Gov. Hochul (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)

Kathy Hochul made history last week, becoming the first woman to be elected governor of New York. Hochul, a Democrat who took over in August 2021 after Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace, will now serve a full four-year term with the opportunity to more fully craft her agenda. But she already has a lengthy set of priorities either in motion or that she has promised to pursue, and there is more that others expect her to address, whether they voted for or against her. 

Though Hochul had a far more extensive campaign platform than her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, she did not propose a broad vision for the next four years beyond continuing the work already underway in the state and the agenda that she pursued over her initial year-plus in office. Indeed, some have criticized her for not offering more of a forward-looking vision during the campaign, with new ideas to excite voters, but Hochul has promised a broad agenda in the new year, when she will unveil just her second State of the State policy plan and $200-plus billion Executive Budget.

In her initial tenure, Hochul launched major health care workforce initiatives, invested heavily in childcare, increased local education funding, signed into law new gun regulations and abortion protections, expedited planned middle class tax cuts, restarted or reimagined infrastructure projects, and more. She’s promising to build on those accomplishments and go further, especially on affordable housing, which she has repeatedly cited as a top priority moving forward.

“I'm committed to continuing to focus our efforts on driving down costs and making things more affordable, everything from housing to the cost of gasoline to utilities,” Hochul said in an interview with News 4 Buffalo, her hometown station, the day after the election. “We've been focused, but we're going to continue that effort intensely, as well as continuing our efforts to improve public safety all across the state…We can make progress in certain areas, but as long as there's a single crime, that's one crime too many.” 

What Comes Next
As she heads into the new year, Hochul still has a Democratic Legislature to collaborate, or contend, with. Hochul appears set to further address top issues from the campaign where Zeldin made inroads with voters, particularly public safety and cost of living. It remains to be seen how much further action she will take on crime, or whether she will largely focus on ensuring implementation of a variety of moves she has already made, including changes to the state’s controversial bail law that she insisted on during her first budget but has questioned whether key stakeholders, especially judges, are utilizing.

Many conservatives and some moderates, including Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams, are calling for more changes to the bail law, without acknowledging the changes Hochul already achieved (which she declined to say much about during the campaign). She has expressed an openness to revisiting the subject, but also stressed the importance of first seeing the results of the most recent changes, especially in conjunction with other public safety policies and funding she has moved ahead.

Hochul is also likely to face pressure from progressives who want to see more robust movement on issues like climate action, tenant protections, criminal justice reform, and more. And underpinning it all, Hochul and the Legislature face a precarious fiscal future, as pandemic-era federal stimulus funds are running out and revenue streams remain uncertain.

First and foremost, Hochul will start a new year and four-year term as the head of New York state government and the New York Democratic Party with a different stature than she had in the short period after ascending to the governorship toward the end of a term won by Cuomo. While she has newfound power and the cushion of a full term, she also won her race by the smallest margin any Democrat has achieved since a Republican last won the office in 2002.

One of the major variables in New York politics right now is what lessons Hochul and other Democrats take from a disappointing but mostly victorious election.

Democrats lost a number of House and state legislative seats, and fingers are being pointed in all directions, with conservatives, moderates, and progressives all calling on Hochul to heed their political and policy priorities. Her relationship with other party big-wigs, state legislative leaders, Mayor Adams, and others all take on new dynamics now, and Hochul will in large part be able to set the tone given the immense powers of the Governor. As promised in the wake of Cuomo’s notorious tenure, she has brought a new era of respectful collaboration to state politics, but she now must heal divides and produce progress for the state.

“Hochul has a choice to make,” said Bruce Gyory, a veteran Democratic consultant, “and that is, she can either allow the divisions in the Democratic Party between the left and the center to consume her administration and hurt her and drain her administration and the Democrats or she can…reconfigure, refresh the argument, bring the two wings of the party together behind a program that works.” 

Hochul’s Priorities
In the News 4 Buffalo interview, Hochul said she did not have “new priorities” but rather the same she has already been focused on: “protecting public safety, also affordability overall with people's high cost of living, and increasing more housing stock…Those are the top areas we're going to focus on, as well as protecting our environment.”

In an interview with Politico New York last month, Hochul did promise that she will present a “bold vision” in her State of the State address early next year. “The basic lens is that we’re going to do everything we can to focus on making New York state a place people want to live, want to come to, can afford to live in, can get a job in, where they can build a business and raise their families. So everything we do is through the framework of what’s going to meet those objectives,” she said, promising a focus on public safety and housing policy.

Some of Hochul’s most ambitious policy proposals from this year dealt with housing, but were not part of agreements reached with the Legislature. Most, if not all, appear likely to be back on her 2023 agenda in some form.

The New York Daily News Editorial Board had plenty of advice to offer the governor: keep the state budget under control while socking away money for a rainy day, ensure the voter-approved $4.2 billion in environmental bond act money is spent wisely, reevaluate the state’s plans for the Penn Station area overhaul, push to give judges flexibility in determining a defendant's dangerousness when deciding bail, review the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, spur the creation of affordable housing, quickly roll out (and regulate) legalized marijuana, support the State Board of Regents’ push for secular education at yeshivas, potentially rewrite the state’s concealed carry law, and resist the overtures of campaign donors and progressive legislators.

“For the good of the state, with principle and pragmatism, Hochul must chart her own course. It’s her time now,” the editorial board wrote. 

