Cuomo, Dems rally on Long Island two days before Tuesday's election

Democratic leaders from across New York State gathered Sunday in a union hall in Hauppauge to urge the hundreds in attendance to spend the next two days knocking on doors and calling voters in a final campaign push before Tuesday’s general election.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, accompanied by local Democratic officials and candidates, framed the Long Island races — which could help tip control of the House and the State Senate to Democrats — as a chance to rebuke President Donald Trump.

“What you’re going to see on Election Day is the people in this state stand up against this president who sells hate and fear and division,” Cuomo said at the IBEW Local 25 offices, where energized attendees waved signs and wore T-shirts bearing the names of local unions and gun-control advocacy groups.

The president’s positions on gun control and immigration were targets of criticism for the rally’s speakers, as was the GOP-backed tax bill that Congress passed last year.

“People have had enough of the status quo, of millionaires in Congress who don’t understand the issues that we are living with every day,” Liuba Grechen Shirley, the Democrat running in the 2nd Congressional District against Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), said to boos from the audience.

The outcome of Grechen Shirley’s race, and that of Perry Gershon, the Democratic candidate in 1st Congressional District against Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), may determine control of the House, which some polls suggest may flip to a Democratic majority.

“This is our chance,” Gershon said. “Two days from now, we’re going to take our country back.”

Control of the State Senate also hangs in the balance, with Republicans holding effectively a one-vote majority.

“I'll tell you what these Senate Democratic candidates are going to do. They're going to fight like hell for their districts because that's who they are,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo did not mention his own re-election campaign, or his opponent, Marc Molinaro, who held a pre-election rally with other GOP candidates in upstate Colonie.

The latest Siena College poll showed Cuomo's lead dropping from 22 percentage points a month ago to 13; the candidates are close to even in the New York suburbs, Republicans pointed out.

A Molinaro aide called Cuomo's focus on Trump "desperate."

"Marc Molinaro will fix the LIRR and cut property taxes by 30 percent, which is exactly what Long Islanders want from their next governor," said Katy Delgado, Molinaro campaign spokeswoman.

The possibility that a “blue wave” could sweep Democrats into office at all levels of government was a frequent refrain at the Hauppauge rally. But the governor suggested dissatisfaction with the president and congressional Republicans might make any such wave more bipartisan than expected.

“We are going to turn out like we've never turned out before,” Cuomo said. “Not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as New Yorkers.”