, who’s pledged to declare a crime emergency and suspend cashless bail if elected, brought up the issue midway through the televised face-off.
“My opponent thinks that right now there’s a polio emergency going on but there’s not a crime emergency — different priorities than I’m hearing from people right now,” the outgoing congressman from Long Island said.
“They’re not being represented from this governor — who still, to this moment…hasn’t talked about locking up anyone committing any crimes.”
Hochul responded by saying, “Anyone who commits a crime, under our laws, especially with the changes we made to bail, has consequences.
“I don’t know why that’s so important to you,” the incumbent Democrat added. “All I know is that we could do more.”
Watch:
This was also a strong moment for Zeldin:
Watch the full debate below:
