GOP Representative Lee Zeldin Attacked at New York Gubernatorial Campaign Event
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A man who appeared to be armed with a blade attacked Representative Lee Zeldin, who is running for New York governor, at a campaign stop in upstate New York on Thursday evening. Zeldin wasn’t injured.
Zeldin was giving a speech on bail reform at a stop on his “Unite to Fire Hochul” bus tour in Fairport when a man in the audience charged at him and pulled out a sharp object, according to several media outlets.
This is video of Lee Zeldin being attacked and almost stabbed on stage at a Fire Hochul event in Fairport, NY.pic.twitter.com/xazg7G7sqb
— MAGA GANG VISH 🔫 (@VishBurra) July 22, 2022
Audience members at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post where Zeldin was speaking stepped in to subdue the attacker, disarming him and restraining him using zip-ties that were pulled from campaign posters, WHEC-TV reported. Monroe County sheriff’s deputies arrived and detained the attacker shortly after. The man is being questioned, but no charges had been filed at this point, according to WHEC-TV.
After the attack, Zeldin returned to the stage and finished his remarks.
A spokesperson for Zeldin told WHEC-TV that Zeldin and his staffers “are safe following tonight’s attack.”
“Far more must be done to make New York safe again,” spokeswoman Katie Vincentz said. “This is very much getting out of hand in this state. Unfortunately, Congressman Zeldin is just the latest New Yorker whose life has been affected by the out of control crime and violence in New York. This needs to stop! Thankfully, we still have exceptional men and women in law enforcement answering the call to protect our streets.”
Zeldin, an attorney and Iraq War veteran who has represented eastern Long Island in Congress since 2015, is running against New York governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, in the general election in November. Hochul, who was sworn in last August after her predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned over a sexual-harassment scandal, spoke out against the attack on Zeldin on Thursday evening.
My team has informed me about the incident at Lee Zeldin's campaign event tonight. Relieved to hear that Congressman Zeldin was not injured and that the suspect is in custody. I condemn this violent behavior in the strongest terms possible — it has no place in New York.
— Kathy Hochul (@KathyHochul) July 22, 2022
“Relieved to hear that Congressman Zeldin was not injured and that the suspect is in custody,” she said. “I condemn this violent behavior in the strongest terms possible — it has no place in New York.”
