Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday blasted “pathetic” GOP potential election foe Elise Stefanik as someone who would give President Trump nearly unfettered power over the state if governor.
Hochul, a Democrat, warned that the president, who grew up in New York, has his sights set on helping a Republican become governor.
“If a Republican gets elected as governor against me, think about the power that Donald Trump will have over everything in the state, including the city,” Hochul warned on ABC 7’s “Up Close with Bill Ritter.
“That’s what should give people great pause,” she said.
The governor seemed amused that Trump appeared to intervene in New York GOP politics to encourage Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) not to run against her.
She also swiped at Stefanik, an upstate congresswoman who is widely expected to throw her hat into the 2026 gubernatorial ring, accusing her of playing rough and tumble politics.
Last week, in the wake of the deadly Midtown massacre in which a sicko fatally gunned down four people, including an NYPD officer, Stefanik spotlighted a 2020 social-media post from Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani who said the NYPD is “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.”
“Flashback : Kathy Hochul’s very own Commie Mamdani A disgrace and truly unfit to be Mayor of NYC,” Stefanik wrote in the post.
Hochul fired back Sunday, “It’s pathetic and especially in the time when we’re a city that’s in mourning, to be taking cheap shots and trying to infer that he had something to do with this,” the governor swiped. “I mean, come on.”
While Hochul is the favorite heading into 2026, Republicans have overperformed in several state elections in recent years. In 2022, for example, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin lost to Hochul by about 6.4 percentage points.
Hochul also re-upped her well-worn push to ban so-called “assault rifles” and noted how the gunman trekked down from Nevada to unleash upon innocent people in New York City.
“Why do we even allow these weapons of mass destruction to be sold anywhere in America? Other countries have completely banned them,” the governor said. “Why can’t Congress and the president step up and say, ‘This is it, no more?’ “
The gunman, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, carried an M4 rifle while marching into the building to unleash fire, according to the cops.
Hochul argued it takes “political courage” to enact gun control and appealed to Trump.
“I’d be willing to make the case,” she said. “And you know how important this is. You never know what’s going to be a breakthrough.
“This is President Trump’s hometown. He knows these streets. He knows these buildings. And so does anyone who might understand the incredible vulnerability that people and they’re going to their jobs every single day in Midtown.”
