New York Gov. Kathy Hochul cruised to a win Tuesday in her bid for a second full term, swatting away a challenge from Republican opponent Bruce Blakeman by relentlessly linking him to President Donald Trump.
Hochul, a centrist Democrat from Buffalo, focused much of her campaign on her record on pocketbook issues, using her robust war chest to air $30 million worth of ads touting her push to send energy rebate checks to New Yorkers, pause data center construction and expand access to childcare.
But the governor — on the campaign trail, on the debate stage and in many of her ads — rarely missed a chance to highlight Blakeman’s longstanding friendship with Trump, a strategy meant to capitalize on the roughly two-thirds of New York voters who say they view the president unfavorably in public-opinion polls. Blakeman did not try much to distance himself from Trump, appearing with the president at multiple rallies and events.
The Associated Press declared Hochul the winner right after polls closed.
“There’s a through line between a lot of the pain people are feeling and the frustration with the policies out of Washington and Donald Trump,” Hochul told reporters in Albany last week. “Bruce Blakeman said he would bring those policies right here to New York, and that's what voters are rejecting right now.”
Hochul, 68, became New York’s first female governor in 2021 following the resignation of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She was elected to a full term in 2022, winning by a narrower-than-expected 6-point margin over Republican Lee Zeldin.
She spent decades working her way up through local government after winning her first election to the town board in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg in 1994. Later, she became Erie County clerk and briefly served as a congressmember in a conservative-leaning western New York district before she was elected Cuomo’s lieutenant governor in 2014.
On the campaign trail, Hochul leaned into her place in history, often calling herself “New York’s first mom governor” or “first grandma governor.” She said that perspective helped inform major policies that headlined her five years in office — a ban on smartphones in schools, an expansion of free school meals and her push to expand childcare, among them.
Blakeman painted Hochul as soft on crime and immigration, faulting her for signing into law a measure restricting local governments — including Nassau County — from cooperating with federal immigration agents. He pledged to cut income taxes and utility bills, blaming Hochul for rising rates above the national average.
He tried to brand Hochul as “the worst governor in America,” repeating it on the campaign trail and in his campaign advertisements.
“ I believe she's got her priorities upside down,” Blakeman said during his lone debate with Hochul last month. “So I'm gonna ask you to vote for change. What have you got to lose?”
But Blakeman’s message couldn't break through in a state with twice as many Democrats as Republicans. He was hurt, in part, by a struggle to keep pace with Hochul’s fundraising, particularly in the critical final weeks of the campaign. He campaigned in lockstep with Trump, who is historically unpopular in New York due to the war in Iran, rising gas prices and the cost of living.
Blakeman’s focus on immigration enforcement came as polls showed voters are more likely to trust Democrats on immigration policy. Immigration had long been a winning issue for the GOP, but Trump’s second term has been marked by an aggressive crackdown that’s played out in viral videos from Chicago, Minneapolis and elsewhere. In the weeks before the election, an ICE agent shot a Dominican man through the neck in Upper Manhattan in broad daylight. The man was behind the wheel, with his 5-year-old son in the backseat.
With the loss, the GOP still hasn’t won a statewide election in New York since then-Gov. George Pataki won his third and final term in 2002.
Hochul has largely maintained her moderate stance as her party shifts left, steadfastly refusing to raise income taxes on the wealthy despite an ongoing push from the Democratic Socialists of America and other left-leaning organizations that have grown in prominence following the 2025 election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Yet Hochul has maintained a strong working relationship with Mamdani, who campaigned with the governor and encouraged his following of young, Democratic voters to vote for her.
“ I think what I'm stepping out to do is to acknowledge the governor's leadership,” Mamdani said during a campaign stop with Hochul in McCarren Park in Brooklyn. “She has been a partner, not just for me, but a partner for the entire city.”
Hochul will return to Albany with a strong Democratic majority in both houses of the state Legislature, just as she had during her first five years as governor.
She has said she intends to continue her push for universal childcare and pro-housing policies at the Capitol in 2027, as well as expanding the state’s energy portfolio to include more nuclear power as the grid struggles to keep up with demand. She has also said she intends to run for a third full term in 2030.
“I have to build more energy sources to drive down the costs and keep us from being in a place where we're perilously close to having the lights turn out,” Hochul said last week. “But also, I'm going to build more housing. I'm going to have a massive plan again for the next five years that is going to finally get to a place where people can say, ‘I can afford a home.’”
Hochul’s race headlined three statewide contests this year, with Attorney General Letitia James facing off against Republican Saritha Komatireddy and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli facing Republican Joseph Hernandez.
Results in those races and in key congressional races across the state continued to trickle in late Tuesday night.
