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Gov. Hochul’s ‘last, best chance’ to save her political skin
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Jimmy Vielkind
Published Jan 15, 2025
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Mike Groll / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
By
Jimmy Vielkind
Published Jan 15, 2025
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While she never mentioned President-elect Donald Trump by name, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday addressed head on the cost-of-living and public safety concerns that helped propel him back to the White House.
The Democratic governor’s fourth State of the State address marked her clearest opportunity to chart a new course. With her job approval rating underwater and rivals from both parties circling, the moment also presented a key test: Can Hochul dig her way out of a political rut before a 2026 re-election campaign?
“This may be the last, best chance for her to dramatically turn things around,” said Lawrence Levy, a longtime political observer and executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies. “What she says that connects to the typical voter who has drifted away from the Democratic Party because of crime and the economy can begin the process of repairing her political problems.”
Those issues were the twin pillars of Hochul’s 56-minute speech. She unveiled a package of proposals she estimated would save affected families nearly $5,000 a year. It included a tax cut for 77% of New York filers, rebate checks and expanded credits for child care.
The governor announced grants to spur greater information sharing among police agencies and proposed changing the law to make it easier to charge people caught driving under the influence of drugs. Hochul pledged to fund an increase in patrols that would allow for a police officer to be posted on every subway train running overnight in New York City.
Few of the attendees quibbled with the focus. But several legislators said they hoped to see more details on her proposals, some of which will come when Hochul releases a roughly $240 billion budget next week.
“We've got a lot of challenges ahead to find consensus and to find the money for these things,” said state Sen. Shelley Mayer, a Democrat from Yonkers. “But it was an excellent start with her commitment to making sure New Yorkers feel heard and that their concerns are addressed.”
Reinforcing that connection will be crucial as Hochul prepares to stand for reelection next year. After assuming office upon former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation in 2021, she won a closer-than-expected 2022 campaign against Republican candidate Lee Zeldin, and she now has several potential challengers lining up against her.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican who flipped a competitive Hudson Valley seat in 2022, has taken frequent shots at the governor as he flirts with a gubernatorial campaign. From within her own party, Rep. Ritchie Torres of the Bronx has publicly criticized Hochul — and there’s even a possibility that Antonio Delgado, her own lieutenant governor, could challenge his boss. While Delgado introduced Hochul in her 2024 State of the State speech, this year, he had no formal role except as a member of the audience.
In a “prebuttal” to Hochul’s address this week, Lawler attacked Hochul’s implementation of congestion pricing, which went into effect this month with a lower-than-planned toll rate. He argued that the toll undermined the governor’s proposed tax breaks.
“Taking thousands of dollars out of New Yorkers’ left pocket and putting $500 dollars in their right pocket is not a tax cut,” Lawler said. “It’s an insult, and it’s precisely why millions of New Yorkers have headed towards the exits.”
Some of Hochul’s other proposals may encounter resistance from her fellow Democrats.
“The hell is in the details,” said state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, referring to a proposal to change the standard by which people can be forcibly hospitalized for mental health treatment. “What class of people are we really trying to catch?”
Hochul said several times that she was “a fighter” for New York families, and the pageantry surrounding her speech included several allusions to being an underdog. A high school band played the theme from the movie “Rocky.” She walked on to the refrain from Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter” and ended by cheering for the Buffalo Bills, who have never won a Super Bowl.
In a relatively slow cadence interspersed with video clips and slides, Hochul also wove her biography through her policy platform. She announced plans to use state money to fund universal breakfast and lunch at schools, recalling how her mother served sandwiches made of Spam and expired bread stored in the freezer.
”She talked from her heart and I think that really resonates with people,” said Mario Cilento, president of the labor organization New York State AFL-CIO.
Republicans called it “meaningless fluff.” On the opposite side of the spectrum, progressive Democrats questioned Hochul’s commitment to her own agenda, pointing out that she proposed new programs without also putting additional revenue streams on the table.
Jasmine Gripper, codirector of the left-leaning New York Working Families Party, said she wished Hochul had directly confronted Trump over his plans to deport undocumented immigrants. Gripper said she was cautiously optimistic about the governor’s plans for working-class New Yorkers.
“People don't just want one off relief. They want permanent, reliable, ongoing relief for the fiscal crisis that they're facing,” Gripper said. “She needs to be bold. She needs to go big.”
State Assemblymember David Weprin, a Democrat from Queens, said the next few months will be critical to see if Hochul can improve her standing in polls. He said the speech was a good start.
“It certainly went a long way towards that,” said Weprin. “But she still has a ways to go.”
Tagged
Kathy Hochul
new york state
Politics
Jimmy Vielkind
Jimmy Vielkind covers how state government and politics affect people throughout New York. He has covered Albany since 2008, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Jimmy led a team of reporters that won a New York Press Club award for coverage of Andrew Cuomo’s downfall and was on a team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of Amazon’s HQ2 process. A native of the Capitol Region, Jimmy has two degrees in urban planning. His position is funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Reach Jimmy at [email protected].
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