Tag Archives: New York State Governor Kathy Hochul

The 2026 Elections Could Be Very Interesting

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New York State’s last Republican Governor was George Pataki, who served as Governor from January 1, 1995, to January 1, 2007. It seems that the current race for Governor may actually be close.

On Sunday, Legal Insurrection reported:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has a considerable financial advantage over Republican Bruce Blakeman. Apparently, Democrats would like a little more insurance.

A Democratic Governors Association-backed super PAC has collected $4.34 million for the final weeks of the governor’s reelection campaign. Greater Empire State reported the contributions between late July and October 2, then rolled out two ads Saturday targeting Blakeman over his support for President Donald Trump.

Three donors accounted for $3 million. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave $1 million, as did the Greater New York Hospital Association Management Corp. Another million came from Leadership for New York, a super PAC headed by Jay Martin, formerly of the New York Apartment Association.

The Sports Betting Alliance and Hess Corporation CEO John Hess also contributed.

The article includes some comments by Kathy Hochul’s opponent, Republican Bruce Blakeman:

Speaking in an interview published Saturday, the Nassau County executive accused Hochul of using Trump to avoid discussing her record. He didn’t deny knowing the president or supporting him. Quite the opposite.

“Donald Trump is my friend. He has supported me, and I have supported him. But the decisions that I make will be decisions made solely in what I feel is in the best interest of New Yorkers.” 

His criticism went further when the conversation turned to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Hochul has tried to maintain her reputation as a moderate while supporting the city’s socialist mayor. Blakeman isn’t buying the distinction. He accused her of allowing Mamdani and the Democratic Party’s progressive wing to dictate where the state is headed.

The article concludes:

New York Republicans have been here before. In 2022, Lee Zeldin came within six points of defeating Hochul, despite running in a state where Democrats substantially outnumber Republicans. The GOP hasn’t elected a governor since George Pataki.

Affordability may be the bigger obstacle to Hochul’s preferred campaign argument. A September Quinnipiac survey found that 28 percent of likely voters considered the cost of living their top concern. Another 21 percent chose the economy, while nine percent named immigration.

Those are different priorities from the Trump-centered attacks now filling the airwaves.

Hochul’s allies say they’re not worried. The $4.3 million says otherwise.

Early voting starts October 24.

Stay tuned.

The Need To Educate Our Students

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On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about a recent Democrat event called “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall in downtown Ithaca Sunday. Obviously, ‘students vs. billionaires’ is the kind of class warfare used by Marxists to push their agenda.

The article reports:

Cornell University’s lefty crowd gave Democratic Socialist superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a warm, hate-filled welcome by singing anti-Israel chants at a campaign event meant to gin up support for Democrats ahead of the midterms Sunday.

While warming up the standing-room-only crowd of roughly 2,000 people gathered for the congresswoman’s “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall in downtown Ithaca Sunday, Cornell University Young Democratic Socialists of America co-chairs Mina Petrova and Zoe Reisman led the crowd singing “from the river to the sea” and declaring “long live the student intifada.”

There are a few problems here. First of all, do the students understand that ‘from the river to the sea’ is a call for genocide of Jews? Secondly, do the students understand that an intifada is a holy war? Thirdly, do the Young Democratic Socialists know that after the communists helped elect the Mullahs in Iran, the Mullahs had all of the communists killed because they weren’t Muslim and they were a threat to the power of the Mullahs? Do they understand how Sharia Law treats women? Do they understand how Sharia Law treats homosexuality?

The article concludes:

The chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” however, was overwhelmingly ruled to be antisemitic by the US House of Representatives. Critics say the motto, which refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, is a call for the eradication of Israel and its people.

Ocasio-Cortez voted against the 2024 resolution declaring the phrase to be hateful.

The Bronx-Queens congresswoman, who rose to stardom by shockingly defeating Queens Democratic boss Joe Crowley during Democrats’ last midterm surge in 2018, was planning on appearing with Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier Sunday.

A spokesperson for the Governor’s office said Hochul backed out of a planned appearance with Ocasio-Cortez earlier in the day in Ithaca.

Her office said the cancellation was due to the nor’easter hitting New York City, though Hochul did not have any public events Sunday.

I think Governor Hochul was smart to stay away. Our college students need to learn history.

Making Our Roads Safer

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On Friday, American Greatness posted an article about Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL’s) being issued to people who are here illegally or who do not speak English well enough to read road signs or follow verbal directions.

The article reports:

Over $73 million in federal highway funds are being withheld from New York state after an audit found more than half the state’s commercial drivers licenses (CDL) were issued to foreigners illegally.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced yesterday that the state failed to revoke “illegally issued nondomiciled commercial learner’s permits and commercial driver’s licenses.”

According to a December press release from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) nationwide audit of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) uncovered a shocking 53 percent failure rate in the records sampled, indicating serious problems in New York’s CDL program.

