Recapping Lee Zeldin’s Very Bad Week

Last week was a rough one for Lee Zeldin. The New York GOP nominee for governor managed to fit election fraud accusations, blatant sexism, and widespread criticism over his radical agenda all in one week.

Let’s unpack what happened in Lee Zeldin’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week:

• Accused of election fraud: Zeldin was New York’s biggest hypocrite last week when was accused of submitting 11,000 fraudulent ballot petition signatures. As a Big Lie conspiracy theorist constantly spouting false claims about election fraud in 2020, the move from Zeldin was particularly embarrassing, causing headlines like, “Republican Who Pushed 2020 Election Fraud Claims Accused of Election Fraud” 

• Piggybacking on sexist comments: In an interview with Newsmax, Lee Zeldin took no issue with blatantly sexist comments from host Greg Kelly that Gov. Hochul “not really done much of anything, other than, I’m sorry but, be somebody’s wife.” Instead, Zeldin piggybacked on the sexism, saying of Hochul, “she’s in over her head. She’s been a walking identity crisis.”

• Slammed for radical anti-choice agenda: Local elected officials, women’s rights groups, moms, and reproductive rights organizations slammed Zeldin for his anti-choice extremism. Assemblymember Latrice Walker said, “Candidly [Zeldin’s] just a dangerous person…He’s promised to implement a far-right, anti-abortion agenda that will severely restrict New Yorkers’ decision to make their own health care decisions.”

• Silent on fundraising: While Gov. Hochul announced an impressive fundraising haul and a strong war chest of $11.7 million, Lee Zeldin stayed silent on his fundraising numbers until today, when he announced he only has $1.6 million in the bank.

“Zeldin proved himself as a sexist, a hypocrite, and a radical extremist all in just a week,” said DGA Communications Director David Turner. “Although his awful week may be over, there’s no changing his status in this race. While he tries to lift his failing campaign out of the gutter, Gov. Hochul is blazing ahead, running a strong campaign while continuing to deliver for New Yorkers where it counts.”