Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Gov. Kathy Hochul campaigned down to the wire. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Gov. Kathy Hochul won a commanding reelection Tuesday over Republican Bruce Blakeman, capitalizing on superior fundraising, a huge enrollment advantage and an anti-Trump campaign theme used by Democrats across the country.
Hochul, 68, was declared the winner over Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, by The Associated Press shortly after polls closed.
The victory means a second full term for a politician some had initially called the "accidental governor" when she ascended from lieutenant governor in 2021, after then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned. Her narrow election win in 2022 ushered in a slew of challengers lining up for a primary fight.
But four years later, Hochul quashed dissension within the moderate and progressive wings of the party, snuffed out challengers and raised a formidable amount of money to run again. She led in the independent polls by double digits most of the year and Blakeman never closed the gap.
Hochul focused most of her campaign on telling voters she has been been a bulwark against the Trump administration and will continue to be on issues such as immigration, renewable energy and Canadian tariffs. She never outlined a new agenda if elected but rather promised to continue working on those issues.
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She will return to the state Capitol in Albany, along with a Democrat-controlled State Legislature. But if the blue wave that was expected to help Democrats nationally also improves the party's numbers in Albany, the national trend will get more of the credit than any mandate for Hochul.
"Is this a mandate for Kathy Hochul?" No," State Sen. Jack Martins, a Nassau Republican said Tuesday on NewsdayTV.
Blakeman, 71, was trying to become the first Republican to win a statewide election in New York since then-Gov. George Pataki in 2002.
He presented a moderate, pro-choice GOP profile who had won in a large population county that has more Democrats than Republicans. It was the profile the party had lacked for a generation, when a string of anti-abortion-rights candidates fell short.
But he faced significant challenges: Democrats’ 2-1 enrollment advantage, Hochul and Democrats’ combined $34 million campaign funds advantage as of midsummer, his low name recognition outside of Long Island and his close relationship with President Donald Trump.
Blakeman tried to strike a balance with Trump, who has low approval ratings in New York, but can still motivate core Republican supporters. Blakeman campaigned with the president, called him a good friend and defended some of his policies, including deportations, while also noting he wasn't on the ballot.
But even Republicans warned that "too much MAGA" would hurt Blakeman because of Trump’s ratings.
Trump proved to be an overarching figure in the campaign, as he has been in other states.
Hochul repeatedly invoked the president and his policies, especially the impact of Canadian tariffs on upstate New York, during the one and only governor's debate .
"If he would only end this tariff tomorrow, we could start seeing grocery prices start going down," Hochul said. "End the war with Iran, gas prices start coming down. None of this has to be this way, and you support every single thing that Donald Trump does."
Blakeman fired back that Hochul was avoiding talking about New York's high costs and taxes.
"You talk about Donald Trump all the time because you don’t want to talk about your record," Blakeman said, and, at another point, added: "Trump. Trump. Trump. That’s all you can say."
The debate, like the campaign, displayed sharp divisions between the candidates on crime, immigration, data centers, tariffs, energy prices, union support and natural gas drilling.
"Hochul’s biggest potential problem is she had to grapple with dissension within the Democratic Party, which seems to have dissipated enough with a realization among leaders of the various factions that they are better off with a Hochul, whom they are not thrilled with, than a Blakeman whom they couldn’t live with," said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of suburban studies at Hofstra University.
Many voters who spoke to Newsday on Tuesday hammered themes raised by Hochul in her campaign, namely about the sharply rising cost of living and unhappiness with Trump.
Hempstead resident Mark Atkinson, 34, said affordability brought him to the polls Tuesday.
"I'm also looking for just general decency in our civics," Atkinson, who said he's not registered with any party, said after voting at Barack Obama Elementary School in Hempstead. "I think that's been challenging lately. The political climate as a whole."
Olga Belleau, of Setauket, said she came out to vote, in part, because of affordability issues.
"The economy — that’s one of the main issues," she said outside Arrowhead Elementary School on Tuesday. "You can’t live on Social Security anymore. And the money you have saved is dwindling like never before."
Affordability was the prime concern of Malik Archer, 30, of Massapequa, who told Newsday after casting his ballot at AG Berner Middle School.
"Rent, gas, eggs; it’s all getting out of hand," said Archer, a registered Democrat.
Still, Michael Ashner, 77, of Cove Neck, a registered independent, voted for Blakeman because of his concern about the "surge of the progressive left."
"I’m disturbed by that," he said after voting in Syosset. "I believe in equal opportunity. I’m an incrementalist."
Newsday's Sam Kmack and Deborah Morris contributed to this story from Long Island.
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LI Votes 2026: Live coverage Follow along for results and live analysis as the results come in for governor, Congress and local races.
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