BUFFALO, N.Y. — With early voting coming to a close, both parties made their final push to New Yorker voters Sunday with Lee Zeldin and an entourage of Republican candidates focusing their efforts here in Western New York and the incumbent Kathy Hochul calling for presidential backup in Yonkers.
“Not only are we going to win in Western New York, not only are we going to win in Erie County, but I’ll tell you what — we’re going to win the town of Hamburg too,” Zeldin said to voters at a rally in West Seneca.
Republican candidate Zeldin pushed bail reform one last time in Western New York.
“When you all go to sleep on Jan. 1, in the State of New York, cashless bail will be suspended,” he said.
Hochul, the incumbent, tried to keep the scales in her favor with support from President Biden in Yonkers.
“New York, you've got you've got two days,” Biden said. “Two days to make sure the rest of New York knows the good that they have in Kathy Hochul.”
Zeldin and a handful of republicans from around western New York continued to emphasize the increase in crime around the state, focusing in on Keaira Hudson’s alleged murder by her estranged husband, Adam Bennefield, in Buffalo last month that hit Western New York especially close to home.
“It cries out why we need to suspend cashless bail, why we need to start over and restore our criminal justice system here in the state of New York because Keiara would be alive today but for the laws of New York State,” Nick Langworthy said.
But the president didn’t necessarily agree, telling voters that Zeldin’s seemingly strong stance on crime isn’t what it seems.
“Her opponent’s plan for public safety is to put more guns on the street. He opposed red flag laws, which would take guns out of the hands of people and pose a danger to themselves and others,” Biden said. "What kind of sense does that make?”
But where the incumbent differed from her opponent today was her push to vote democrat across the ballot, honing in on key issues like gun reform and abortion that extend beyond her race.
“You want to protect a woman's right to determine what she wants to do as her own body? Then vote Democrat,” Hochul said. “You want to protect the sanctity of the ballot box and fight against voter suppression and protect the essence of our democracy? Then you do what?”
“Vote Democrat!” the crowd responded.
The governor will be making her way to Buffalo Monday evening where she will make her final pitch to voters in her hometown before the election.