Hochul Is the Problem in New York

Tightening polls in the New York gubernatorial race suggest that the GOP challenger, Bruce Blakeman, is making headway among voters against the Democratic incumbent, Kathy Hochul. A recent survey conducted for Mr. Blakeman’s campaign finds the Republican just four points behind Mrs. Hochul. The results, pollster John McLaughlin reckons, suggest that “New York voters are dissatisfied with the direction of the state.” No wonder. About two months away from Election Day, Mr. McLaughlin reckons, Mrs. Hochul, in her bid for re-election, “continues to miss critical benchmarks for a safe incumbent.” Some 55 percent of likely voters polled have an unfavorable view of the governor, and 56 percent, per Mr. McLaughlin, “believe that it’s time to give someone else a chance to do better.” How could it be otherwise in light of Mrs. Hochul’s commitment to a leftist agenda.The high-tax, big-spending, pro-regulatory policies pursued by Mrs. Hochul and her fellow Democrats at Albany help explain why New York ranks dead last in the country on the Tax Foundation’s index of state tax competitiveness. Under Mrs. Hochul the state’s budget has surged to some $269 billion, almost $50 billion higher than the $221 billion budget in her first fiscal year as governor. By contrast Florida, a larger state, spends less than half — only $118 billion.To fill the state coffers, Mrs. Hochul and her Democratic allies sap the state’s economic vitality with an onerous tax regime. The state’s personal income tax rate is among the highest in America. Plus, Mrs. Hochul recently acceded to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s entreaty to tax second homes at New York City. That move, which has sparked anger and confusion across the city, is likely to harm the city’s tax base and make housing more expensive for New Yorkers.New York’s budgetary woes can be traced in part to exorbitant spending on the Medicaid program. The Empire Center’s Bill Hammond, formerly of the Sun, reports that the Empire State shelled out in 2024 some $4,492 per resident, amounting to 77 percent more than the nationwide average. Obedience to state teachers unions makes the state’s public schools among America’s most expensive while producing mediocre outcomes for students. These columns have traced, too, Mrs. Hochul’s volte-face on congestion tolls, which she first vowed to oppose but then, after the 2024 midterms, decided to embrace. The tolls in effect extort dollars from motorists across the region to bail out Mrs. Hochul’s mismanagement of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Yet when it comes to the avowed excuse for the tolls, cutting pollution, a report finds the levy on motorists made not a dent in air quality.It’s testament to Mrs. Hochul’s fidelity to her party’s far-left cultural agenda, too, that she has yet to reject a bill passed by Democratic lawmakers adopting “gender neutral language” in state law. The word “Mother” would be replaced in legal codes by “gestating parent.” The word “father” would be replaced by “non-gestating parent.” Yet Mrs. Hochul, who has until year-end to act on the measure, is still deciding. Call her a non-signing veto-er. We don’t want to get ahead of our skis. The landscape in New York is littered with disappointed Republican candidates. The governor’s fecklessness, though, certainly helps explain why Mr. Blakeman is surging in the polls. Even so, Mr. McLaughlin cautions that some 30 percent of likely voters don’t know about Mr. Blakeman or have no opinion about him. It adds up to a month and a half to mark that Governor Hochul is the one to blame for New York’s faltering.

Hochul Is the Problem in New York

Hochul Is the Problem in New York

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