‘Conspiracy’ Kathy Hochul admits New York’s ‘crime issue’ as Zeldin closes in

Days after drawing heat by blaming “master manipulators” and “data deniers” for creating a “conspiracy” of rising crime to thwart her election bid — and with that race now neck and neck — Gov. Kathy Hochul admitted “there is a crime issue” in New York.

Hochul insisted she was focused on the solution during an interview Wednesday with Pat Kiernan on NY1.

When asked if New York state and the Big Apple face a crime problem — and if she is the one responsible for it — Hochul asserted she was focused on the solution.

“I acknowledge there is a crime issue,” Hochul said. “It’s not new to me because it’s election time, I’ve been working on this throughout my entire time as governor.”

The Democrat recalled going into the subways on Jan. 6 with Mayor Eric Adams to promote the city and state working together for the first time in a decade against crime.

“It was last January when I first went into the subways with Mayor Adams. It was actually Jan. 6 — a day I’m sure Lee Zeldin would rather forget,” she quipped.

She later added: “We worked on getting more police officers, getting public safety officials to help out. But also getting people with severe mental health problems out of the subway.”

The Democrat insisted the crime rate skyrocketing was not something new on her radar and slammed her opponent for his stance on guns.

“It’s not a new issue to me. We worked so hard on the issue, getting guns off the streets,” Hochul said. “But now for it to come down to I’m soft on crime — he’s soft on guns and that’s a real problem.”

When later asked what she would say to a voter who is unhappy with the way things are, Hochul said, “I’m not satisfied with the situation either.”

“Crime is up everywhere. Telling people it’s the safest big city in America, and it truly is statistically, doesn’t deal with the fact that there is a problem out there,” Hochul said.

“We have crimes that are going down — murders and shootings are down 15 percent since I’ve been governor — but other crimes have gone up,” she said.

Hochul has been in a neck-and-neck race with Zeldin for the past month, seeing her projected lead shrink from a nearly 20-point margin over the summer as Zeldin focused his campaign messaging on crime.

The race is now so close that Real Clear Politics has it as a “toss-up.” One recent poll actually had Zeldin ahead by tenths of a percent and most other recent polls have had the race as within a margin of error or Hochul up by single digits.

On Sunday Hochul made the startling comments on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” that Zeldin and other Republican critics are “data deniers” who have helped drum up a “conspiracy” to stoke greater fear of crime in New York.

And Hochul drew heat last week for dismissing the concerns of New Yorkers about subway and other violent crimes as a “sense of fear.”

“This has been a sustained, constant approach since I first became governor. This is not a campaign issue to me. People’s lives are more important than being pawns in a dialogue about a campaign,” Hochul insisted to NY1’s Pat Kiernan.

“It’s not about that it’s about real safety. Real meaningful ways to get the guns off our streets and enhance safety everywhere from our subways to our homes and our schools.”