Polls Offer Mixed Picture
With the midterm elections 12 days away, Representative Tim Bishop and his challenger, State Senator Lee Zeldin, are locked in what polls indicate is a close contest.
A Newsday/News12/Siena poll conducted in September gave Mr. Bishop, a Democrat, a 10-point lead, but a more recent poll released by a conservative group backing Mr. Zeldin, a Republican, called it a dead heat.
The Cook Political Report calls the race leaning toward Mr. Bishop’s re-election, while the Rothenberg Political Report predicts a “tossup tilt-Democrat.” The conservative website realclearpolitics.com lists the First Congressional District as the 17th in the nation most likely to switch parties.
The candidates, who held debates last Thursday and on Sunday, will meet again tonight at 7 at LTV Studios in Wainscott. Yesterday, former President Bill Clinton headlined a campaign rally for Mr. Bishop at Stony Brook University.
On Saturday, John Boehner, the speaker of the House, chose Mr. Zeldin to deliver the weekly Republican address. Mr. Boehner was on Long Island last month to raise money for the candidate’s campaign. In the address, Mr. Zeldin spoke about his time in the Army 82nd Airborne Division as well as his wife and twin daughters. He called for repeal of the Affordable Care Act, private-sector jobs, and the need to put “parents in charge of their kids’ education.”
Mr. Bishop’s campaign issued a release asserting that the choice of Mr. Zeldin to deliver the address reflected his “ability to recite the far-right’s talking points” and “reckless agenda that puts the interests of big corporations ahead of the middle class on Long Island.”
Tomorrow, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who is running for re-election on the Democratic, Independence, and Working Families tickets and facing challenges from Republican and Conservative Party candidates, will appear at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. He is to congratulate Catherine Creedon, the library’s director, on the receipt of a $250,000 Community Capital Assistance Program grant, which he secured for the library.
Last Thursday, Mr. Thiele’s office issued a release stating that he had passed 18 bills through both houses of the New York State Legislature in 2014. According to the New York Public Interest Research Group, that was the most among Long Island’s 22-member delegation, and sixth in the 150-member Assembly. The bills pertained to deer management, the commercial fishing industry, and numerous actions requested by East End town governments. In total, Mr. Thiele passed 22 bills through the State Assembly; four did not pass the Senate.