Sochie Nnaemeka, political director of the New York Working Families Party, believes Hochul should very much listen to progressives, especially after they helped save her election, as the WFP also fought successfully to keep its ballot line. She said Hochul should take a lesson from how Democrats performed in other states and nationally, by focusing on a positive vision that improves people’s lives.

“The governor has an opportunity to lead on a bold vision that addresses the rising costs that working families are facing,” said Nnaemeka, advocating for a massive increase in affordable housing, universal child care and health care, bold climate action, and higher taxes on the wealthy to pay for much of it. “This is a moment for the agenda that will animate the base and lead people to a real sense that state government is leading with clarity, with urgency, with a sense of purpose,” she said. 

As Hochul has indicated, she seems intent on addressing chief concerns repeatedly expressed by voters in polls ahead of the election: crime and inflation. Republicans capitalized on the two issues to hammer away at her and other Democrats, successfully parlaying those concerns into a series of down-ballot victories even as the top of the GOP ticket failed to win. Even New York Democrats admitted that they ceded the public safety conversation in particular to the Republican Party, largely leaving them playing defense.  

“The question for Hochul is, can she come up with a defensive strategy on crime that builds armor, while on issues like health care, economic development, and education, can she come up with a positive program that people will look back on and say, she used the opportunity to the benefits of New Yorkers,” said Gyory.

Hochul does have policies in motion on all those fronts, including major recent deals for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, an immense Micron microchip plant near Syracuse, the ongoing Penn Station area redevelopment plan, the planned Interborough Express connecting parts of Brooklyn and Queens, and more. But those big-ticket items, efforts to reduce crime, and many other policies and programs will require implementation, negotiation, and funding. While federal pandemic relief is being used up, more funding is on its way via the massive infrastructure law and other federal policies passed under President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress, in part led by New York’s Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader who appears set to retain that position but could be working with a Republican-led House.

Hochul’s agenda won’t necessarily be easy to accomplish, Gyory added. “You need political skill, you need energy to do that, and you need a little bit of good fortune. She has to put her imprint on the policy direction of her administration. That's gonna take energy. It's gonna take skill to get it through the Legislature. And then, it's like, where's the economy in four years?”

Hochul has said she will continue to address public safety by deepening efforts to get illegal guns off the streets, investing greater resources in law enforcement and in crime interruption programs. She has insisted that changes made this year to tighten state bail laws will work, given time. “We're gonna give those a little bit of time to work, but I'm always open to improving laws,” she said on News 4 Buffalo in her first post-election interview. “Whenever we want to take another look at it again, I'll work with the Legislature, but my number one priority is keeping people safe.”

Housing affordability is at the core of addressing the cost of living in New York and Hochul has made it a top priority. This year, she committed to a $25 billion five-year housing plan to create and preserve 100,000 units of affordable housing, including 10,000 supportive housing units. But she has admitted that it falls well short of the state’s need for between 500,000 to 1.2 million homes over the next ten years, an estimate she has repeatedly mentioned. (According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, New York has a shortage of more than 615,000 rental units for very low-income households that have a maximum income of $26,200 for a family of four).

“That is the number one issue,” she said in the Politico interview. “It’s apartments. It’s that housing stock is not what it should be, nowhere near what it should be. It is half of Boston’s, the building that’s going on [in New York City per capita]. We’re not building enough new housing, we’re not doing conversions, and I directed my team to find all the barriers at the local level, at the state level, and to find what policies are in place that are holding back the growth that we need.”

Hochul has promised to revisit several proposals that did not pass the Legislature this year including legalizing accessory dwelling units, and has pledged to address administrative barriers to affordable housing creation across the state. Another proposal that failed this year would have removed the Floor Area Ratio cap for New York City, allowing for taller buildings with more housing, and a plan to incentivize more transit-oriented development, especially in the suburbs, which have allowed little new housing.

Hochul did successfully advance a measure to allow hotel space conversion to housing, but it has accomplished little, and she has since turned her eye to easing office space conversions. A joint panel assembled by Hochul and Mayor Adams focused on reimagining the city’s central business districts is due to release recommendations in the coming weeks.

Crucial to Hochul’s housing plan will be a replacement for the expired 421-a housing subsidy. In the budget session this year, Hochul proposed a new 485-w program to replace it, making minor adjustments that would have mandated more affordable units in exchange for the large tax benefit, but the measure failed after facing opposition from legislators who called it a giveaway to wealthy real estate developers.

Another major question that remains is whether the Legislature will pass a “good cause eviction” bill that is designed to create strong tenant protections, including limits on annual rent increases, and if Hochul will support it in some form. The legislation could be among the most hotly-debated policies of the coming session, along with the fate of the 421-a program, several criminal justice reforms, and climate policy, including but not limited to the Build Public Renewables Act.

State Senator Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat from Southern Brooklyn, where the party saw Assembly losses and a tighter than expected State Senate race in a new neighboring district to his, said the governor has the opportunity to build on the work that she began in her first budget this year.

“I think we had a really good budget overall. I think we put some good pieces in place to kind of build on,” he said, pointing to funding for child care in particular. “I think when we're talking about affordability and we’re talking about some of the biggest costs that people face, childcare is definitely high on that list, and we can do a lot more to help support childcare. We can have universal childcare,” he said. 

Gounardes also said a major concern for the state is the future of the MTA. “That's going to be a huge issue that I think we're all going to face a reckoning with next year,” he said. “I think we have a lot of work to do to help permanently stabilize the MTA operating budget.” 

“I think the big takeaway here is that people are feeling a pinch in their pockets and we should do everything we can to make healthcare more affordable, college more affordable, childcare more affordable, housing more affordable,” he added.  

