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Nov. 7 (UPI) -- With only a pair days before Tuesday's midterm elections, President Joe Biden visited the Democratic stronghold of New York over the weekend to urge voters to keep Gov. Kathy Hochul in office as she faces stiff competition from Led Zeldin, a Trump-backed House representative. Biden stumped for Hochul at Yonkers' Sarah Lawrence College on Sunday when he called the upcoming election the most important "in our lifetime."
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"New York, you've got two days -- two days to make sure the rest of New York knows the good they have in Kathy Hochul," he said.
Biden, along with other high-profile Democrats, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, have taken to the campaign trail ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections, in a rush to maintain the Democrats' hold of the House and try to secure a majority in the divided Senate.
Democrats have said Biden's agenda, democracy and abortion are on the line this election.
Biden told New Yorkers on Sunday that the country is at an "inflection point" where what the United States decides to do now will greatly determine how the country looks for decades to come.
"This election isn't a referendum, it's a choice -- it's a choice between two fundamentally different visions of America," he said.
Hochul was made governor in August 2021 after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. She has been viewed as the favorite to win Tuesday but polling has seen her lead slip in recent weeks to Republican challenger Rep. Zeldin, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
The GOP chair, Ronna McDaniel, in a statement pointed to Biden's visit to New York as evidence of "just how desperate" the Democrats are to maintain their majorities and the governor's mansion.
Biden on Sunday used his speech to characterize Hochul as a politician advancing his policies for the betterment of New York, and Zeldin as a man standing in the way.
The president championed his bipartisan infrastructure law as "the most significant investment in our nation's infrastructure" since the Eisenhower administration, and Hochul was ensuring the billions of dollars that it earmarked for New York were being put to work repairing roads and bridges and installing electric vehicle recharging facilities.
He also celebrated the CHIPS and Science Act, which will bring a $100 billion investment from Micron to build a factory in Syracuse and a $20 billion investment from IBM to Poughkeepsie.
"You know this couldn't have happened without your governor," he said, while reminding the crowd that Zeldin had voted against both those bills as well as others aiding New Yorkers.
The president also attacked the Republican challenger over his opposition to an assault rifle ban and for voting against bipartisan gun safety regulations.
"If a politician won't stand up to his party leaders to keep cops on the beat and won't stand up to the [National Rifle Association] and get assault weapons off the street, do you really think he's going to help your families keep safe? Look, I tell you he won't. But Kathy will," he said.
Zeldin also voted against certifying the 2020 election results. Biden called him one of more than 300 local, state and federal Republicans who are election denies.
"Democracy is literally on the ballot," he said. "With these election deniers, there's only two outcomes for any election: Either their way or they were cheated."
