U.S. Congressman and Jewish candidate for New York governor Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was recently targeted with an anti-Semitic death threat, The New York Post reported.
A swastika was spray-painted on a Zeldin campaign lawn sign in Huntington, Suffolk County, along with the number 187, the Long Island congressman’s campaign said in a statement on Sunday. The incident came only days before the Republican gubernatorial primary.
The number 187 is the California penal code’s designation for murder and “has been universally adopted as a common death threat,” the Zeldin campaign explained.
Zeldin campaign representative Katie Vincentz added, “In the United States, we settle our scores at the ballot box, and this type of raw hate must never have any home on Long Island or anywhere else in our state and country. Congressman Zeldin is thankful for the Suffolk County Police Department as they work to identify the perpetrators.”
Zeldin faces opponents Rob Astorino, Andrew Giuliani and Harry Wilson in Tuesday’s primary. If elected, he will be the first Jewish Republican governor of New York.