A Democratic consultant, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said Hochul is, and should be, focused on housing, public safety, and climate action. 

“I think she and her team are likely going to be visible and engaged around questions of public safety,” the consultant said. “I think they learned a lot through this campaign about the importance of speaking to the issues. Even if you think your policies are doing the job that they're intended to do, you have to keep reminding people about your vision, your engagement and that it's something that is top of mind.”

As governor, Hochul inherited the responsibility of overseeing the state’s implementation of the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019, a sweeping legislative package that sets the state on a path of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. But the plan for implementation was not spelled out and instead kicked to the Climate Action Council that the law also created and is in the midst of completing a scoping plan that will in large part inform how the governor and Legislature are expected to advance climate policy.

Voters in this election also approved the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, a ballot measure first proposed by Hochul’s predecessor but increased in value at her behest. With the federal Inflation Reduction Act set to also provide billions in funding for climate action, New York has an opportunity to invest heavily in green energy, jobs, and infrastructure.

Hochul has already taken several actions in her time in office to advance major clean energy projects and has pledged to continue her efforts, even as climate activists have said that she hasn’t moved with the urgency required by the global climate crisis. There are several proposals that she has promised to pursue while others may be foisted on her by progressives in the Legislature. There is the All Electric Buildings Act, which she supported but did not get passed, to ban oil and gas hook-ups in all new building construction starting in a few years.

Activists have also pushed her to support a slate of climate measures, chiefly the Build Public Renewables Act, which would allow the New York Power Authority to own and build new renewable energy projects, among other things. And they are pushing her to sign a two-year moratorium on new fossil-fuel crypto-currency mining, on which she has repeatedly vacillated and must make a decision by the end of this year. 

The Democratic consultant said Hochul’s agenda, and the respective priorities of moderates and progressives, aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. And that Hochul now has more power relative to the Legislature, particularly in a state that has a strong executive. “What happens when a new governor gets elected is everyone is seeking to set the agenda. Everyone is seeking to decide what issues she could and should pay attention to,” the consultant said. “And the thing that I think people often forget is when you have a new elected chief executive, whether it's a mayor or governor or president, they tend to hold a lot of the cards.”

As the new power dynamics are sorted out, Hochul’s relationship with Mayor Adams will be among the most important. Both have shown and stressed a productive, collegial relationship in stark contrast to that between their predecessors, Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Adams has credited Hochul for working together on a number of issues from taking on illegal guns to childcare funding, an expanded earned income tax credit, the new NYCHA Preservation Trust, and more.

But he has also continuously undermined her efforts and messaging on public safety, especially with regard to the bail law, not acknowledging the changes she did get made in her lone state budget, which focus on repeat offenders, property theft, and gun possession cases. While Hochul has occasionally touted the changes and called for better implementation and patience, Adams has called the law flawed and pledged to seek the overhaul he wants in the next session. Having already frustrated legislative leaders, it is unclear how much Adams has aggravated Hochul, who had to face Zeldin repeatedly citing Adams during his campaign attacks on her. While the new governor needed Adams’ political support as she quickly faced election for the position, the power balance between the two has at least somewhat flipped now that she has won a term.

There is plenty for the two top Democrats to work on together.

Besides housing and climate investments, Hochul has also put her weight behind major infrastructure projects that will be closely observed by those watching her administration, many in New York City.

She ushered through the $1.3 billion Buffalo Bills stadium deal, with $600 million in state subsidies, and will have to prove that it was worth the bill to taxpayers. Her administration is also moving ahead with the controversial redevelopment of Penn Station and its surrounding neighborhood, a project that has questionable finances and design, with a heavy emphasis on new office space. And the state, under her watch, is overseeing other projects that will take months or years to complete including East Side Access, the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway, the rehabilitation of the Gateway tunnel, the Bronx MetroNorth expansion, and implementing congestion pricing in New York City.

Hochul has also proposed a new “InterBorough Express” connecting Brooklyn and Queens via existing freight rail lines, a project only in its early planning phase.

Ben Max contributed to this story.

Gov. Hochul with fellow women in office, advocacy (photo: Darren McGee/Governor's Office)

November 11, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Gender and New York's 2022 Elections

Alexis Grenell, a Democratic strategist, co-founder of Pythia Public, and writer on politics and gender, joined the show to discuss Kathy Hochul's win as the first woman elected Governor of New York, messaging and gender in the campaign, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.

Gov. Hochul votes (photo: @KathyHochul)

Approximately 5.7 million New Yorkers across the state cast ballots in one of the closest races for governor in over two decades, according to unofficial 2022 election data. Some votes, especially final absentee ballots, are still being counted.

That amounts to roughly 43% of New York's 13.1 million registered voters, a lower turnout than in the 2018 gubernatorial election, when a surge of electoral enthusiasm driven by opposition to the Trump presidency and other factors pushed turnout to 48%.

In 2018, Democrats cruised to victories in statewide races, including Governor Andrew Cuomo winning a third time by 23 points, and picked up several State Senate and other local seats. Most of the drop-off in turnout seems to have been among Democrats — Zeldin got 459,000 more votes than the 2018 Republican nominee, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, while Hochul got 677,000 fewer votes than Cuomo did last cycle.

But turnout this year is still higher than four of the five previous gubernatorial elections. It was significantly higher than the 33% turnout seen in the 2014 race – when Cuomo won a second term – which was the nadir of the last twenty years.

