Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York headlines a Staten Island GOP fundraising dinner in New York City on June 2, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )
Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership, for months has repeatedly charged that Hochul is "the worst governor in America."
And Stefanik has blasted Hochul over the governor's endorsement earlier this autumn of Zohran Mamdani, who this week was elected mayor of New York City.
REPUBLICANS AIM TO LINK VULERNABLE DEMOCRATS TO MAMDANI
"People are looking for strong, commonsense leadership to be a check on this radical insanity that we’re seeing play out in New York City with Zohran Mamdani as a tax-hiking, defund the police, antisemite socialist," Stefanik said in her Fox News interview, again linking Hochul to the progressive mayor-elect.
Stefanik, who once criticized Trump, has since become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is running for re-election in 2026. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)
She defeated then-Rep. Lee Zeldin by just over six points in 2022 to win a full four-year term. But Zeldin's showing was the best by a Republican gubernatorial nominee since Pataki won re-election to a third term in 2002.
Meanwhile, Trump, who lost New York by 23 points in the 2020 presidential election, trimmed his deficit by 10 points last November.
Hochul, a moderate Democrat from Buffalo, is facing a primary challenge from New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, in a very rare move by a lieutenant governor to primary challenge a sitting incumbent.
Stefanik is expected to hammer Hochul as she focuses her campaign on the issue of affordability.
"People are very concerned about affordability and I have a strong record of delivering for families," she highlighted in her Fox News interview.
And she charged that Hochul had made New York "the most unaffordable state in the nation. We have the highest taxes, the highest energy prices, the highest utility prices, the highest grocery prices, and rent that continues to skyrocket."
Democrats notched double-digit victories this week in New Jersey and Virginia, emphasizing affordability as a top issue. Stefanik said those results show Republicans must put forward a clear economic vision.
"You have to have a vision, and you have to put forth policies to make your state affordable again," she said. "We are going to win the affordability message because her [Hochul] record is making it the most unaffordable state in the nation."
But New York State Democratic Party Spokesperson Addison Dick charged that "Elise Stefanik is a rubber stamp in Washington for Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is raising costs, gutting health care, and defunding New York schools, hospitals, and police."
And Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe charged that "from gutting health care to backing cost-raising tariffs, Stefanik’s record as Trump’s cheerleader in chief could not be more toxic with New York voters."
Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York seriously mulled a run for governor. But Lawler announced in July that he would seek re-election and forgo a gubernatorial run.
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Stefanik, however, has already begun assembling a seasoned campaign team that includes veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who served as chief pollster for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
But Stefanik may not have the Republican nomination to herself.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump ally who was re-elected this week, may be eyeing a run for governor, GOP sources in New York confirmed to Fox News.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maga-star-stefanik-jumps-new-york-governor-race-days-after-shocking-mamdani-nyc-mayoral-win