Democrat Kathy Hochul has become the first woman elected New York governor, winning the office outright that she took over in 2021 when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned.
She defeated Republican congressman Lee Zeldin, an ally of Donald Trump who ran a campaign focused on fear of violent crime.
“Tonight you made your voices heard loud and clear. And, and you made me the first woman ever elected to be the governor of the state of New York. But I’m not here to make history, I’m here to make a difference,” Hochul told supporters Tuesday night.
“I have felt a weight on my shoulders to make sure that every little girl and all the women of the state who’ve had to bang up against glass ceilings everywhere they turn, to know that a woman could be elected in her own right and successfully govern a state as rough and tumble as New York.”
Hochul, a Buffalo native, had been expected to win in a state where there are more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. New Yorkers haven’t elected a Republican as governor since Gov. George Pataki won a third term in 2002. But Zeldin made the race competitive, closing in on Hochul in the final weeks and appearing to spur her to speak more about public safety.
Hochul’s formidable campaign fundraising allowed her to buy TV ads portraying herself as a defender of abortion rights and describing Zeldin as “extreme and dangerous” because of his ties to Trump and his vote against certifying the 2020 election results.
As a nod to the history Hochul hoped to make as the first woman to be elected governor, she appeared at a rally days before the election with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to be elected to the country’s second-highest office, and Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be a major party’s presidential nominee and New York’s first female senator. Hochul is among eight women who have won statewide elections in New York, a group she initially joined when she was elected lieutenant governor in 2014. She became the first woman to serve as governor when she took over for Cuomo.
Hochul’s steady path was upset in the final weeks as the race tightened. Democrats faced national headwinds in this year’s midterm elections as the party in power, which typically bears the brunt of voter frustrations. This year, those frustrations include stubborn inflation and a shaky economy, but in New York, concerns about crime took precedence.
Though Hochul has been governor for a year, she is not as well known as her predecessor.
A former congresswoman, she served as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor before taking over in August 2021 and has tried to cast herself as a fresh start from Cuomo. He resigned amid harassment allegations, which he denies.
Hochul’s campaign fundraising brought in more than $50 million, about double what Zeldin reported, but outside groups spent heavily in the race — especially two outside groups boosting Zeldin that took in about $9 million from Estée Lauder heir Ronald Lauder.
Zeldin is an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who has represented eastern Long Island in Congress since 2015 and was a vocal defender of Trump during his two impeachments.
As a gubernatorial candidate, Zeldin tried to sidestep his ties to Trump, appearing with the former president at a closed-door campaign fundraiser but not at any public rallies, as candidates elsewhere have done. He brushed aside questions from reporters after Trump endorsed him, saying “it shouldn’t have been news” because the former president had backed him previously.
Instead, Zeldin focused almost exclusively on sending a message that violent crime is out of control, casting blame on policies passed by Democrats in Albany who control the Legislature, along with Hochul and Cuomo.
The issue became personal for Zeldin in the final month of the election, when two teenage boys were wounded in a drive-by-shooting in front of his Long Island home.
“It doesn’t hit any closer to home than this,” Zeldin said. “This could be anyone across this entire state.”
He has called for toughening the state’s bail laws and declaring a crime “emergency” that would allow him to suspend laws that curb solitary confinement in jails and that stopped automatically treating 16 and 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system.
Hochul meanwhile, poured blame on Republicans and conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court for opposing gun control measures. She led an effort to tighten licensing rules for semiautomatic rifles after a racist mass shooting killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in her home town of Buffalo last spring.
Hochul was dogged by an early scandal in her administration, when her first lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, was arrested in April. Benjamin, who was accused of funneling state aid to a supporter in exchange for campaign contributions, denied wrongdoing but resigned. His arrest has not been raised on the campaign trail since Hochul handily won the Democratic primary in June.
(AP)
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37 Responses
Fehhh!
All I can say is אִם־ה’ לֹֽא־יִשְׁמָר־עִ֝֗יר שָׁ֤וְא ׀ שָׁקַ֬ד שׁוֹמֵֽר or perhaps לב מלכים ביד ה’׃
I think the one that loses the most tonight is Donald Trump There is no way he would be able to win against anyone. I know in he will say he can beat anyone however tonight just proves that America has become so liberal that they have totally lost their minds. You have crime, out of control inflation and she won?
Did she really win!?
I didn’t think zeldin had a real Shot in such a deep blue state. I dodnt understand why we didn’t support the likely winner.
Another sad day in New York.
New Yorkers are like ants voting for raid
If Hokel wins you can thank Satmer and Sqvare for the treatment the NY Yeshivas will get during her next four years. Say hello to more taxes, Covid detention camps and a lot more crime in the once great State of NY. Down the tubes you go……….into the sewer. There are as many stupid voters in NY as there are in CA. As to Satmer and Sqvare, don’t look for charitable contributions from Yidden with Torah values. You gave up your Torah values for promises of money from the government.
Let the orthodox yeshivas communicate with her the objections in the curriculum prescribed and compromise.
lies……the only way this occurred is if Zelensky China dumped a ton of ballots
Yemach Shemoh
To save their children Torah Ed., Frum NY residents like Yaakov Avinu in Vayishlach must now prepare for 3 things:
1. pray
2. fight (law suits & courts) or flee (Ie: Florida,. NJ, etc.)
3. Pay (I hear Dems are pretty accommodating when greased)
The Fallen Empire State just voted for:
More violent crime;
More illegal aliens;
higher taxes;
state-mandated Critical Race Theory in our primary and secondary schools;
state-mandated alphabet propaganda in our primary and secondary schools;
and
a “congestion toll” that will charge us an additional fee to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan.
