Zeldin: ‘Epic clash’ for Senate against Gillibrand on the table
Former Hochul rival says he’s planning to open a federal PAC
ALBANY — Former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin avoided ruling out a run against U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the 2024 election, comments which came during his first news conference on Monday since narrowly losing to Gov. Kathy Hochul in November.
Zeldin, appearing at the Hilton in downtown Albany for an event with the state Conservative Party, asserted it was Gillibrand’s team who have primarily floated that he could be a candidate for U.S. Senate. But the Long Island Republican also said he is receiving calls daily in attempts to court him from everything from local government positions to federal office.
“She’s trying to create a sense of urgency with donors,” Zeldin told reporters in front of a crowd of Conservative Party members. “They know it would be a pretty epic clash if I decided to do it.”
Gillibrand’s team recently emailed supporters in a pitch for campaign contributions by suggesting Zeldin was a potential opponent in what could amount to a “tough reelection fight.”
“Zeldin very nearly won the New York governorship in the 2022 midterms, all while New York Republicans had their best election cycle in two decades — flipping enough House seats red to retake the majority,” Gillibrand’s campaign team said in a fundraising email last month.
Regardless of a run for U.S. Senate, Zeldin revealed he is planning to open up a new federal political action committee. (He said the new account would be firewalled from his longtime campaign treasurer, who has faced criticism for her work on the campaign for embattled new U.S. Rep. George Santos. Nancy Marks has been Zeldin’s treasurer since he was in the state Senate.)
“I do believe that at some point there will be a reentry to government,” Zeldin said. “Exactly what that will be and when, we’ll see.”
Albany political observers have questioned whether Zeldin would be better suited for a run for Suffolk County executive, in his hometown, instead of a race against a Democratic incumbent during a presidential election cycle next year.
In his first major public appearance since losing the race for governor, Zeldin reiterated his campaign platform while criticizing the proposed budget of Hochul, who defeated him by about 6 percentage points, or 300,000 votes.
The margin was the closest a Republican has come to unseating an incumbent Democrat for statewide office since 1994, when former Gov. George E. Pataki defeated Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.
Zeldin has consistently noted that Republicans are leaving New York, offering a potentially more challenging political landscape to win statewide office. He shared that if the election had been held a week earlier, prior to Hochul’s campaign blitz with major Democratic officials including President Joe Biden, it might have tilted his way.
A Times Union analysis of state election data showed Republicans turning out in near-presidential cycle levels while Democrats and unaffiliated “independent” voters severely lagged in voter turnout.
He said earlier in the day he was greeted by people who told him they were considering leaving the state since his election loss, which was a core message to his stump speech on the campaign trail. Zeldin had pledged to “save the state” from “one-party rule.” Zeldin stood by his campaign slogan of “losing is not an option,” rejecting an idea that he may have misled voters about the potential to come up short in the race.
“‘Losing is not an option’ is a mentality,” Zeldin said. “I was able to say I guarantee that we will win this race on Nov. 8 as long as everyone is taking nothing for granted.”
Among the people gathered around Zeldin as he addressed reporters in the Albany Hilton conference room was a man wearing a hat that read: “2020 was rigged.”