The New York Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, was attacked while he was speaking at a campaign stop on Thursday in Perinton in northern New York.
After the unprovoked incident, Zeldin confirmed that he was safe and went back on stage to "finish his remarks and thank the law enforcement officers who responded to the scene." Video footage of the attack shows a man in a baseball cap and black shorts slowly making his way toward the Republican.
Lee Zeldin Attacked
Zeldin was addressing a small audience while on stage in Fairport, a village near the Canadian border, as the individual confronted the congressman, leading to a tussle. At least three bystanders immediately attempt to get the attacker off Zeldin, as seen in the footage.
A spokeswoman for the gubernatorial candidate, Katie Vincentz, said that in response to getting attacked Zeldin grabbed the suspect's wrist to stop him before others came to assist. The video also shows other people separating the Republican from his assailant.
Zeldin also noted that the attacker was immediately taken into custody after the initial attack but the Monroe County Sheriff's Office was not available for comment at the time, as per the Washington Post.
The lawmaker is set to face off against Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has a substantial lead in the polls, in the November general elections. The latter denounced the attack in a statement on Thursday night.
The governor said that she was relieved to hear that Congressman Zeldin was not injured and that the assailant was taken into custody. She added that she condemned such violent behavior in the strongest terms possible, arguing that it has no place in New York.
According to Fox News, an attendee at the event, Ian Winner, noted that people initially thought that the attacker was going up to the stage to fix a flag or something that was out of place. Zeldin's campaign also shared an image that appears to show the blade that the attacker allegedly tried to use to stab the Republican lawmaker.
Fighting Crime in New York
The unprovoked attack comes at a time when actual and threatened political violence, including threats directed at members of Congress, is on the rise in the United States. The Monroe County event was the first stop on a planned weekend "Unite to Fire Hochul" bus tour across upstate New York. It seeks to informally kick off Zeldin's general election campaign against the current governor.
Zeldin is known for making crime a centerpiece of his campaign for governor, using apocalyptic terms to paint a dark picture of the state of public safety and to appeal to the state's sense of unease. He also pinned the blame for rising crime on Democrats and Gov. Hochul, calling on them to reinstate most cash bail and heighten policing.
Only a few hours before the attack, Zeldin's campaign had released its first digital advertisement of the general election, which was a lengthy spot attacking Hochul for refusing to fire Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney after he initially filed second-degree murder charges against a bodega clerk who fatally stabbed another, the New York Times reported.
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