Rep. Elise Stefanik Friday launched her Republican campaign to unseat Gov. Hochul in 2026, taking aim at her opponent as a puppet of Zohran Mamdani and “the worst governor in America.”
The upstate congresswoman announced her long-anticipated run against Hochul with a video that accused the incumbent Democrat of making the Empire State unaffordable for working people.
“I am running for governor to bring a new generation of leadership to Albany to make New York affordable and safe for families all across our great state,” Stefanik said in a statement.
Stefanik, who represents a deep-red congressional district in the far upstate North Country, accused Hochul of taking cues from Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect who Republicans hope to make a bogeyman for voters outside the five boroughs.
“Kathy Hochul … cozied up to an anti-police, tax-hiking, anti-semitic communist,” a narrator says in the video, which featured Mamdani supporters chanting “tax the rich” as Hochul addressed a recent campaign rally.
Hochul hit back at Stefanik as a stooge of President Trump, whose backing is political kryptonite in deep-blue New York.
“While I’m fighting like hell to lower costs for New York families, Elise Stefanik is screwing over New Yorkers and jacking up costs to please Trump,” the governor tweeted. “Stefanik always puts Trump first and you last.”
Stefanik has been planning for the race for months. Her path to the GOP nomination got much clearer when Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) decided to skip the race and instead run for reelection from his Westchester County-based swing congressional district.
Hochul underwhelmed in her first run for governor, winning by less than 6% in the deep-blue state against Long Island ex-Rep. Lee Zeldin.
But Stefanik may face headwinds of her own in 2026. After big Democratic wins in the off-year elections this week, the midterms are shaping up as a referendum on the unpopular Trump’s right-wing second term and Democrats appear much more energized than Republicans.
Stefanik, a Harvard graduate, was 30 and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress when she swept to her first House victory in 2014. She started out as a moderate Republican but has reshaped her political persona into a brash MAGA disciple in the age of Trump.
Last year, Trump tapped Stefanik to be the ambassador to the United Nations, but yanked the nomination over concerns about losing her seat in a potential special election.
The last time a Republican won the governor’s mansion was George Pataki, who won his third and final term in 2002.
