New York Gov. Kathy Hochul cruised to a win Tuesday in her bid for a second full term, swatting away a challenge from Republican opponent Bruce Blakeman by relentlessly linking him to President Donald Trump.
Hochul, a centrist Democrat from Buffalo, focused much of her campaign on her record on pocketbook issues, using her robust war chest to air $30 million worth of ads touting her push to send energy rebate checks to New Yorkers, pause data center construction and expand access to childcare.
But the governor — on the campaign trail, on the debate stage and in many of her ads — rarely missed a chance to highlight Blakeman’s longstanding friendship with Trump, a strategy meant to capitalize on the roughly two-thirds of New York voters who say they view the president unfavorably in public-opinion polls. Blakeman did not try much to distance himself from Trump, appearing with the president at multiple rallies and events.
Hochul led Blakeman 63% to 37% with an estimated 70% of the vote reported, according to the Associated Press, which called the race for the Democrat just as polls closed at 9 p.m.
“Thank you for once again putting your trust in me,” Hochul said in her victory speech. “Serving as your governor has been the privilege of a lifetime, and I will never, ever, ever take your faith in me for granted.”
At the governor’s election night party at a Hilton Hotel in Midtown, the mood was jubilant. Hochul’s victory was announced amid what appeared to be a blue wave of Democratic wins around the country.
The party hewed to a New York kitsch theme, with servers passing around bags of popcorn, pretzels and hot dogs to the early arrivals. Hochul’s victory was fueled largely by her margin of victory in New York City, where she took home nearly 76% of the vote.
Hochul, 68, became New York’s first female governor in 2021 following the resignation of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She was elected to a full term in 2022, winning by a narrower-than-expected six-point margin over Republican Lee Zeldin.
She spent decades working her way up through local government after winning her first election to the town board in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg in 1994. Later, she became Erie County clerk and briefly served as a congressmember in a conservative-leaning Western New York district before she was elected Cuomo’s lieutenant governor in 2014.
On the campaign trail, Hochul leaned into her place in history, often calling herself “New York’s first mom governor” or “first grandma governor.” She said that perspective helped inform major policies that headlined her five years in office — a ban on smartphones in schools, an expansion of free school meals and her push to expand childcare, among them.
With the win, former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — Hochul’s running mate — will become the first Black woman to serve as New York lieutenant governor.
“Just think of it — a daughter of Buffalo, a daughter of Queens,” Hochul said. “Two women from working-class families from opposite sides of the state … now entrusted with leading the greatest state in the nation.”
Blakeman painted Hochul as soft on crime and immigration, faulting her for signing into law a measure restricting local governments — including Nassau County — from cooperating with federal immigration agents. He pledged to cut income taxes and utility bills, blaming Hochul for rising rates above the national average.
He tried to brand Hochul as “the worst governor in America,” repeating it on the campaign trail and in his campaign advertisements.
At Blakeman’s watch party at The Lannin, an event venue in East Meadow, his supporters barely reacted when the race was called for Hochul — a muted reaction due in part to a lack of televisions in the ballroom.
“Tonight wasn't the result that we all wanted,” Blakeman said in a brief concession speech. “But I just got off the phone with Governor Hochul. I told her that she ran a great race and now the race is over, the election's over, so we all have to unify and work together and make for a better state of New York.”
But Blakeman’s message couldn't break through in a state with twice as many Democrats as Republicans. He was hurt, in part, by a struggle to keep pace with Hochul’s fundraising, particularly in the critical final weeks of the campaign. He campaigned in lockstep with Trump, who is historically unpopular in New York due to the war in Iran, rising gas prices and the cost of living.
Blakeman’s focus on immigration enforcement came as polls showed voters are more likely to trust Democrats on immigration policy. Immigration had long been a winning issue for the GOP, but Trump’s second term has been marked by an aggressive crackdown that’s played out in viral videos from Chicago, Minneapolis and elsewhere. In the weeks before the election, an ICE agent shot a Dominican man through the neck in Upper Manhattan in broad daylight. The man was behind the wheel, with his 5-year-old son in the backseat.
With the loss, the GOP still hasn’t won a statewide election in New York since then-Gov. George Pataki won his third and final term in 2002.
Hochul has largely maintained her moderate stance as her party shifts left, steadfastly refusing to raise income taxes on the wealthy despite an ongoing push from the Democratic Socialists of America and other left-leaning organizations that have grown in prominence following the 2025 election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Yet Hochul has maintained a strong working relationship with Mamdani, who campaigned with the governor and encouraged his following of young, Democratic voters to vote for her.
Speaking at Hochul’s victory party, Mamdani credited Hochul with successfully navigating different factions of the Democratic Party.
”The conventional wisdom for so long was that as long as there was a governor in Albany and a mayor in New York City, they would be mired in ego struggles and petty feuds,” he said. “Governor Hochul and I are working together to rewrite what that convention looks like.”
Hochul will return to Albany with a strong Democratic majority in both houses of the state Legislature, just as she had during her first five years as governor.
She has said she intends to continue her push for universal childcare and pro-housing policies at the Capitol in 2027, as well as expanding the state’s energy portfolio to include more nuclear power as the grid struggles to keep up with demand. She has also said she intends to run for a third full term in 2030.
“I have to build more energy sources to drive down the costs and keep us from being in a place where we're perilously close to having the lights turn out,” Hochul said last week. “But also, I'm going to build more housing. I'm going to have a massive plan again for the next five years that is going to finally get to a place where people can say, ‘I can afford a home.’”
Hochul’s victory headlined a clean sweep for the Democratic Party’s statewide ticket, with Attorney General Letitia James declaring victory over Republican Saritha Komatireddy and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli claiming a win over Republican Joseph Hernandez.
It was all part of major Democratic wins across the country, vindicating those who predicted a “blue wave” was coming with Trump in the middle of his second and final term.
“Look at these big Democratic victories across the country,” DiNapoli said. “We are taking back America.”
