A Sunday evening pre-Election Day event featuring New York's Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul turned violent when an anti-Hochul protester outside the event hosted by Bravo's Andy Cohen was choked and harassed by the governor's supporters, including a tussle with a New York City Council member.
Video of the scene as it unfolded was tweeted out by Viral News NY:
#Breakingnews
— Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) November 5, 2022
A fight breaks out during the @GovKathyHochul rally in NYC between Hochul supporters and Zeldin supporters
For licensing email viralnewsnyc@gmail.com #NEWS pic.twitter.com/TPzI4nDi43
As the New York Post reported, the incident occurred near the Stonewall Inn "where the Democratic candidate Hochul was appearing with Bravo host Andy Cohen to shore up LGBTQ support in the days before the gubernatorial election."
Footage captured by the independent Viral News NY showed the middle of the altercation, in which a man in shorts and a plaid short-sleeve shirt choked a woman wearing a black sweatshirt.
Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, a Democrat who represents Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, was also seen tussling with the woman, who at one point shoved the lawmaker. Hudson did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The 24-second clip did not show how the fight began, but the unidentified woman told the photographer it started when someone took her sign, which featured pictures of Hochul and other Democrats with the tagline “Vote Them Out.”
Governor Hochul's GOP challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin tweeted a photo of the assault and called on Hochul to condemn the incident, saying "[h]er continued silence on her supporter choking out a woman simply exercising her First Amendment rights makes her complicit in this attack."
I have always condemned political violence of any kind, and Kathy Hochul must do the same. Her continued silence on her supporter choking out a woman simply exercising her First Amendment rights makes her complicit in this attack. pic.twitter.com/mDlPFkPdMs
— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) November 7, 2022
Some on Twitter highlighted the fact that if the roles were reversed and a Republican candidate's supporter was caught on camera choking out a Democrat's supporter, there would be an entirely different response from the media and national Democrat figures.
The black woman being choked is a #Zeldin supporter — the white man is a #Hochul supporter. If the roles were reversed — it would be the top story of every newscast. This is how the mass media plays the public to fit their LEFTIST agenda 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/7HzC4HgYx0
— Lidia Curanaj (@LidiaNews) November 6, 2022
But, because it was apparently Dem-on-GOP violence, the incident is being suppressed from turning into the kind of wall-to-wall story a Republican attacking a Democrat would create.
As Andrew Gruel pointed out on Twitter, the final days of the midterm campaign season have seen repeated and escalating attacks targeting Republican candidates and their supporters, despite what President Biden and Democrats allege about political violence being limited to GOP perpetrators.
As a non-partisan voter - I’m shocked at the violence against Republican candidates this past week - A female Zeldin campaigner gets choked by a man; Kari Lake campaign sent a potentially deadly powder; a shooting into the home (kids present) of Pat Harrigan.
— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) November 6, 2022
Katie's reporting on the incident targeting Kari Lake's campaign explained how "a series of letters containing suspicious white powder were sent to the campaign headquarters of Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake Saturday, prompting a response from local law enforcement and the FBI" on Sunday. Where's the breathless coverage from CNN and MSNBC? Or primetime speech by President Biden?
The White House has claimed that the president always speaks out against political violence, but the lack of forceful condemnation in the wake of these final-stretch attacks targeting Republicans — combined with little to no mainstream media coverage — debunk the left's claim to truly care about lowering the temperature of the national discourse and also undermine Democrats' empty virtue-signaling calls to unite against those who turn to violence over political disagreements.