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Republican lawmaker reacts to apology from New York governor on \u2018America Reports.\u2019<\/p>\n
EXCLUSIVE<\/strong> \u2013 Saying that “to save New York, Andrew Cuomo\u2019s gotta go,” Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin on Thursday morning declared his candidacy for governor of the Empire State.<\/p>\n Zeldin becomes the first Republican to launch a challenge against New York\u2019s embattled three-term Democratic governor, who faces allegations of sexual harassment from 10 female accusers, which has triggered an independent investigation by the state attorney general and an impeachment investigation in the State Assembly. Cuomo\u2019s also facing a federal probe into the state\u2019s handling of COVID deaths at nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n ZELDIN MEETS WITH TRUMP AS ALLIES OF FORMER PRESIDENT URGE ZELDIN TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR<\/strong><\/p>\n Zeldin, a staunch ally of former President Trump and a four-term lawmaker who represents the state\u2019s 1st Congressional District in the eastern half of Long Island, made his announcement in a live interview on “Fox and Friends.”<\/p>\n “I’m running for governor of New York in 2022,” Zeldin said on “Fox & Friends.” “We are going to win this race.”<\/p>\n He added: “I’m all in, we are all in.” <\/p>\n “We cant get complacent,” Zeldin said, noting that people are “fleeing” the state amid high taxes and the coronavirus pandemic. “Let\u2019s stay here. Let\u2019s fight. Let\u2019s return New York to its glory.”<\/p>\n Zeldin said from New York’s “tax policy,” “public safety,” and “attacks on our freedoms,” are “impacting” New Yorkers in “many ways.” <\/p>\n “I love this state. I\u2019m still here. We need to turn it around,” Zeldin continued. “People are going to flee every single day until we do.” <\/p>\n “Everyone, everywhere across this state needs to come together as New Yorkers,” Zeldin said, adding it is not about “red or blue.” “It\u2019s by us all working together.”<\/p>\n In an accompanying release, the congressman pledged to “bring the kind of relentless, fighting spirit towards helping to save our state that Andrew Cuomo only reserves for multi-million dollar self-congratulatory book deals, cover-ups, abuse and self-dealing.”<\/p>\n Zeldin blamed “one-party Democrat rule in NYC and Albany” for what he described as the state\u2019s malaise.<\/p>\n CUOMO’S POLL NUMBERS KEEP DROPPING AMID DUAL SCANDALS<\/strong><\/p>\n “The New York that was once a magnet for the world\u2019s best and brightest is now forcing its own to leave under the crushing weight of skyrocketing taxes, lost jobs, suffocating regulations, and rising crime resulting from dangerously liberal policies,” Zeldin charged. “At the helm of New York\u2019s downfall is Governor Andrew Cuomo.”<\/p>\n He accused Cuomo of producing “a long line of scandals, lies, abuse and harassment. Cuomo has abused the power and trust granted to him and it is time for him to immediately exit stage left.”<\/p>\n Zeldin, an attorney and officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, was first elected to the Suffolk County congressional district in 2014. In an interview with Fox News at the beginning of March, he announced that “I am now actively exploring the race for governor.”<\/p>\n The congressman, a strong Trump defender and supporter, met with the former president last month at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, sources familiar with the meeting told Fox News this week. The meeting came as Trump allies have been quietly rallying their support behind Zeldin, encouraging him in recent weeks to launch a gubernatorial campaign, the sources added.<\/p>\n ANDREW GIULIANI TELLS FOX NEWS HE’S ‘STRONGLY CONSIDERING’ GUBERNATORIAL RUN<\/strong><\/p>\n Zeldin\u2019s announcement comes a day after Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor and ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, told Fox News that he\u2019s “strongly considering” running for governor.<\/p>\n Giuliani \u2013 who served in the Trump administration as a special assistant to the president and as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison at the White House — said that he\u2019s been fielding calls from donors in recent days and weeks, and is “trying to decide whether or not it is the right thing to do.”<\/p>\n New York doesn\u2019t have gubernatorial limits, and Cuomo announced in May of 2019 that he would run in 2022 for a fourth term steering the state.<\/p>\n While New York is a reliably blue state where Cuomo won reelection to a third term in 2018 by a massive 23-point margin, the governor has politically been severely wounded by dual scandals. Cuomo, who last year initially won national praise from Democrats and the media for his efforts battling the pandemic, is now facing possible impeachment as well as a growing chorus of calls from Republicans as well as Democrats to resign.<\/p>\n More than 135 state lawmakers and nearly the entire congressional delegation from New York \u2013 including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand \u2013 have urged Cuomo to step down.<\/p>\n Cuomo is resisting those calls to resign as he continues to emphasize that people should wait until the results of the attorney general’s investigation before making up their minds and passing judgment. While he has apologized for making some women uncomfortable, he’s denied that he ever inappropriately touched a woman.<\/p>\n “Women have a right to come forward and be heard and I encourage that fully. But I also want to be clear, there is still a question of the truth, I did not do what has been alleged. Period,” he said in a press conference a month ago.<\/p>\n