Lee Zeldin blasts New York Gov. Kathy Hochul over being late on crime: 'We have to save our state'

New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin ripped Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul for being late to the game on combating rising crime and soaring costs as the midterms approach, vowing, "We have to take back our state."

The Democratic governor recently put out an ad claiming to be working toward a "safer New York" as rising crime – especially recent a wave of subway incidents – cripple the Big Apple. Zeldin decried the Hochul's recent actions as "driven by politics" following polls indicating the Republican challenger has closed the gap in the race. 

"Now she's decided because she wants to save Kathy Hochul, that she's going to start talking about crime," Zeldin told "Special Report" on Monday. "We've been talking about crime because we've been talking about wanting to save the state." 

Hochul has neglected to discuss overhauling cashless bail, removing DAs like Alvin Bragg for not enforcing the law, how the Halt Act has caused more attacks on prison staff and about thousands of criminals being released due to the Less is More Act, Zeldin argued. 

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"The pro-criminal law list goes on," Zeldin explained. "She's not proposing rolling back any of it. Instead, she's trying to just get herself a two-way, two-week bridge to get over the November 8 election. But the problem for her is that the voters are smarter than she gives them credit for. They see right through it." 

New Yorkers appear to have opened up to Zeldin about their concerns over "rising crime and skyrocketing costs" which has led to greater support from independent voters and even Democrats. 

"The first thing I do day one, as soon as I'm sworn into office, is telling them that..district attorney Alvin Bragg, that he's being fired," he promised. "I would love to be able to work with the legislature to fix these pro-criminal laws that (have) gone bad, but they've indicated that they're not going to do it. I'm going to declare a crime emergency here in the state of New York. The governor has that authority and I'm going to suspend cashless bail on day one and a bunch of these other pro-criminal laws to force the legislature to come to the table. We are going to start taking back our streets the moment that we are sworn into office." 

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"We're going to win this race, working as hard as we are and the support that we're getting," Zeldin predicted.