(PatrioticPost.com)- Democrats may have performed better in the midterm elections than many people expected, but the fact is that they still lost control of the House of Representatives.
This week, Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, placed the blame on the failures of her party on Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York. Pelosi said liberals could’ve still retained the majority in the House had Hochul realized sooner than she did that the key issue for voters in New York was crime.
Speaking with The New York Times for an interview, Pelosi said Republicans who voted down ticket did much better in the midterms than Democrats did, simply because Hochul didn’t have longer coattails.
Maureen Dowd, the journalist who Pelosi interviewed with, said the former Speaker said that the top politicians in New York needed to realize earlier than crime was the top issue in the state for voters. Speaking directly about Hochul, Pelosi said:
“The governor didn’t realize soon enough where the trouble was.”
In New York’s gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Lee Zeldin attacked Hochul many times for not addressing crime. Zeldin himself was even at the center of a crime incident that he then used to prove his point that Hochul wasn’t doing a good enough job.
While making a stop during his campaign, an attendee physically assaulted Zeldin. Several people who were there helped to subdue the attacker, who was held until police were able to arrive and take him into custody.
Zeldin wasn’t harmed in the incident, which allowed him to resume his speech revolving around bail reform. When the attacker was then quickly released from jail following the incident, it only helped to beef up Zeldin’s position that the state wasn’t doing nearly enough to put violent criminals in jail, and then keep them behind bars.
Later on in the campaign, there was a shooting that took place right outside of Zeldin’s home in Long Island. His teenage daughters were inside his house doing their school work when the shooting took place. Following the incident, Zeldin said:
“After my daughters heard the gunshots and the screaming, they ran upstairs, locked themselves in the bathroom and immediately called 911. They acted very swiftly and smartly every step of the way, and Diana and I are extremely proud of them.”
Even with Hochul not paying enough attention to crime, she still ended up winning the election for governor in New York.
It’s ironic that Pelosi would put the blame on a loss in the House for Democrats to the governor of New York — rather than, say, on her own party’s performance in Congress and the White House in the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
It would seem that their performance — and not the fact that Hochul wasn’t tough on crime — is the real reason why Democrats weren’t able to retain control of the House.