Governor Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo area Democrat and the first woman to be elected to New York's highest office, beat U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican from Long Island, 52-47%. It was a slimmer margin than any governor's race since Republican George Pataki unseated Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo in 1994. 

The preliminary data shows Zeldin was able to temper Hochul's lead by doing particularly well among voters on Long Island and making inroads in some parts of New York City. Hochul, the first Democratic nominee from outside the New York City area in at least the last 50 years, was able to buffer Zeldin in upstate New York, where Republicans typically excel, by turning out voters in key population centers like her native Buffalo, as well as Rochester, Albany, and Syracuse.

As of November 1, New York had 6.5 million registered Democrats, 2.9 million registered Republicans, and over 3 million unaffiliated voters. In raw numbers, Hochul received upwards of 2.9 million votes and Zeldin got over 2.6 million.

New York City
New York City was both key to Hochul’s win but also a major source of the turnout drop-off from 2018. Roughly 33% of registered city voters cast ballots this fall compared to 41% in 2018. Turnout was still higher than the abysmal 23% showing in 2014.

In raw numbers, close to 1.7 million New York City residents voted – accounting for roughly 30% of the statewide vote share. That’s out of 5.2 million registered voters in the five boroughs as of the November 1 tally posted by the State Board of Elections.

Hochul beat Zeldin in the five boroughs by roughly 70-30%, a reliably wide margin in a city where registered Democrats drastically outnumber Republicans. Election strategists typically say a Republican candidate needs at least 30% of the city to have a chance of winning statewide. While Zeldin appears to have achieved that threshold, he was counting on a percentage closer to 35-37% in the city in order to win.

His was still a relatively good showing for a Republican in the city. In 2018, Cuomo beat Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro 80-15% in the city. In 2014, he beat Astorino 76-17% among city voters.

In the city's only Republican-leaning borough – Staten Island, which went to Zeldin 66-33% – turnout was 41%, the highest of any borough and the smallest drop (4 points) from 2018. Zeldin's wide margin is a striking shift from 2018, when Cuomo edged out Molinaro 49-48% on the island.

In Congressional District 11, which covers Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, Republican incumbent Rep. Nicole Malliotakis beat challenger Max Rose by 24 points, 62-38%. The victory was a landslide in a district that has flipped twice in the previous two election cycles by six-point margins each time, with Rose winning in 2018 and Malliotakis unseating him in 2020.

Roughly 38% of registered voters in Manhattan voted, an 8 point drop from the 46% turnout in 2018. Hochul carried the borough 82-18%, the widest margin of any of the five, but not without ceding ground to Republicans, who nearly doubled their vote share from 2018. That year Cuomo got 85% of the Manhattan vote to Molinaro's 10%.

In the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, Republicans' vote share was more than double what it was in 2018, with a nearly threefold increase in the Bronx.

The Bronx also saw the biggest drop in turnout from 2018 – from 36% down to 24%. Hochul beat Zeldin 77-22%, compared to Cuomo's 89-8% showing against Molinaro four years earlier.

Turnout in Brooklyn was 33%, a drop from 40% in 2018. Hochul won the borough 71-28%. In 2018, Cuomo won 81-13%.

Queens turnout was 32% this year, compared to 40% in 2018. Hochul beat Zeldin 63-37%, a narrower margin than in the other boroughs she won. In 2018, Cuomo, a Queens native, took the borough 78-18%.

Downstate Suburbs
The voter-rich swing districts of the New York City suburbs are another area considered key to any potential Republican success in statewide contests. A number of congressional and State Senate seats in the region swung to Republicans in this election after Democratic gains in 2018 and 2020.

Turnout in the suburbs was far higher than in the city, particularly on Long Island, where Zeldin rallied support among Republicans, independents, and moderate Democrats to win by significant margins.

Over 1 million voters cast ballots across Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk counties, a turnout rate nearing 49% (not including a handful of Suffolk County election districts that hadn't reported results as of Wednesday morning). Roughly one in five New York State voters was a Long Islander this fall. Long Island accounts for less than 15% of the state population.

Zeldin won in Nassau County 55-44% and Suffolk County 58-41%, according to preliminary numbers that could shift slightly as final votes are cast (absentee ballots tend to favor Democrats).

Republicans won in all four congressional races on Long Island by margins ranging from 4 to 22 points and flipped four State Senate seats there.

The city's northern suburbs, in Westchester and Rockland counties, were more divided. In total, the two counties had 352,000 votes for governor, a turnout rate of 40%. Those votes accounted for roughly 6% of the statewide vote.

Hochul won in Westchester 57-43% and lost Rockland 43-56%.

Northern Westchester, Rockland, and parts of Putnam County were also the site of the race for Congressional District 17, one of the most-watched House races in the country and, like New York's other swing districts, one that could determine the balance of power in Congress’ lower chamber. Republican challenger Mike Lawler, an Assembly member, unseated incumbent Democrat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in that district, an upset making national headlines given Maloney’s position as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The preliminary results show Lawler leading Maloney 52-46%.

Republicans also picked up a State Senate seat in the Hudson Valley, where Democratic incumbent Elijah Reichlin-Melnick lost to Republican Bill Weber by a narrow margin in a rematch of two years ago.

Key Upstate Counties
In Hochul's hometown of Buffalo and the surrounding Erie County, close to 338,000 residents, 51% of the county's registered voters, went to the polls. The governor won there 52-46%.

In the state capital region, 115,343 Albany County residents voted, a turnout rate of 53%. Albany County went to Hochul 58-41%.

