Lee Zeldin Wins Trump Backing In Close Long Island Congressional Race
Rep. Lee Zeldin Image by Wikimedia Commons
President Trump endorsed Long Island Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin following a poll showing he is in a tough fight to win reelection.
The president tweeted Wednesday that Zeldin, who represents the eastern end of Long Island, has his “Complete and Total Endorsement!” That comes less than a week after a liberal PAC released a poll showing Jewish Democratic challenger Perry Gershon down by just three points, well within the survey’s 4.9% margin of error.
Congressman Lee Zeldin is doing a fantastic job in D.C. Tough and smart, he loves our Country and will always be there to do the right thing. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2018
Gershon fired back on Twitter that the endorsement shows how worried Republicans are about losing the district, which Trump carried by more than 10 points, but Barack Obama narrowly won the previous two elections.
TFW your favorite puppet’s district is slipping away https://t.co/vYFTQL8DBn
— Perry Gershon (@perrygershon) September 26, 2018
The poll showed that support for Trump has plummeted since 2016. Only 42% of people surveyed said they had a favorable view of him compared with 52% with an unfavorable opinion.
Zeldin is still popular within the Republican base but appears to be struggling with independents.
Sensing an opening, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee threw additional support into the race in mid-September.
Gershon is part of a strong crop of Jewish candidates hoping to help Democrats retake the House in November.
EXPLORE ALL THE RACES WITH JEWISH CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES IN OUR INTERACTIVE MAP
Contact Ben Fractenberg at [email protected]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy Columbia library, with 3 arrests reported
-
Fast Forward Temple suspends second student involved in ‘F— the Jews’ sign
-
Fast Forward Haverford president draws fire in latest GOP hearing over campus antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Israel critics want Radiohead’s lead guitarist cancelled. He says they’re hypocrites.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
News How a Holocaust denier turned antisemitism into a cryptocoin
-
Fast Forward Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy Columbia library, with 3 arrests reported
-
Fast Forward Temple suspends second student involved in ‘F— the Jews’ sign
-
Fast Forward Haverford president draws fire in latest GOP hearing over campus antisemitism
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.