During a press conference near the scene of Thursday morning’s rape of a tourist jogging in Hudson River Park, Zeldin said, “It’s important that we do everything we can to make the streets and the subway us safe”. “Now, unfortunately, Kathy Hochul doesn’t want to be here talking about these issues,” he said. “She wants to send her supporters to make sure we’re not talking about fighting crime.” Zeldin also criticized Hillary Clinton for accusing Republicans of trying to keep voters “scared” while campaigning for Hotchul with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday night. In response to a question from The Post, Zeldin said Clinton and Hochul should tell New Yorkers: “I understand your concerns. I want to do everything in my power to be able to fix it. Here are my solutions and I am committed to succeeding.” “But instead, there was a strategic decision made by them that they didn’t want to talk about crime, that they wanted to talk about other issues,” he said. “Why are the polls close? What you are hearing right now is because the polls are close. Last night, when you heard that rally, that’s why the polls are close.” Although the small group of protesters from the progressive group “Rise and Resist” made noise throughout Zeldin’s 20-minute performance, at one point he managed to get them to change tactics. When Zeldin said, “They want to stifle the debate,” the activists started cheering and clapping.
