REPORT: Stefanik to announce run for governor in New York

With the way things are shaping up in New York, this could be the year that a Republican takes back the keys to the governor’s mansion.

Hochul is still the clear leader in polling, but that could change soon.

According to reports, Rep. Elise Stefanik will soon announce that she is going to challenge Hochul, and she will likely have Trump’s immediate support.

The Announcement

The 2022 gubernatorial election was far closer than most expected.

Hochul, who had been installed after Cuomo was chased out of town in disgrace, faced off against former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).

Zeldin knew he was up against it, but Trump had made inroads in New York, so he took his shot and almost pulled it off, losing 53.12% to 46.73%, far closer than anyone could have imagined.

Stefanik clearly sees an opportunity, so reports broke this week that she plans to announce immediately after the November election cycle, when it will generate the most juice.

Polling

This will be a rather large hill for Stefanik to climb, so I am not going to sugarcoat this, and recent polling was a bit worse than I had thought it would be.

The latest polling from Siena had Hochul up 25 points, but some do not believe that, with Stefanik’s people calling it a “fantasy.” If I am being honest, I do believe it, but not because I think Hochul is that popular.

Reading polls for more than a decade now, I have seen time and again where those being polled are hesitant to announce support for a candidate if they have not yet announced, and I believe that to be the case here. This is especially the case when I see a large number of undecided voters in the mix.

Hochul’s lead was at 51-27, but that leaves 22% of the vote still up in the air, and that tells me that there are a lot of people still sitting on the sidelines. Stefanik has only dropped 4% since they started adding her to polling, so don’t read too much into this just yet.

Great Sign

This week, Hochul endorsed Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, and it seems to have energized people behind Stefanik.

Her office stated, “We have hundreds of thousands of donations coming in and millions more pledged. And the big donations have been from Democrats.”

Hochul is now tied to Mandani, and if he gets his radical agenda in place, and that city starts to pay the price, voters are going to flock to Stefanik to see change.

So, like I said, don’t read too much into polling on this race just yet, as some things are happening in the future that will shape this race one way or another. Believe me, I will let you know when it is time to be concerned.