The New York gubernatorial race is heating up with less than two months to go and incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul has finally agreed to one debate, but her Republican challenger, Rep. Lee Zeldin, is demanding more, with or without her.
The Democrat governor has agreed to participate in just one debate with Zeldin.
On Thursday, Hochul announced she plans to participate in a single debate on October 25, two weeks before election day, and only days before early voting on October 29, WRGB acknowledged.
Spectrum News NY1 will host the debate at Pace University.
“Gov. Hochul looks forward to highlighting the clear contrast between her strong record of delivering results and Lee Zeldin’s extreme agenda,” her campaign spokesman, Jerrel Harvey, said in a press release.
While Hochul claims this is her third debate this year, due to her participating in two during the Democrat primary, this will be the first and what appears will be the only one with Zeldin.
The Republican, who has repeatedly called for the Empire State’s Democrat incumbent governor to debate him, has taken to social media to hit Hochul and demand more debates.
the Long Island congressman said in a statement:
This is absolutely unacceptable just how much contempt Kathy Hochul has towards New Yorkers that she is trying to pathetically get away with just one General Election debate over a month after absentee ballots start going out. We should have a live, televised debate right now.
🚨DEBATE UPDATE: @KathyHochul is now trying to pathetically do just 1 debate at the end of October, over a month after absentee ballots start going out. Hochul's contempt for this process is reason enough to boot her from office. We should have multiple debates starting now! pic.twitter.com/ZmiZpVLFSu
— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) September 21, 2022
In the same press release, his campaign stated that the congressman has already accepted requests from CBS2 and PIX11 and will “move forward” with the other two debates with or without the incumbent governor.
“Even in the Democratic Party primary. Hochul had multiple debates! She owes it to the voters as part of this process to have multiple debates throughout the state about the issues most important to them,” Zeldin added.
Zeldin spokeswoman Katie Vincentz even shot back at Spectrum News’s political director, claiming the debate would be accessible statewide.
“Spectrum/NY1 doesn’t air in Nassau & Suffolk Counties, and it also doesn’t air in homes with DirectTV, Dish, Verizon, etc. Hochul’s strategy for 1 end of October debate won’t be available on TV screens for millions of NYers,” Vincentz wrote.
Spectrum/NY1 doesn’t air in Nassau & Suffolk Counties, and it also doesn’t air in homes with DirectTV, Dish, Verizon, etc. Hochul’s strategy for 1 end of October debate won’t be available on TV screens for millions of NYers. There must be multiple debates. https://t.co/7i5sg1aQBL
— Katie Vincentz (@katievincentz) September 21, 2022
“There must be multiple debates,” Vincentz added.
The news of the debates comes as the latest poll from co/efficient showed Zeldin only six points away from the Democrat.
Forty-nine percent of the respondents said they would vote to elect the incumbent governor, while 43 percent said they would vote for Zeldin. Eight percent said they were undecided.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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