Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin is keeping his future options open — and would not rule out a challenge of Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year.
“I will reenter government service, but I don’t have anything to announce right now,” Zeldin told reporters in Albany in his first press conference since a nail-biter race that saw him lose 53% to 47% last November to Gov. Kathy Hochul in Democrat-dominated New York.
Gillibrand stoked rumors of a 2024 match-up after fundraising off the idea while announcing her intention last month to run for another term in office.
“The reason why my name is being mentioned and running against Senator Gillibrand is because Sen. Gillibrand and others keep mentioning my name … She’s trying to create a sense of urgency with prospective donors to make them want to give her money,” Zeldin added before refusing to rule out a campaign against her.
A Senate run is one of several possible moves by Zeldin, who has also faced calls in recent months to run for Congress, speaker of the U.S. House, Suffolk County executive and chair of the Republican National Committee.
Zeldin is also remaining mum about reported plans to open a political consultancy business to share some of the political wisdom he said he accrued in his losing campaign against Hochul.
“You can actually learn just as much, if not more, from your experience being involved in the campaign that maybe came up just short,” he said.
He told reporters that he would dump his longtime campaign treasurer Nancy Marks as he gets ready to launch a new federal Super PAC following reports about her connection to inveterate liar, Rep. George Santos.
Zeldin had no problem sharing unsolicited advice with Hochul via the media Monday while noting she should “go out to the public” to overcome lefty opposition to her plans to change controversial bail laws and expand the number of charter schools allowed in New York City.
The newly-elected governor defended her handling of rising crime – a top issue in the 2022 campaign – at a Monday appearance in Syracuse where she touted proposals in her recently-proposed state budget.
“Everybody’s blaming New York State bail laws for crime going up everywhere. Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC. So that had nothing to do with [bail reform] Let’s just deal in realities here,” Hochul said.
“But when you get to serious crimes, violent crimes, crimes involving guns, that are harming other people. You have to give the judges the discretion to be able to take a look at that,” Hochul said of her proposal to remove a legal standard requiring judges to release criminal defendants with the “least restrictive” conditions ahead of their trials.
A Hochul spokesperson did not immediately provide comment about her former rival hating on her performance as governor.
The now-unemployed former congressman also criticized Hochul for signing into law a $32,000 pay raise for state lawmakers weeks before getting “sandbagged” by progressive state senators who voted down her nominee to lead New York’s highest court.
Her budget proposal to require municipalities to increase housing by a few percentage points each year – or risk having local zoning laws overruled – is also needlessly angering people in places like Long Island where she performed relatively poorly in the 2022 race, according to Zeldin.
“The Governor’s State of the State Address shows a lack of talents of the people who are around her with all due respect,” he said about the Jan. 10 speech where Hochul first detailed her housing proposals.
Zeldin had insisted last year Hochul would never win the election if only he and his supporters worked hard enough, but claimed Monday that one of his most popular lines on the campaign trail was not meant to be taken literally.
“‘Losing is not an option’ is a mentality that drove me that drove our team, our supporters, all day every day to do everything in our power everywhere, taking absolutely nothing for granted ever,” he said while staying silent on his future plans. “It’s just how I’m wired in approaching these campaigns.”
