NY GOP candidate Zeldin campaign rips Hochul after election fraud allegations: 'Desperate for any distraction'

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Rep. Lee Zeldin vows to repeal cashless bail as quickly as possible when elected

New York gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., on what he would do if elected.

The campaign for New York’s Republican candidate for governor, Rep. Lee Zeldin, is denying ever photocopying signatures and is ripping the election fraud allegations renewed in recent days as a "distraction" from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s "pathetic" support for cashless bail. 

"As we said immediately upon learning of these allegations, our campaign had no knowledge of any photocopies and didn't make any photocopies," Zeldin campaign spokeswoman, Katie Vincentz, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The wild irony here is that Kathy Hochul has earned quite an infamous reputation in New York as the undisputed queen of scandal, abuse, and pay to play corruption." 

"She’s desperate for any distraction she can possibly muster to get heat off her pathetic support for cashless bail, Alvin Bragg, and other pro-criminal laws, policies, and politicians," Vincentz added of Hochul. 

Last week, Democratic state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, chairman of the New York Senate Elections Committee, submitted a complaint to Albany County District Attorney David Soares calling for a criminal investigation into Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign. Myrie alleged that the Republican’s camp had submitted 11,000 "fake signatures" to get on the Independence Party line.

NY DEMOCRATIC PARTY, GOV. HOCHUL LAUD ELECTION FRAUD ALLEGATIONS AGAINST GOP CHALLENGER ZELDIN 

The New York Democratic Party called the alleged action a "serious offense that could result in multiple charges, including felonies," and Hochul’s campaign manager piled on criticism alleging that Zeldin had been "leading efforts to throw out the 2020 presidential election results over baseless conspiracy theories." 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin speaks during his "Save New York" rally in Brighton Beach on August 03, 2022, in Brooklyn, New York City.  (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

In an odd twist Tuesday, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, under whom Hochul served as lieutenant governor, said the FBI must provide an explanation for its recent unrelated raid on former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida or jeopardize the legitimacy of Jan. 6 investigations. Shortly after Zeldin secured his name on the GOP ticket for governor in the primary election, the chairman of the New York Democratic Party appealed to Washington for a Jan. 6-related probe into the sitting congressman from Long Island. 

A spokeswoman for the New York Board of Elections confirmed to Fox News Digital that of the signatures submitted for Zeldin to run on the Independence Party line -- in addition to the GOP ticket -- just 39,228 were validated, falling short of the 45,000 required. Nearly 13,000 others were deemed invalid for a swath of reasons, including duplicate signatures, voters not properly registered, or incorrect addresses, she said. She did not comment on whether any photocopied signatures were found.

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks as hundreds protesters gathered on Union Square to protest against Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

At an unrelated press conference in Yonkers on Monday, Hochul defended her support for the state’s controversial bail reform law ushered in at the start of 2020 under her former boss, Cuomo. She instead placed blame on judges for the soaring recidivism data released by the New York Police Department under Mayor Eric Adams last week, saying her own administration at the state-level is collecting data of their own to prove the bail reform law needs no further changes. 

Republicans and even Democratic Adams wants Hochul to send lawmakers back to Albany for a special session to address the repeated arrests and releases of violent offenders, but so far, the governor has refused to act. 

"Have you studied what’s happening in other cities across the nation?" Hochul asked, according to NY 1. "Doesn’t make people feel real comfortable, but when you compare the number of cases per 100,000 — whether its different categories of crime, violent crime, shootings, homicides — we are still lower than major big cities."

NY 1 reported that Hochul pointed to a "national trend" for rising crime, claiming there was no correlation to the bail law in New York state. 

"I will look at all the data," Hochul said. "I’ve yet to see data that shows a correlation with a net increase in crime and the bail laws. Because it doesn’t exist in any other city." 

"There is no evidence that Kathy Hochul has any ability or willingness to be the strong Governor we need to secure our streets," Zeldin tweeted in response. "There is plenty of evidence that pro-criminal laws, soft on crime DAs and lax, far-left judges are making life in New York much less safe."

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"Kathy Hochul’s refusal to get serious about tackling rising crime is one of the biggest reasons why she will get the boot 3 months from TODAY," he added Monday. "She has been given so many mulligans on this but she has absolutely no talent whatsoever to make contact on this issue off the tee."