Among the failures documented were New York DMV systems defaulting to issuing eight-year licenses to foreign drivers for non-REAL ID licenses, regardless of when their legal status expired, and the state issuing commercial licenses to foreign drivers without providing any evidence that it had verified their current lawful presence in the United States.

Just the News reports that Derek Barrs, administrator of the motor carrier administration, stated, “FMCSA’s mission is safety. That means ensuring that every commercial driver on the road is properly vetted and qualified. New York’s continued refusal to fix these failures undermines that mission, and we will not allow federal dollars to support a system that falls short of the law.”

The article concludes:

Just the News reports that with the forfeiture of nearly $74 million in funding, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is losing 4 percent of its National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Program Block Grant Funds.

Duffy, in a post on X, posed the question of whether pulling federal funding from non-compliant states worked before responding, “Just ask Gavin Newsom,” referring to how California revoked more than 17,000 licenses issued to undocumented people after the DOT pulled over $160 million in federal funding from the state.

We don’t need people who cannot read road signs driving multi-ton trucks.

Policy Changes Before An Election?

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It’s amazing what politicians will do to get elected. On Saturday, Hot Air posted an article with one example.

The article reports:

Kathy Hochul is up for reelection this year, and has a big, big problem: for all the talk about an “affordability” agenda, every single policy the Democrats like to push increases costs, reduces quality of life, and drives people out of Blue states.

And one of the worst problems she faces is skyrocketing energy bills, and the prospect that those prices will rise even more and faster in the next few years as climate deadlines rapidly approach.

The article quotes The New York Times:

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday moved to alter and delay the implementation of New York State’s landmark 2019 climate law, which calls for gradually decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by certain deadlines.

Those proposed adjustments include delaying issuing the regulations for enforcing the law — already two years late — until 2030 and amending how certain emissions are measured.

“We need more time,” Ms. Hochul wrote in an editorial that was published on Friday morning in The Empire Report, a news site that covers state politics. “So much has radically changed since the Climate Act was enacted, necessitating common-sense adjustments.”

The proposal, anticipated by lawmakers in Albany, comes late in the budget negotiation process. Although Ms. Hochul has considerable leverage to push for her agenda during this time, members of the Legislature will need to approve the final budget, which would include changes to the climate law.

The article notes:

There is not a serious person alive who didn’t understand that imposing huge costs for not meeting impossible climate goals would raise costs for consumers. You had to have had a lobotomy or be a liberal to not predict this.

Passing the climate law in 2019 was perfect for liberal politicians; it helped funnel money in great quantities to political allies for years, and the worst of the price increases was put into the seemingly distant future. But that “distant” future is not so distant now, and Hochul sees political trouble if she doesn’t relieve the artificial price pressure the law has created.

The article concludes:

As always, the Democrats warn about a fake crisis, promise the moon, spend tons of money, make things infinitely worse, and then say they will fix the problem.

Hey, folks, I have a better plan: get rid of these idiots and elect some Republicans. They aren’t perfect, but you get a lot fewer butterfly bridges, fraudulent programs, insane green energy laws, and as a bonus, we won’t put boys in girls’ locker rooms.

Give it a try. You may like it.

The Governor’s election in New York State is going to be fun to watch!

Not Surprising!

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On Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about a recent statement by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul (D.)

The article reports:

New York governor Kathy Hochul (D.), who has long insisted that she will not increase taxes, is reportedly moving toward supporting tax hikes following the victory of socialist New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Hochul is now reconsidering “a position she had treated as nonnegotiable all year,” Politico reported Thursday. While she told Fox 5 on Wednesday that she still opposes raising income taxes, “everything else seems to be on the table,” with state officials “quietly discussing a potential corporate tax rate increase,” according to Politico. Mamdani has proposed raising the state’s corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent, which would make it the highest in the country.

The article concludes:

In addition to Mamdani, Hochul is also facing a challenge from within her own administration, as Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is primarying her from the left. “Left-leaning activists, including the Working Families Party, have threatened to back Delgado—who supports higher taxes on rich New Yorkers—in the primary,” Politico reported.

Socialist state assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas welcomed Hochul’s shift toward higher taxes, though she suggested that the move may come out of political expedience.

Hochul “sees the writing on the wall in the way people turned out in droves in supporting Mamdani,” González-Rojas said.

The party infighting could complicate Hochul’s reelection bid even more. Polls have found mixed results on a hypothetical matchup between Hochul and her likely Republican challenger, Rep. Elise Stefanik. A poll last month found Hochul with a double-digit lead, while an October poll found that Hochul was “deeply vulnerable” and had only a 5-point lead. The October poll also found that when likely voters heard of each candidate’s background, including Hochul’s endorsement of Mamdani, Stefanik took the lead.

I am not sure that this is the way to win votes. As the taxes go up, voters will probably choose to leave New York. This results in a lower tax base and a need to raise taxes even more.  I just hope the people leaving New York and moving to red states leave their blue state policies at home.