They’re pecking away at democracy.

Republicans raged Saturday at the expanding number of top New York Democrats who are giving their challengers the silent treatment rather than debate them.

So far, Gov. Cuomo, and two top Dems — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and attorney general candidate Letitia James — are ducking debates with their darkhorse opponents.

On Friday, Gillibrand and James backed out of contests set to air on Spectrum’s NY1, claiming they were acting out of solidarity with workers striking against the channel’s parent company, Charter Communications.

But their opponents said that’s a cock and bull story.

“This is just Kirsten Gillibrand silencing her opponent,” Republican Senate candidate Chele Farley told The Post. “So much for transparency.”

“It’s really despicable behavior for elected officials to hide from the voters they claim to represent,” GOP strategist Susan Del Percio said. “There’s no excuse to turn your back on democracy.”

Gillibrand promised to debate Farley on Sunday. James was scheduled to debate Republican Keith Wofford on Oct. 30.

James said she wouldn’t participate unless the roughly 18-month-old labor dispute gets resolved by then.

But Farley noted both Gillibrand and James had no problem with previous appearances on NY1, even when the labor fight was well underway.

“This strike has been going on since March 2017,” she said. “Gillibrand has appeared on NY1 from their studios at least twice this year.”

James appeared in an NY1-sponsored attorney general debate with three other labor-supporting Democrats ahead of the party’s September primary.

Farley said it was Gillibrand’s staff that set up the now-cancelled debate in the first place.

But since then, Cuomo has called on fellow pols to boycott NY1. He even went as far as to praise his nemesis, Mayor de Blasio, for cancelling his regular segment on the channel.

News 12 Long Island, which is not owned by Spectrum, invited both Gillibrand and Farley to debate in their studio Nov. 1.

The Republican plans to be there, but the incumbent has not yet said definitively whether she’ll show.

On Friday, the state AFL-CIO announced plans for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 to picket outside the scheduled Gillibrand-Farley debate at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.

It would be the union’s first time demonstrating at a remote NY1 news event. Up until now, striking workers have set up picket lines at Spectrum storefronts.

And the union hasn’t voiced any outrage over an NY1-sponsored debate in the hotly contested 19th Congressional District in the Hudson Valley, where Republican incumbent Rep. John Faso is battling Democrat Antonio Delgado, according to Delgado’s spokesperson. That face-off was moving ahead as planned for this coming Tuesday in Woodstock, said Delgado spokesperson Melissa Toufanian.

But state AFL-CIO president Mario Cilento issued a statement that said “all elected and would-be elected officials should put workers first and do the right thing on behalf of those workers who are sacrificing so much for the good of all working people.”

He added, “IBEW Local 3 has been and continues to conduct leafleting to educate the public on their fight for a fair contract.”

In that race, a no-show from Delgado could sink the Democrats’ chances of flipping the seat.

While Gillibrand and James have broadcast their support for unions, Delgado hasn’t gotten any pressure from the AFL-CIO, his spokeswoman told The Post.

A political consultant for labor groups said it’s all about the optics.

“[Union workers] could make the demand at the right time and the candidates could agree to pull out of the debate and look pro-labor,” the consultant said of the Hudson Valley race.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Molinaro accused Cuomo of pushing the AFL-CIO to “concoct a bogus Spectrum picket line” so Gillibrand and James have a pretext to quit their debates.

“Cuomo is so desperate to avoid a statewide debate that he is willing to deny all New Yorkers any debate for any statewide office,” Molinaro said Saturday.

A Cuomo spokesperson countered, “Trump mini-me [opponent Mark] Molinaro has no respect for working men and women and is anti-labor … Molinaro, who just yesterday turned down a one-on-one debate, should be saying ‘quack quack.’ ”

Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin said, “we will have a televised debate before the election” but did not say when or where.