New Yorkers voted against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, giving a decisive win to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul over Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman.
Congratulations to her.
Follow for stay updates on the 2026 Midterm Elections
Yet Hochul’s marketing campaign consisted of little more than opposing Trump, and voters who needed change purchased the message.
That’s no plan for governing. And while Democratic Socialists may really feel emboldened, they had nothing to do with the outcomes, so Hochul has no motive to instantly fold to their calls for.
Above all else, voters’ bottom-line message was little more than: Any good friend of the president, as is Blakeman, has no hope of changing into governor in Blue York — no matter how unhealthy issues here get.
And make no mistake: New York voters think issues are unhealthy.
More protection of the 2026 midterm elections:
Barely two in 5 think the state is heading in the “right direction,” per last week Siena ballot; a Marist ballot discovered practically half say they’re financially worse off than a 12 months in the past.
So now the query is: How much further will Hochul go to fulfill the socialists and antisemites?
Can she maintain “governing” on an anti-Trump agenda?
Or, having won decisively, will she now stand her floor against emboldened uber-leftists — and maintain back taxes, pricey utility payments, metastasizing antisemitism and crime charges that proceed to prime these from 2019 (i.e., before the pro-criminal criminal-justice reforms)?
Hochul has never been a profile in braveness, but New York wants to cease getting worse if it’s ever to begin getting higher.