Despite Lee Zeldin’s bid to unseat incumbent New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul being unsuccessful, the Republican’s candidacy created significant inroads for other GOP candidates across the Empire State, and could turn out to be the unsung savior of the House majority.
Zeldin, who conceded to Hochul on Wednesday after running one of the closest gubernatorial races in New York in 20 years, acknowledged his success in helping other Republicans win in the Empire State — which amounted to 11 House seats for the GOP, including flipping the one held by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chair Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY).
The Republican gubernatorial nominee also said on Twitter that Republicans were able to flip four congressional districts in the Empire State, breaking the Democrat supermajority in the state Senate and receiving the most votes of any GOP nominee in the state since Nelson Rockefeller. He declared, “Team Zeldin put in the max effort every day and has no regrets. It was such an honor to lead this year’s ticket.”
We flipped 4 NY Congressional seats, broke the supermajority in the State Senate, and received the most votes of any GOP candidate since Nelson Rockefeller. Team Zeldin put in max effort every day and has no regrets. It was such an honor to lead this year’s ticket. https://t.co/bpOTFBrh9F
— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) November 10, 2022
Zeldin reaffirmed what he said in an interview with the New York Post, explaining that his campaign was able to create victories for other Republicans.
“We were running as one-team, one ticket,” the Island congressman said. “I helped to bring out their voters, they helped to bring out my voters. That’s what happens when you are all working together on these campaigns.”
As Republicans won eleven of the U.S. House races in New York — including four on Long Island — one of the most significant upsets to the House Democrats was when Republican Mike Lawler defeated their party’s top campaign chief, Rep. Maloney, in New York’s Seventeenth Congressional District, even after one of the main Democrat super PACs threw over half a million dollars behind the congressman in a last-ditch attempt to save him.
The New York Republican chairman Nick Langworthy, who won in his Republican-held Twenty-third Congressional District on Tuesday, labeled Zeldin reenergizing the party as a “herculean effort” and noted, “Lee built a coalition of voters, the likes of which we have not seen in a generation, who want safe streets, economic freedom, and a voice in their kids’ education.”
Langworthy added:
That does not change with the election results and Kathy Hochul and the Democrats in charge would be wise to get out of their liberal bubbles and start working to create a state government that represents all 19 million residents.
I’m enormously proud of the race Lee and our entire Republican ticket ran. While we came up short, this was the first time in 20 years we had a competitive statewide election, and that is no easy feat in dark-blue New York against a sitting governor who spent $50 million in special interest money to keep her seat.
Breitbart News reported last month that the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) had to scramble in the final weeks of the campaign to save Hochul and down-ballot Democrats, dumping money into the race after not planning to spend anything in the deep blue state.
The DGA formed a super PAC in the final weeks of the campaign, as polls showed ominous signs for the Democrats, to pump the airwaves and launch a get-out-the-vote effort to save Hochul and down-ballot races.
Zeldin received at least 2.66 million votes, more than Gov. George Pataki (R) and the highest since Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (R).
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
Emma-Jo Morris is the Politics Editor at Breitbart News. Email her at ejmorris@breitbart.com or follow her on Twitter.
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