Monroe County, home to Rochester, had 273,000 votes for governor, a turnout rate of 52%. Hochul won there 53-46%.

In Onondaga County, where Syracuse stands, 166,000 residents, or 51% of enrolled voters, turned out. Hochul won Onondaga 53-46%. That may not be enough to make a difference in the down-ballot race for State Senate in Syracuse, where Democratic incumbent John Mannion is trailing Republican Rebecca Shiroff by under a point, or fewer than 400 votes.

For the most part, like other Republican nominees before him, Zeldin swept almost all of the least populous counties in the state. With some votes still being counted, he appears to have won a total of 49 out of 62 counties in the state.

Gov. Kathy Hochul & Basil Smikle Jr. (photo: @BasilSmiklePhD)

November 9, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Breaking Down the 2022 New York Election Results, with Basil Smikle

Dr. Basil Smikle Jr., former Executive Director of the New York State Democratic Party and currently a professor at Hunter College, joined the show to break down the results of New York's 2022 general election.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.

Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins & Deputy Leader Gianaris (photo: NYS Senate Photography)

New York Democrats are poised to retain a comfortable majority in the State Senate but could lose the supermajority they have held since the 2020 elections.

Senate Democrats headed into the general election with 42 members in the 63-seat legislative chamber, and needed to hold on to that number to keep their supermajority. Republicans held 20 seats, while one that was most recently held by a Democrat was vacant.

On Wednesday, with most votes tallied, Democrats were victorious in at least 40 seats, with two more races that were too close to call, one of which is headed to a recount. 

“The voters of New York have spoken, electing another strong Democratic Majority in the State Senate,” said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, in a statement that said her conference would hold at least 40 seats. “In these unprecedented times in our country, the people know that the Senate Democrats have and will continue to deliver meaningful results.”

Tuesday’s election was the first general election contest with new district lines in place, created after a chaotic redistricting process that shook up the political landscape across the state. While Democrats were unable to draw districts as they saw fit, they were still helped by the fact that a more objective process still undid past gerrymandering that favored Republicans and population trends in New York meant a greater New York City concentration.

Two new districts, the 17th and 59th, were created in New York City, where Democrats hold a massive voter enrollment advantage over Republicans, while in other regions, several incumbents of both parties refused to run for reelection after seeing their districts change drastically. In two cases, incumbent legislators — one of each party — were matched against each other. 

Given many factors, Republicans saw an opportunity to flip several seats and increase their numbers, particularly on Long Island where Democrats struggled badly in local elections last year and have held some Senate seats only for a few years after strong performances in 2018 and 2020. Republicans saw that electorate and other moderate and conservative areas within New York City and its northern suburbs as the prime audience for their message on tackling crime and inflation, two issues that have dominated races up and down the ballot in this year’s election.

Republicans were hopeful that the election would lead to a much narrower Democratic majority, putting them within striking distance for the next state election cycle in 2024. But while Republicans did flip several Long Island seats, their gains were mostly matched by Democrats elsewhere, with the two races still to be called. GOP leadership had called 14 State Senate races competitive going into the election. A spokesperson for Senate Republicans declined to comment for this story.

State Senate Movement
In the new 59th District, which covers parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, Democrat Kristen Gonzalez ran unopposed in the general election and took the seat.

But in the 17th District, a new Asian plurality area, Democrat Iwen Chu currently holds a mere 215 vote lead over Republican Vito LaBella, with the race potentially heading to a recount. That race was one of several — the others in the Assembly or statewide — where Republicans did well in Southern Brooklyn. Many Democrats had been confident that Chu would win by a comfortable margin.

In the 50th State Senate District, which covers parts of Onondaga and Oswego counties, Democratic State Senator John Mannion trails his Republican challenger Rebecca Shiroff by just 396 votes, triggering a recount for the race.  

On Long Island, two Democratic incumbents lost their seats. In the 7th District in northern Nassau County, Democratic State Senator Anna Kaplan lost to Republican Jack Martins, a former state senator himself. Democratic State Senator John Brooks, who represented the 8th District but ran for the new 5th District after redistricting, lost to Republican Steve Rhoads. (Democrat Jim Gaughran, who represented the 5th district, declined to run for reelection.)

In the new 8th District, the race went to Republican State Senator Alexis Weik, who defeated Democrat John Alberts.  

In the 9th District in Nassau County, which was left vacant after Democratic State Senator Todd Kaminsky resigned from office for a private sector job earlier this year, Republican Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick won on Tuesday, beating Democrat Kenneth Moore. 

Democrats did notch a crucial win in Long Island. Monica Martinez, a former Democratic state Senator who previously represented the 4th District, won the open race for the new 3rd District in Suffolk County, defeating Republican Wendy Rodriguez. 

In the 38th District in Rockland County, Democratic State Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick also lost his race to Republican William Weber Jr., who had unsuccessfully challenged Reichlin-Melnick in 2020. 

But incumbent Republicans also lost some races on Tuesday as they faced off against sitting Democratic senators because of new district lines. Republican State Senator Sue Serino lost to Democratic State Senator Michelle Hinchey in the new 41st District, which includes parts of Greene, Ulster, Dutchess, and Columbia counties. Similarly, in the new 61st District, Republican State Senator Ed Rath lost to Democratic State Senator Sean Ryan.

And other Democrats who Republicans had thought they would unseat, particularly Senators Pete Harckham, Rachel May, James Skoufis, Lea Webb, and Toby Stavisky, held onto their seats.

