New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is projected to win the state’s gubernatorial race, clinching a Democratic victory in what had turn out to be an unexpectedly tight race.
Hochul turned the state’s first feminine governor in August 2021 after inheriting the seat from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid a rising sexual harassment scandal that threatened to show into impeachment proceedings.
The previous lieutenant governor and member of Congress assumed the governorship at a turbulent time. With simply over a 12 months remaining in Cuomo’s third time period, COVID-19 circumstances had been surging, masks and vaccine mandates had been in query, and New York’s financial system ― like the remainder of the nation’s ― wanted shoring up.
Not serving to issues, Cuomo publicly entertained working in opposition to Hochul within the primaries, even running ads to attempt to clear his identify and casting himself as a sufferer of “political assaults.”
Hochul, a reasonable Democrat from Buffalo, made abortion rights a focus of her marketing campaign, searching for to attract a pointy distinction with Zeldin. Although the Republican claimed he’d go away the state’s abortion legal guidelines intact if elected, he additionally proudly bragged about his “100% pro-life” voting file.
Because the race grew extra aggressive, Hochul’s marketing campaign pursued a distinct message, emphasizing public security and highlighting Zeldin’s fealty to former president Donald Trump.
Zeldin is among the many Home Republicans who tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory after then-President Donald Trump’s supporters violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The previous president repaid him with an endorsement.
One week earlier than election day, a Pix11 Information/Emerson School Polling/The Hill ballot confirmed Hochul main Zeldin 52% to 44%, with 3% undecided.
Democratic voters outnumber Republicans two to at least one within the state, which hasn’t elected a Republican governor since George Pataki left workplace in 2007.
“There hasn’t been a significantly aggressive statewide election in 20 years, and Democrats definitely in Manhattan and elsewhere have been taking November on autopilot,” Manhattan borough president Mark Levine fretted to the New York Occasions in October. “It’s not an exaggeration to say we will’t win statewide until we get Democrats in Manhattan excited to vote.”