Lee Zeldin and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand trade barbs over possible 2024 race
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He calls her ”Senator What’s Her Name.” She says “I’ll beat him.”
Ex-Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) traded barbs Tuesday amid speculation they could face off in a 2024 battle for her seat.
Gillibrand took the bait when a suburban New York TV reporter asked if she thinks Zeldin will challenge her next year.
“I know he’s been mentioned [but] I don’t think he’ll run,” Gillibrand told Tara Rosenblum of News 12. “If he does [run], I’ll beat him.”
Zeldin wasted no time tweeting back at the state’s junior senator.
“Tough talk from New York’s laziest and most forgettable Senator in generations,” he tweeted, deriding Gillibrand as “Senator What’s Her Name.”
Even as Zeldin talked trash, he may have inadvertently made Gillibrand’s point that she has little to worry about.
“[Gillibrand] only says this because she is in a state with MANY millions more Dems than Republicans,” Zeldin wrote. “If the Dem enrollment advantage was 2 million ... She’d be toast.”
Gillibrand, who mounted an unsuccessful 2020 presidential run, has already said she plans to run for a third full term next year.
The onetime upstate lawmaker said she doesn’t believe she’ll face any significant Democratic primary opposition.
Whoever is the party’s nominee is likely to be a strong favorite against any Republican opponent given the Democratic dominance in the state and the fact that it’s a presidential election year.
Zeldin gave up his Long Island seat in the House of Representatives to mount a surprisingly strong losing campaign for governor.