If the rampant crime, exorbitant taxation, equity hucksterism, unchecked invasion, and mass emigration were not enough to convince the people of New York State to vote for a return to normalcy, then there is nothing left to be said other than NEW YORK IS GEKONTCHET.
“Tonight you made your voices heard loud and clear.” No we didn’t …It’s just that the liberals outweigh the conservatives .Watch & see the increase in RE taxes , Water & sewer , Gasoline, Tolls ,food, & on & on . Don’t worry about Satmar , they’ll just shmear a bit more !!!
So now at least we had Skvere and Satmar Rebbes endorsing Gov Hochul and let’s wait and see if her promises to them has any weight .
BDE New York.
Noooo what?! Why?! What are we going to do now move?!
You can now expect her to pay back to the Jewish Community for their Anti-Hochul campaign.
We are in golus, and it’s never a good idea for us to be politically high-profile.
Also, I was missing any reference to Tefilloh! Since there is so much at stake; chinuch, safety etc. how many shuls said kappitel tehilim after davening in the past few days?
How many readers said השיבה שופטנו with more kavonoh?
GREAT NEWS, THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR HOCUL OR WHO ENSURED HER VICTORY, TOGETHER WE CAN OVERCOME AND FLATTEN THE CURVE OR SOMETHING, PLEASE QUIT PUBLICIZING HER IMAGE THO.
N.Y
NY citizens just voted to commit national suicide
This is good for the Jews, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
It seems like the margin was to big, and even if every Frum Yid in NY would have voted zeldin I don’t think he would have won.
There was a lot of hype in this race to get out the vote, and kamuvan that most rabbanim said to support Zeldin, however in hindsight perhaps the political attacks on Hochul weren’t so smart either.
We could have made a kiddush Hashem by saying in a unified voice that Yeshiva Education is our number 1 issue, and we will support the candidate who supports our Yeshivos. Every attack or smear beyond that is dumb politics – because you always need to hedge your bets
I’m sure those who want to destroy Yeshivas and the large and steadily growing criminal population in New York are celebrating this win. Along their fellow Democrats.
Well, what a sad day for NY. The Big Apple will continue to rot. Frum Jewish NYers now have a very good reason to move to Israel, or להבדיל, Florida.
druggcomishinLA, you naive. More frum voters would not have made a difference in the race. I don’t support endorsing any politician but Satmer and Skvere came out the winners here ( in reality there are no winners ). I’m all for being vocal against perverted laws and policies or laws or policies that would hurt our communities, but I said all the time that all the noise to create support for and endorsements of any politician is a bad idea because we are in golus. Every frum individual should’ve voted for those who are the candidates that are the least pro-pervert, why do we need loud campaigns and to the show the public “our mighty block vote” for something that should be understable for every Jew? We need to quit making noise in support of any politician.
מרשעת, ימח שמה וזיכרה
מנוחתה בגיהנום לעתיד לבוא
You were supporting Cuomo for years and helped deblasio get elected at least the first time and as a result helped turn ny into a deep blue state rather than a safe or lean blue state.
Those who say we should “support a winner” are admitting that their candidate is corrupt. Only a corrupt politician favors those who voted for her and takes revenge against those who didn’t. Zeldin is honest, and would not have done that. That is why it was right to support him. If you think someone is likely to behave corruptly in office that is the biggest reason NOT to support her. Because putting your own private interests against those of the state is itself wrong and a chilul haShem. Baruch haShem most faithful Jews did the right thing this time, and supported the honest and decent candidate; and the ultimate result was in the RBSO’s hands. He decided to punish NY with a corrupt governor and we must accept that, but we don’t have to pretend to like it.
though she wouldve won anyway the fact that Satmar and Skver supported her makes me doubt the validity of their kashrus orgs as well as their support of proud mishkav zachor maloney who without their support wouldve lost outright.
The Supreme court should never have overturned Roe. It gave the Democrat candidates something to fight back with when we point out their many flaws.
We are in golus and should keep a low profile until Moshiach comes. Now we have a governor who knows most frum Jews don’t support her and were really nasty about it. How is that helpful. Skver and Satmar were the smart ones here. You strategize for the best possible outcome for frum Jews and stay as under the radar as possible with bitachon for a good outcome.
Our vote in New York truly DOESN’T count!
@YWN I hope you now understand how reckless and irresponsible it was to post that op-ad. Who knows what kind of damage you did? Hashem yerachem.
op-ed*
@Chaya13 SCOTUS said that there is no constitutional right to murder your progeny in the womb. Doesn’t everyone deserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Why shouldn’t they have pointed out the obvious?
There was systematic voter suppression throughout Boro Park. Voters were forced for hours in crowded places and many just left. At P.S. 180 on 16th Avenue, the Board of Elections only sent 10 workers when normally there are 30. So, it took three times the amount of time to vote. Students were off for the day, but the lunch room, which was opened, was not set up for voting machines, which would allowed voters to spread out and even sit down while waiting to vote. Instead, all voters were forced to stand elbow to elbow in the school’s small lobby. While waiting, a table fell over, knocking ballots and other information on the ground, adding further to the wait to vote. I witnessed someone just walking in a grabbing dozen of ballots in a folder and then leave the building. I understand that similar incidents occurred in heavily Jewish voting areas. Where is the investigation? Never will happen as Latisha James is only interested in harassing Donald Trump rather than doing her job which is fighting true corruption.