With Gov. Kathy Hochul predicting that a ‘Blue Wave’ will sweep across New York State next month, her Republican rival Bruce Blakeman is trying to prove her wrong.
While both candidates have been campaigning hard across the state this month, they’ve almost been overshadowed at times by their most prominent supporters. For the governor, it’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani. For Blakeman, it’s President Donald Trump.
“We have worked hard to deal with the affordability crisis. It is not a campaign buzz word for us,” Hochul said during a campaign stop in Albany Wednesday.
“What we need to do here in the state of New York,, is we have to have a common sense transportation system,” Blakeman said separately, in Manhattan earlier this week.
Less than a week out from Election Day, New Yorkers are already casting early ballots at record numbers — more than 85% more – compared to four years ago.
Hochul benefits from Democratic enrollment swamping the GOP statewide, especially in the five boroughs. She’s got an eye-watering $12-plus million war chest, according to the latest Board of Election filings.
That’s compared to Blakeman’s just over $1.2 million. The Republican is also partaking in the state’s taxpayer-funded public matching dollars program.
Hochul also reminded union members this week what she’s done for them at the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council headquarters in Midtown Tuesday.
“We have provided New York State free breakfast and lunches to every child in New York for the first time in history,” she said on stage.
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, is keeping his eye on areas upstate and in the Hudson Valley where he argues independent voters favor his campaign message.
The Republican highlighted New York’s affordability crisis, pointing to high energy costs and the congestion pricing toll as reasons why Hochul has to go.
“It is wrong. It is a tax. It has nothing to do with relieving congestion,” he said during a press conference where he promised to end the congestion pricing toll.
Both candidates also often find themselves caught in the middle of another political balancing act: the relationship between President Trump and Mayor Mamdani.
Hochul has tied Blakeman to Trump, who has rallied with him upstate.
“[He] says he’s going to bring Trump-style leadership to New York State. If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you I don’t know what will, Hochul asaid t a weekend rally in Rochester.
Blakeman, in turn,slammed Hochul for her alliance with Mamdani.
“We’ve got somebody who’s the mayor of the city of New York that needs someone to keep him in check in the governor’s office. Kathy Hochul won’t do that,” Blakeman said during a press conference in Nassau County.
But new polling from Siena shows that Trump may be more of a liability for Blakeman than Mamdani for Hochul: 48% of voters said Trump backing Blakeman has been a drag for the Republican, compared to 28% who called it a positive.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s endorsement of Hochul has been a positive for her by a 45% to 30% margin.
“There’s areas where I agree with the president, there’s areas where I disagree with the president. The fact of the matter is I’m running for governor. Kathy Hochul has made the people of this state miserable,” Blakeman said when asked about his relationship with Trump in the Bronx Thursday.
Mamdani and Trump’s show of good will: like the president visiting Gracie mansion last month and Mamdani paying his respects to the White House, twice, has torpedoed some GOP criticism of the democratic socialist mayor.
Hochul, meanwhile, is trying to play kingmaker in the Democratic fight for the control of Congress. Trying to shake once and for all the burn from 2022, after she was blamed for poor Democratic results.
“My job as the governor of the state of New York and the Democratic party leader is to build out the resources,” Hochul said at the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council headquarters. “[I] took on this responsibly after 2022. In 2024, we won five out of seven battleground rates that could have gone either way for Congress.”
Marist polling shows Trump is a negative for Republicans in congressional contests.
Despite those odds, Blakeman says he’s built enough of a coalition to best Hochul.
“We’ve got to create good jobs. We’ve got to create prosperity. We’ve got to put more money in people’s pockets,” Blakeman said.