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, New York, on Aug. 10, 2025. Huang Xiaotang/The Epoch Times

Betsy McCaughey, who served as lieutenant governor of New York under George Pataki, said she might pursue a gubernatorial bid during a recent event in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, which is 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, using the acronym of the Chinese Communist Party.

“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-based nonprofit Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party. The event commemorated the occasion of more than 450 million Chinese people having renounced their ties with the Chinese Communist Party (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 contains numerous topics that are considered taboo in China, including the history of the CCP and its crimes against the Chinese people.

In New York City, the center has several booths that assist Chinese people in withdrawing from the CCP. The booths are run by volunteers, all of whom practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline 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 bomb attacks and shootings, primarily targeting Falun Gong practitioners and supporters.

At the Aug. 10 rally, McCaughey reiterated her commitment to stop the CCP’s infiltration in an interview with NTD, the 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 chairman of Reduce Infection Deaths and co-founder 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 added.

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 of the Information Technology Services at the State University of New York at Old Westbury.

Pastine criticized the CCP’s control over information, including censoring the internet and rewriting history, as tools 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.”