Former NY Official Vows to Root Out CCP Influence If Elected Governor

‘I can tell you the threat of communism is not just in China. It is right here in America,’ Betsy McCaughey says.

Betsy McCaughey speaks at an event held by the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP in Queens, N.Y., on Aug. 10, 2025. Huang Xiaotang/The Epoch Times

Former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, who served under Gov. George Pataki, said she may join the gubernatorial race, during a recent event in Queens’ Flushing neighborhood, home to the largest Chinese community in New York City.

“I can tell you that I am considering running for governor of New York state, and when I do, the CCP will be out of this state! Period. Driven out! We will not tolerate it,” McCaughey said in a short speech on Aug. 10, referring to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“I can tell you the threat of communism is not just in China. It is right here in America.”

McCaughey was one of several speakers at a rally hosted by the New York City-based nonprofit Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP. The event was held to mark that more than 450 million Chinese people have now renounced their ties with the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

The center was formed as a result of the global “Tuidang” or “Quit the CCP” movement, which was inspired by The Epoch Times’ 2004 editorial series “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.” The publication reveals the true history of the CCP and its crimes against the Chinese people.

In New York City, the center maintains several booths where volunteers assist Chinese people in declaring their withdrawals from CCP-related organizations. The booths are run by practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, which is based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

Falun Gong practitioners have been the target of brutal persecution by the CCP since July 1999. Since then, millions of people have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated and untold numbers persecuted to death, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

In April, a man attacked the center’s booth near the Main Street subway station in Flushing. The incident followed a series of threats the center had received, including threats of bomb attacks and shootings, primarily targeting Falun Gong practitioners and supporters.

At the Aug. 10 rally, McCaughey reiterated her commitment to stopping the CCP’s infiltration in an interview with NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

“The penetration of the CCP—its illegal, secret, and violent ways inside the United States—must be stopped. They intimidate, they injure, they threaten Chinese people here who have left the Party. That must stop,” she said.

McCaughey, a Republican, is the founder and chairwoman of Reduce Infection Deaths and cofounder of SaveNYC.

During her speech, McCaughey called the Tuidang movement “inspiring.”

“It shows that the human spirit can never be conquered. It proves that truth, once spoken, lives on forever,” she said.

“This is not about politics. It is about humanity. It is deep within our core as humans to want freedom. It is about the right to live with dignity, to believe what we choose without fear.”

She commended the Chinese people for their courage in quitting the CCP, emphasizing that the United States and the international community support them.

“Together, we can build a future where the truth is not censored, where faith is not punished, and where the horrors of communism are never repeated,” she said.

Michael Pastine speaks at an event held by the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP in Queens, New York, on Aug. 10, 2025. Huang Xiaotang/The Epoch Times

Another speaker at the event was Michael Pastine, assistant vice president and chief information officer at SUNY–Old Westbury.

Pastine criticized the CCP’s control over information, including censoring the internet and rewriting history, as an attempt to control the minds of the Chinese people.

He applauded those who have chosen to quit the CCP.

“Each one of them has broken through the wall of lies. Each one is a digital and spiritual defector—walking away from a system that values power over people, and control over conscience,” he said.

Pastine also applauded the millions of people from around the world who have signed the center’s “End CCP” petition.

“These are not just signatures. They are voices. They are data points in a moral movement that technology cannot suppress,” he said.

“As long as people choose truth, no algorithm, no surveillance system, and no dictatorship can win.”