Republicans across New York have been pushing for the state to change its bail laws.

Candidate for governor Lee Zeldin said while the governor's office uses data points to argue the current laws are working, there are too many stories of criminals who are released and proceed to commit more heinous crimes.

"We think about individual cases where people have lost their lives at the hands of someone who was released on cashless bail and any one of these stories is enough to justify action," Zeldin said at a press conference Thursday in Buffalo.

On Thursday, 62-year-old Hamburg man, Scott Saracina, was arraigned on multiple charges, including rape and kidnapping. He is accused of abducting a woman in August, taking her purse and cell phone, driving her to his apartment and raping her.

Zeldin's running mate, Alison Esposito, is a former NYPD precinct commanding officer.

"This was a horrific crime and it could have been avoided," Esposito said.

Saracina has been arrested more than a dozen times and served two prison sentences for crimes including assault, kidnapping and rape. He was charged in February for allegedly harassing and stalking another woman and then again for a violating a protection order that woman obtained.

Both times Saracina was released on his own recognizance.

"Anyone could see what was going to happen next," Esposito said. "Just by looking at this man's history, anyone could see that he was going to do it again. We released him to do it again. Our government's number one job is to protect its people and it's failing miserably."

Zeldin, Esposito and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Pinion all spoke out Thursday in Buffalo against a system that would allow Saracina to walk free.

Zeldin said under the current laws, the judge had no discretion to hold the suspect in February.

The protective order violation also came before tweaks to the bail law included in the state budget.

Zeldin said it's an example of how the Legislature didn't go far enough.

"Why wouldn't the judge have discretion, even at that point, once the budget passes, to be able to have this person remanded but it wasn't retroactive?" Zeldin said.

Democratic state leaders have said judges are not setting bail in cases when they can.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said people aren't being charged properly by prosecutors. 

State GOP Chair and congressional candidate Nick Langworthy said Hochul will not make any significant changes to the bail laws, giving judges more discretion and allowing them to consider how dangerous a person may be to society.

He said that's why people should vote for Zeldin and Esposito.

"Stand up and say let's go save this state. Let's go give a voice to the victims in this state," Langworthy said.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to Hochul's campaign for comment. Meanwhile, the state Democratic Committee criticized Zeldin for his response to a question about the number of people applying for pistol permits ahead of rule changes that went into effect Thursday.

The party suggested Zeldin was advocating for guns on subways when he used an example that some people don't feel safe there. Chair Jay Jacobs said the candidate's views are not in line with the majority of New Yorkers.