Kathy Hochul became the first woman elected governor of New York on Tuesday after overcoming a tighter-than-expected race and defeating Republican challenger Lee Zeldin.
The Democratic incumbent, buoyed by high voter turnout in New York City, declared victory shortly after 11 p.m. and will now serve a full four-year term in office.
“Tonight you made your voices heard loud and clear and you made me the first woman to ever be elected the governor of the state of New York,” Hochul said to a chorus of cheers at Capitale, a Lower Manhattan event space with Greek-style architecture and a glass ceiling. “But I’m not here to make history, I’m here to make a difference.
“I will lead with strength and compassion not with fear and anger,” she added.
The Associated Press didn’t call the race for Hochul until shortly before 1 a.m. as Hochul maintained a slim seven-point lead according to unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.
For much of the night, technical issues prevented results from being tabulated from Suffolk County, Zeldin’s home turf. NBC and ABC called the race before midnight.
Hochul’s win was far from certain even in deep blue New York as she faced off against Zeldin, a Donald Trump-endorsed Long Island congressman whose focus on crime boosted his bid to become the first Republican elected statewide in over two decades.
Zeldin refused to concede as he briefly addressed supporters at Cipriani in Midtown Manhattan shortly after midnight.
“What’s going to happen is in the next couple of hours you’re going to see the race get closer and closer and closer and closer,” he said before encouraging backers to take advantage of the open bar.
“We came to this with passion, to have a debate of ideas,” he added. “We’re still totally committed to seeing this through. We hope, as these results come in, that we’ll be able to prevail.”
A Buffalo native and former one-term member of Congress, Hochul served as Cuomo’s second-in-command for seven years before his stunning downfall led to her ascension 14 months ago.
The 64-year-old declared her intention to run for a full term shortly before taking over the reins of state government from her predecessor, vowing to help people “believe in their government again.”
Hochul cruised to victory in June’s Democratic primary and entered the general election against Zeldin as a commanding front-runner with a well-stocked campaign war chest.
In a state where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans, Hochul appeared to have the race squared away with summer polling showing a double-digit lead.
Zeldin, a conservative congressman from Suffolk County with close ties to Trump, gained ground in recent months as he hammered Hochul over crime and inflation.
The race narrowed as Zeldin trimmed his campaign down to a near-singular focus on public safety and vowed to undo Dem-backed criminal justice reforms such as cashless bail.
He pledged to declare a crime emergency, fire Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s progressive district attorney, and described his candidacy as a “rescue mission.”
He attempted to align himself with Mayor Adams, even as the Democrat and former cop endorsed Hochul and toned down his rhetoric on criminal justice issues, and implored disaffected Dems to back his bid.
One such supporter was Ruben Diaz Sr., a former City Council member, who said he crossed party lines in an attempt to attempt to wake fellow Dems up to the impact violent crime is having in Black and brown communities.
The veteran Bronx pol said crime is not nearly as bad as it was in the city in the 80s and 90s when it reached its height, but worried that “it’s getting there.”
“I’m trying to send an S.O.S. We need help,” Diaz, clad in his signature cowboy hat, said as he joined Zeldin backers at the candidate’s election night watch party. “This is not about Democrat or Republican. This is about our children, our families, about our city, about our state about our senior citizens so I gotta do what I gotta do.”
Zeldin raced around the city in recent weeks, appearing at crime scene after crime scene and painting Hochul as out of touch with New Yorkers’ concerns.
Adding to his late-race momentum, a pair of conservative Super PACs backing his bid flooded the airwaves with anti-Hochul ads.
The governor, meanwhile, spent much of her campaign calling out Zeldin over his anti-abortion stance, his allegiance to Trump and his vote against certifying the results of the 2020 election.
Hochul accused Zeldin of fearmongering and touted her work with Adams on strengthening subway security with more cops and cameras in the wake of a spate of high profile violent incidents.
“He has been hyperventilating, trying to scare people for months and New Yorkers are onto it,” the governor said on Monday. “All the legitimate media organizations have called him out for what he is doing, fear-mongering.”
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In the campaign’s final weeks, concern mounted among Hochul’s fellow Dems as party leaders from President Biden to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton joined the governor at rallies around the state.
“I’m going to make it real simple for everybody,” Hochul said at an event Sunday in Yonkers with Biden. “Do you want to have good-paying jobs? Then vote Democrat. Do you want to protect our environment for generations to come? Then just vote Democrat.”
Hochul’s first year in office included highs and lows as she took over the Executive Chamber amid a resurgence of COVID cases and Brian Benjamin, her first choice to fill the lieutenant governor position, resigned months into his tenure after being indicted on federal corruption charges.
Antonio Delgado, a former Hudson Valley congressman, replaced Benjamin shortly before the dem primary.
Hochul pushed and passed more stringent gun laws in the wake of a horrific race-fueled Buffalo shooting that left 10 Black shoppers dead that have since faced court challenges.
She also took steps to safeguard abortion access in New York in light of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and navigated a combative budget process that increased child care funding and amended the state’s controversial cashless bail system.
The state’s week-late $220 billion spending plan was overshadowed by Hochul’s insistence that lawmakers include $850 million in taxpayer subsidies for a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
The governor also faced criticisms as her campaign coffers overflowed with contributions from deep-pocketed donors linked to companies with business before the state.
Earlier Tuesday, Adams reiterated his support for Hochul as he cast his ballot at PS81 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
“I’m looking forward to continuing the partnership that we’ve had,” he said. “So I cast my vote for her and I’m excited about continuing some of the stuff we’ve done.”