Assembly Races
In the 150-seat Assembly, Democrats also had a supermajority ahead of the election, with 107 members in the chamber to Republicans’ 43 seats. There too Democrats lost some seats, though Republicans need to make an eight-seat gain to disrupt the supermajority. 

Though many races remain too close to call and ballots remain to be counted, Republicans won some competitive races including in New York City. 

In District 23, which covers Howard Beach and Rockaway in Queens, Democratic Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato lost to Republican Tom Sullivan by just 246 votes. 

In District 45, which covers Gravesend and Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, Democratic Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz, a 22-year incumbent, lost his seat to Republican Michael Novakhov.  

In District 49, which covers Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, and Borough Park in Brooklyn, longtime incumbent Democratic Assemblymember Peter Abbate Jr. lost to Republican Lester Chang. 

In District 63, in Staten Island’s Mid-Island region, Democratic Assemblymember Michael Cusick did not run for reelection. The seat flipped on Tuesday with Republican Sam Pirozzolo defeating Democrat Vincent Argenziano with a healthy margin. 

One race that remains to be decided is in District 46, which covers Fort Hamilton, parts of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, Coney Island and Sea Gate in South Brooklyn. Incumbent Democratic Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus is trailing her Republican challenger Alec Brook-Krasny, a former Democratic Assemblymember, by about 797 votes. Frontus has not conceded the race and tweeted Wednesday that she will “wait until every vote is counted.”

Gov. Hochul sworn in, August 2021 (photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

Democrat Kathy Hochul, New York's first female governor, was elected to the position for the first time Tuesday, winning a full term in a race that put Democrats' control over the traditionally blue bastion to the test.

The race was called just after 11 p.m. Tuesday, with Hochul beating her Republican challenger, U.S. Rep Lee Zeldin, by an unclear margin given lags in vote reporting from Zeldin’s home county of Suffolk. By early Wednesday morning when most votes were counted, Hochul's margin over Zeldin was 52-47%, largely due to her advantage in New York City.

Despite several Republicans gains in New York races for the House of Representatives, as expected in the first mid-term election of Democratic President Joe Biden’s tenure, many Democrats including Hochul won in New York and beyond. Democrats overall had a far better night than expected nationally, though Republican wins in New York may be key to tipping the balance of power in the House, where Democrats currently have a slim majority. While several Democratic state legislators appear to have lost their seats, the party will continue to have large majorities in both houses of the State Legislature.

Hochul, a native of the Buffalo area and the first upstate governor in many decades, will again be joined in office by her running-mate, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado.

“I’m deeply honored to be the first elected female Governor in New York history,” Hochul said in an email to supporters on Tuesday night after some outlets called the race and she declared victory on Twitter, then made a victory speech at her Manhattan campaign event.

While Hochul ran on a platform of preserving reproductive rights, gun control, and democratic institutions, touting achievements from her initial year-plus as governor, Zeldin focused his campaign almost exclusively on rising crime and cost of living.

Hochul accrued votes on both the Democratic and Working Families Party ballot lines under New York's fusion voting system, while Zeldin appeared on the Republican and Conservative Party lines.

No Republican has won a statewide election in New York since Governor George Pataki won a third term in 2002. Coming into Election Day, hopes were high that Zeldin would break that streak, despite the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one across the state, and the GOP is even outnumbered by the number of party-unaffiliated registered voters.

Hochul's victory Tuesday capped off an election cycle that began not long after she took office in August, 2021 after the resignation of Governor Andrew Cuomo amid several scandals. Hochul, who won two statewide elections on a ticket with Cuomo as the lieutenant governor running-mate, solidified her position as the State Democratic Party's standard-bearer after handily staving off two primary challengers earlier this year. Throughout the primary and into the general election, she raised a massive sum of money, spending much of it on television ads.

Hochul spent months touting her record on abortion access and gun safety and casting Zeldin as an anti-choice, pro-gun Trump acolyte and 2020 election denier. She also highlighted a series of what she touted as achievements from her early tenure, including an expansion of child care and major economic development projects throughout the state, including for a new Buffalo Bills stadium and a deal to bring a massive microchip manufacturing plant to central New York, both with major state subsidies. Throughout the campaign, Hochul declined to offer a vision for a full term beyond a continuation of policies and projects already in place or in motion. She also took limited steps to more directly address the major criticisms Zeldin was running on, namely that she had not done enough to bring down crime or the cost of living amid an inflation spike.

"Because of you, we will keep making progress – breaking down barriers, breaking glass ceilings, helping New York achieve the greatness it is capable of," Hochul said to New Yorkers during her victory speech Tuesday night. "And I will lead with strength and compassion, not anger and fear. Together, we will ensure our values are put to work to lift up all and leave no one behind. Building a state where we can afford to raise our families. Where we create good paying jobs in the industries of tomorrow – from Long Island to NYC, to Syracuse to Buffalo. Where we expand safe, decent housing for all. Where our kids succeed in school and reach their full potential. Where we live without fear, safe in our neighborhoods and our subways with illegal guns off our street. Where our fundamental rights are protected and women can make decisions about our own bodies."

Polls and campaign finance data showed the race narrowing in recent weeks. Those numbers appeared to prompt a flurry of additional campaign activity by Hochul, including appearances by major Democratic Party officials on the campaign trail alongside her.

