New York’s Acting Governor Kathy Hochul will faces U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin in November elect ion for the office of the New York Governor.
New York governor Democrat Kathy Hochul easily won her party’s nomination Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, staunch ally of former President Donald Trump won the Republican Party’s nomination.
Democrat Kathy Hochul beat back primary challenges Tuesday from New York City’s elected public advocate, Jumaane Williams, and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a moderate from Long Island. She now turns her eyes to becoming the first elected woman governor through winning the election this fall. Hochul was serving as an under-the-radar lieutenant governor under the shadow of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo until last year, when he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, catapulting her into office.
Hochul gave an election night speech Tuesday on a stage underneath a glass ceiling at an event space in Manhattan.
“I’m also here because I stand on the shoulders of generations of women, generations of women who constantly had to bang up against that glass ceiling. To the women of New York, this one’s for you,” Hochul said.
Lee Zeldin is an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who has represented eastern Long Island in Congress since 2015. He defeated primary challenges from former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, businessman Harry Wilson and Andrew Giuliani, the son of New York City’s former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who frequently campaigned for his son.
“Are we ready to fire Kathy Hochul?” Zeldin said to cheers as he spoke at a victory party on Long Island.
“New Yorkers are hitting their breaking point. They’re deciding whether or not to stay here or head to other places,” he said.
He has focused his campaign on rising crime and criticized Hochul for not toughening the state’s bail laws, for imposing COVID-19 mitigation mandates and for rising costs. And Zeldin has referred repeatedly to the “Cuomo-Hochul Administration.”
The Long Island congressman will try to become the first Republican elected governor in New York since Gov. George Pataki was reelected in 2002.
Kathy Hochul repeated that in her Tuesday night speech, proclaiming that the state had “gone on offense to protect abortion rights” and “making the world know that New York State is a safe harbor for America’s women.”
“We must answer one question,” she said. “Are we going to move New York forward, or let the far-right extremist drag our state backwards?”
Tuesday’s elections cover New York’s statewide offices and state assembly races, but primary contests for U.S. House seats and the state Senate will be held on Aug. 23. Those were delayed because of a redistricting lawsuit that led a court to throw out new political maps.
Turnout was light in New York City, with the city board of elections reporting about 370,000 voters checked in to vote by 6 p.m. The city has more than 4 million registered Democrats and Republicans combined who are eligible to vote in the primaries. Light turnout was also reported in the Buffalo-area and in Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties.
NY GOVERNOR – DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
95% reporting
Winner
Kathy Hochul -68% (585,191)
Jumaane Williams-19% (165,655)
Thomas Suozzi-13%(112,336)
NY GOVERNOR – REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
96% reporting
Winner
Lee Zeldin -44%(195,199)
Andrew Giuliani-23%(101,428)
Rob Astorino-19%(82,864)
Harry Wilson-15%(65,379)
