Former gubernatorial GOP candidate for New York Lee Zeldin has stated that he thinks Donald Trump has a "real chance" at winning the often-deep blue state of New York in this upcoming election.  

Zeldin, who ran against Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022 has said that Trump has a good chance to win the Empire State in 2024. Zeldin only lost to Hochul by around four to five percentage points in 2022. Zeldin wrote his thoughts down in a New York Post op-ed on Friday and commented on the release early morning on Saturday.  

“President Trump is actually closer now at this point of this campaign than I was," Zeldin told Fox and Friends on Saturday. He added that Democratic Party registration is down and Republican Party registration is up in the Empire State. The opinion piece titled "Why Donald Trump has a real chance of winning in NY," was released on Friday in the New York City outlet. He penned the opinion with former New York City Council president Andrew Stein, a Democrat from New York. 

"It may seem unbelievable but it’s true: Donald Trump actually has a fair shot at winning New York in this year’s presidential election," the first line of the opinion piece began. "That’s right: The state that tried to bankrupt and jail him could help elect him. Recent polling has consistently shown Trump well within single digits in the Empire State." 

Recent polls have started to show that Trump is consistently within single digits of Biden in the state that is often thought of as a Democrat stronghold. A poll from earlier this week revealed that Trump was eight points away from Biden among voters in the state. It also revealed that two-thirds of New Yorkers are planning on watching the debate on June 27.   

Zeldin and Stein wrote that last time around, Biden won by a huge margin, 23 points, in comparison to how polls are looking like now. "Yet the latest Emerson poll shows Biden’s lead now down to just six points, almost within the margin of error," they added, citing another single-digit poll. The Emerson poll they cited has "independent voters favor[ing] Trump by 10 points." 

Zeldin and Stein pointed to surging crime in New York City, illegal immigration, inflation, and other issues that New Yorkers care about that Trump has been performing well on with voters in general in comparison to Biden.  

"Donald Trump is competitive in Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico and Virginia. New York is not far behind," they concluded.