Zeldin, whose lieutenant governor running-mate was former NYPD inspector Alison Esposito, blamed a pandemic-era rise in crime on changes to state bail laws made by Democrats in recent years despite data showing no significant connection between bail reform and crime or rearrest rates. He also called for the repeal of other criminal justice reforms like limits on solitary confinement and changes to the state's Raise the Age law. Zeldin frequently said he would remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a campaign line echoing calls from Republican governors and candidates in other states.

Hochul consistently emphasized the need for tempered reform and pointed to her own successful push to give judges more discretion in setting bail, particularly for alleged repeat offenders.

"You can either work on keeping people scared or you can focus on keeping them safe,” she said last month at the only debate of the general election. She has also pointed to her work with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to convene other local, state, and federal officials in a multi-state taskforce to stem the flow of illegal guns. And she repeatedly painted Zeldin as a foe of gun safety, having voted against a ban on assault weapons and failing to appear for a vote on bipartisan gun safety legislation.

In the months leading up to Election Day, Zeldin largely shied away from discussing specifics on his policies related to abortion. On the debate stage in October, he refused to say whether he would sign abortion restrictions as governor or whether he would appoint a health commission dedicated to reproductive rights. To try to undercut Hochul’s attacks on the issue, he took the remarkable step of releasing a campaign ad promising not to change the state’s abortion law if elected governor, belying his long-time anti-abortion record.

Outside of crime, the congressman's biggest focus was economics, saying he'd lower state spending, cut taxes, and spur job growth through reduced regulations. He called for reversing New York’s ban on fracking for natural gas and approving new fossil fuel pipelines. On the campaign trail, Hochul emphasized the steps her administration has taken to ease pressure on New Yorkers' wallets, including expediting a middle class tax cut approved under Cuomo, a property tax rebate approved in the state budget earlier this year, and temporarily suspending the state gas tax.

She also hit Zeldin for his record in congress on economic issues, including his votes against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, while also stressing her efforts on fighting climate change and moving New York to renewable energy, including many job-creating projects.

Hochul also spent some of the campaign fending off attacks about her ethical record, from her time in the Cuomo administration to her misguided appointment of Brian Benjamin as her first lieutenant governor to her massive fundraising from entities with state business including specific allegations of pay-to-play.

Hochul's win was buoyed in part by the Working Families Party, which needed to garner 130,000 votes or 2% of the total in the governor's race, whichever higher, in order to keep its ballot line. The WFP appears to have met the necessary threshold, which was raised in 2020, and celebrated its win on Tuesday night. As did Hochul, even if the margin was closer than she may have liked.

“Now, this same grassroots movement that came together to build a new era for New York will continue fighting to safeguard reproductive rights, protect our communities from gun violence, create opportunities for working families, and so much more in the months and years ahead,” Hochul said in the Tuesday night email to supporters.

"In closing," she said during her victory speech, "the lesson of tonight’s victory is that given the choice, New Yorkers refused to go backwards in our long march toward progress."

Ben Max contributed to this story.

Note: this story has been updated.

Tom DiNapoli, Letitia James, and Chuck Schumer

Beyond the top of the ticket governor's race that has gotten most of the attention, Democrats running for New York's other statewide offices on the ballot also prevailed Tuesday night.

Though some of the races appear tighter than Democrats might have hoped in a state where they outnumber Republicans two to one, the wins come in an election year where many political dynamics favored the GOP.

Incumbents U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, State Attorney General Letitia James, and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli each won against their Republican challengers, all of whom were underfunded outsiders to the state's political scene.

The three Democratic incumbents each enjoyed sizable funding and polling leads throughout the campaign season, but won at smaller margins than they may have expected coming into this election year. Republicans appear to be picking up several seats in New York races for the House of Representatives and State Legislature.

Chuck Schumer
Schumer’s expected win is part of the larger picture of Senate control playing out across the country, with roughly a third of the upper chamber’s seats on the ballot and Schumer’s position as majority leader hanging in the balance. The Senate is currently effectively split 50-50 with the Vice President, Democrat Kamala Harris, able to break ties as needed and therefore having made Schumer majority leader over the last nearly two years.

Schumer, New York's senior senator, was elected to a fifth term Tuesday, beating Republican opponent Joe Pinion, a conservative news commentator. As of about midnight and votes still being counted, Schumer had a preliminary 56-41% lead. (Junior New York Senator Kristen Gillibrand was not on the ballot this year as Senate six-year terms are staggered.) 

A Brooklynite, Schumer maintained his strong polling and funding lead even as other Democrats faced tighter races. In recent months he has touted major federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturing in upstate New York and funding for Broadway stages and other performance venues hit hard by the pandemic.

Schumer shored up his popularity with some big wins nationally and for New York in his two years as majority leader, including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan gun safety law, and more. In his 23rd year in office, he is the first Jewish person and first New Yorker to lead the Senate majority. It is unclear as of midnight on election night whether he will retain that position given unknown results of several Senate elections around the country.

Pinion's campaign was focused largely on school choice, particularly charter school expansion, and claims that Democrats including Schumer have not done enough to combat crime and inflation. The Yonkers native also talked about literacy, rural health care, and illegal drugs on the campaign trail.

Letitia James
James won a second term as New York's top attorney, beating Republican Michael Henry, a commercial litigator from Queens. With votes still being counted, James held a preliminary 54-43.5% lead.

James, the first woman and Black woman to win statewide elected office, has made a name for herself by holding to account powerful officials like then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and former President Donald Trump, as well as institutions like the NRA, pharmaceutical companies, and others.

