Comment NEW YORK — Vice President Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined forces Thursday to campaign for Gov. Kathy Hochsul, focusing heavily on abortion rights as they seek to shore up Democrats in an unexpectedly tough race against Her Republican challenger, Rep. Lee Zeldin. . The event marked Clinton’s first candidate-focused midterm election appearance and underscored growing concern among Democrats about Hotchul’s race. Led by a series of female surrogates exclusively and hosted by Barnard College, a women’s institution, the event aimed to energize women to attend Hochul. Clinton criticized Zeldin as well as other Republicans, hitting out at Cary Lake, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, for making a joke about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband being violently attacked at his home. Speakers often highlighted the issue of abortion rights. “Don’t take it for granted, because I heard my opponent say, ‘Oh, don’t worry. The day after her Dobbs decision changed nothing in the state of New York. So don’t worry,” Hochul said, speaking of protecting abortion rights and citing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June. “Do you know why nothing has changed in New York State? Because I am the governor.” While Democrats across the country have largely supported abortion since the Supreme Court overturned the ruling that ended the constitutional right to the procedure, some in the party said the fear of losing abortion rights is shaping up to be less of a motivator. for blue states like New York, because of existing protections and the Democratic-led state government pledged to preserve it. In interviews with the Washington Post, some students who attended the event said they were worried about how Democrats would fare in the midterms, and noted a lack of enthusiasm among their peers compared to previous elections. Mia Davidson, a student at Columbia University, noted a wave of anger among young voters after the Dobbs decision, but said energy has waned as Election Day nears. “I think that enthusiasm has gone away, and I don’t know that the Democratic Party has done much to really keep young people engaged, but at the same time, some of it is on us, sometimes we chose not to be,” he said. . Hochul’s struggles come as Democratic congressional candidates in New York and other blue states also struggle, forcing party leaders to devote time and resources to some races that appeared less favorable to Republicans earlier this year. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, echoed Hochul’s tone in her remarks, blasting Republicans on abortion rights and seeking to link Zeldin to former President Donald Trump, who supports candidate of the Republican Party. “Of course they want to turn back the clock on abortion, they’ve spent 50 years trying to do that,” Clinton said, speaking of Republicans. “But they want to turn back the clock on women’s rights in general, on civil rights, on voting rights, on gay rights. They are determined to control who we are, how we feel, how we believe and act, in ways I thought we had long since left behind.” Hochul is the first woman to serve as governor of New York. A former lieutenant governor, she took over after Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo resigned last year. Clinton emphasized the historic nature of Hochul’s tenure in the state’s top job. “I really appreciate the way he’s bringing new leadership and stability and new hope for our future to New York, and I think it’s about time since this was the birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement,” Clinton said. Harris denounced Republican efforts to restrict access to abortion and ran a list of Democrats’ accomplishments with the Biden administration. Democratic women in New York political leadership who spoke at the event stressed the need for voters to show up to vote for Hochul and not take the election for granted. Some recent polls show Hochul leading Zeldin, but by single digits in a state that generally leans heavily Democratic. Zeldin praised the Dobbs decision, but also said it would not change New York law. In a campaign ad released last month he said, “As governor, I will not and could not change New York’s abortion law.” The Republican has focused on rising crime in the state — an issue Republicans have highlighted elsewhere across the country. Clinton responded to her remarks by accusing the Republican Party of terrorism. “I also have to think that I’ve seen, and I’m sure you have, if you — maybe you don’t watch TV — but if you did, you’d see what I see, which is commercials about crime every 30 seconds, right? There are no solutions, just a lot of really scary, scary images and scary music,” Clinton said. He referred to the attack on Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, who was attacked last week by a hammer-wielding attacker, criticizing the response of some Republicans, such as Lake, who tried to turn the attack into a punch line. (“Nancy Pelosi, well, she has protection when she’s in D.C.—apparently her house doesn’t have much protection,” Lake said recently.) “An intruder hits an 82-year-old man in the head with a hammer, who happens to be married to the speaker of the House, and Republicans are joking about it. The woman running for governor in Arizona is joking about it,” Clinton said. “Now why would any sane person want to give power to someone who thinks it’s funny to be attacked in their own home? So, you know, they don’t care about keeping you safe. They want to keep you scared so you can’t think straight.” Echoing other Democrats, speakers here also called Republicans a threat to Social Security and Medicare. And Hochul made a direct pitch to young voters at one point, saying, “I want you to feel the weight on your shoulders as you walk out of here. With this determination, the guts and the courage that all those who came before us had to pass on this gift to us.” Emma Sherman-Hawver, a Columbia student who attended the event, said she was glad Clinton held an event for Hochul, noting her state ties. “I think if he can play it strategically, then it helps a lot,” Sherman-Hawver said. “Obviously there are places in the country that might not be as supportive, but I think here it’s like you’d go anywhere, I think it’s a really good choice that came here.” But Jack Lobel, another Columbia student and spokesman for the Gen Z-focused group Voters of Tomorrow, said Democrats need to do more work reaching out to young voters. “It’s unreasonable for Democrats to expect young people to participate, but then not put in the outreach money, not put in the effort and time,” Lobel said. “It seems like the only people who are focused on seeing Gen Z is Gen Z, and that’s really something that’s not going to be sustainable if Democrats want to keep winning in the future.”