The Brooklynite waged a quiet campaign against Henry – she was the only statewide candidate to refuse to debate her opponent – with a focus on her accomplishments in office defending reproductive rights, environmental safeguards, and state gun laws. The night before Election Day she held a get-out-the-vote rally in Flatbush, Brooklyn, with Schumer, Mayor Eric Adams, and a slew of local Democratic leaders. It was one of only a small number of campaign events James took part in.

Henry campaigned almost exclusively on fighting violent crime, government corruption, and the rising cost of living. While offering few policy specifics, he was able to ride a wave of concern about crime and the economy that buoyed Republicans, especially Zeldin and Henry. By contrast, in the Democratic wave year of 2018, James won her first election to the Attorney General’s office 62-35% over Republican Keith Wofford.

Tom DiNapoli
DiNapoli won his fourth full term as state comptroller Tuesday, with initial results showing a 56-40% margin against Republican Paul Rodriguez, a former Wall Street investor. As the state's fiscal watchdog, he is responsible for auditing state spending, reviewing and approving contracts, and managing state debt, the pension system, and payroll. DiNapoli, who has held the office since being appointed in 2007, ran on his record of "steady" management and oversight, exposing corruption and waste, and support for greater oversight powers.

Rodriguez criticized DiNapoli for what he said was failing to rein in fraud and wasteful spending and not holding his fellow Democrats accountable. His campaign focused on promises to combat pay-to-play corruption, professionalize state pension fund management, and increase budget oversight and transparency about state debt and pension obligations.

Gov. Hochul at a climate action announcement (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)

Voters across New York have approved $4.2 billion in state borrowing proposed by Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature to pay for major projects environmentalists say are key to developing a more robust response to climate change and pollution.

In numbers sure to shift as more votes are counted, initial election night tallies showed about 68% of voters approving the measure, 28% disapproving, and 12% of voters not weighing in at all. The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act authorizes the state to take on the debt in the coming years to pay for flood risk mitigation, clean water infrastructure, land conservation, emissions reduction, and other climate initiatives.

"New Yorkers had a historic opportunity to invest in clean water, upgrade our infrastructure, and create good-paying jobs — and they took it!," Hochul tweeted on Wednesday. "Our expanded #NYBondAct will help build a greener, brighter future for all."

The only statewide referendum on the ballot this year, the bond act may serve as a litmus test for voters' anxieties over the environment and state spending.

The outcome is a win for Hochul and other Democrats who pushed for its passage in the state budget earlier this year. A smaller $3 billion bond act was first proposed by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo before being shelved during the turmoil of the early pandemic. The bond act had wide support from climate activists, labor unions whose members will benefit from green jobs and prevailing wage requirements, and many others. New York City Mayor Eric Adams expressed his strong support for passage as well.

Even Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin said he would vote for the bond act. It faced limited opposition from other conservatives and no organized effort to see its defeat.

“We built a diverse and engaged coalition of over three hundred environmental organizations, unions and business groups that propelled this measure to success,” said Jess Ottney Mahar of the Nature Conservancy, in a Tuesday night statement on behalf of the Vote Yes For Clean Water & Jobs Coalition. “Thanks to the work of this coalition, who handed out tens of thousands of palm cards, window signs and lawn signs, and enthusiastic New Yorkers, we have delivered the first environmental bond act in a generation.”

“The passage of this measure will pay for projects that protect clean drinking water, tackle climate change and conserve natural resources while creating jobs and delivering environmental justice across New York State,” she said. “Now we start the important work of implementation. Onward!”

The act allows the state comptroller to sell bonds to pay for: $1.5 billion for climate change mitigation projects like energy efficiency upgrades, greenhouse gas sequestration, and pollution reduction; $1.1 billion for flood risk mitigation; $650 million for water quality infrastructure; and another $650 million for land rehabilitation and habitat conservation. The state has flexibility to spend another $300 million that is not specifically earmarked.

At least 35% of the total funding must go to underserved communities, which are typically disproportionately impacted by the effects of pollution and environmental destruction.

The act is seen as a tool to help the state meet ambitious climate goals adopted by state lawmakers in 2019 and leverage federal grant funding for state- and locally-backed projects. The 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) sets targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% of 1990 levels and generate 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. By 2040, all electricity must come from renewables, and by 2050 the state must reach an 85% emissions reduction.

This is the first time an environmental bond has been on the ballot since 1996, when voters approved a $1.75 billion bond act ($3.3 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars) supported by Republican Governor George Pataki.

This is the second year in a row New Yorkers approved an environmental ballot referendum. Last year, residents voted 62-26% to create a new state constitutional right to clean air, water, and a healthy environment. Roughly 12% of voters left the question blank.

The bond act had the support of a coalition of hundreds of organizations, local leaders, and Democratic officials throughout the state. Its primary opposition came from fiscal conservatives and the New York State Conservative Party, which opposed the state taking on new debt for the environment. It was also opposed by Republican and Conservative comptroller nominee Paul Rodriguez, who lost his campaign to unseat Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapli, who supported the bond act.

State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt (photo: NY Senate GOP)

November 7, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Republican Leader Rob Ortt on State Senate Races

New York State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt joined the show to discuss Republicans' hopes for a big election night in retaking seats won by Democrats in recent election cycles.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.

State Senate Deputy Leader & Campaign Chair Michael Gianaris (photo: Office of Senator Gianaris)

November 7, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Democratic Campaign Chief Michael Gianaris on State Senate Races

State Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, the Chair of the New York Democratic Senate Committee, joined the show to discuss the State Senate battleground races and Democrats' hopes for keeping their supermajority.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.