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NY gov race pits old immigration playbook against new outrage over data centers

Jimmy Vielkind

Published Oct 8, 2026

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Hochul and AOC.

Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

Jimmy Vielkind

Published Oct 8, 2026

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This column originally appeared in The Politics Brief, our weekly newsletter on the people, power and policies that shape New Yorkers' lives.

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Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman campaigned about 30 miles from each other during a pair of events this week in the Hudson Valley. But rhetorically, Hochul was focused on data centers, the issue du jour for Democrats, while Blakeman channeled 2022 in raising alarms about immigrants and crime.

The moderate governor was joined by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist star, in East Fishkill to tout a one-year moratorium on the development of hyperscale data centers. In June, the Hudson Valley town successfully, if temporarily, nixed a proposal for a massive, 1,000-megawatt facility because of concerns about water and energy use.

Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, stood outside a government building in Chappaqua to denounce the new state law that restricts cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities.

The dueling messages show Republicans are again turning to a playbook — stoking fears about crime and immigration — that served them well in the closer-than-expected 2022 gubernatorial election and President Donald Trump’s stronger-than-expected showing in 2024.

With their focus on data centers, Democrats are seizing on a newer issue that has unified disparate factions of their own party while also appealing to independents and even some Republicans. Hochul has voiced concerns that the facilities drive up energy prices while gulping down massive supplies of water.

“We have to sometimes realize that leadership doesn't mean saying yes to everything,” she said.

The GOP event was hosted by U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler — a Republican who is now locked in a tough re-election battle against Cait Conley. Lawler introduced Jessica and Tom Gorman, Westchester County residents whose daughter Sheridan was murdered in Chicago by an undocumented immigrant who had been previously arrested and released by local authorities.

GOP candidate for governor Bruce Blakeman held a press conference with the parents of Sheridan Gorman, a slain Loyola University student. An undocumented immigrant has been charged with the killing.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“Why shouldn't we deport criminal illegal aliens after they've committed serious crimes? That's common sense,” Jessica Gorman said. “Tom and I are literally out here because we can't have our daughter's death mean nothing.”

Republicans say New York’s new law is flawed because it allows undocumented immigrants accused of lower-level crimes to be released without bail, even if they are subject to a federal deportation proceeding, rather than turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“One of the toughest days of my being county executive was the day that I had to tell our police and our sheriffs that they could no longer cooperate with ICE because of Kathy Hochul,” Blakeman said.

Hochul says the law still allows local police to call ICE and she believes people should be turned over after they are convicted of serious offenses. Speaking to reporters, the Democratic governor said no parents should be exposed to the pain that Gorman’s have. Hochul also said Republicans were mischaracterizing the law, which Democrats believe allows local police to focus on local crimes rather than immigration enforcement.

Hochul spent most of her time talking about data centers. New York became the first state in the nation to enact a moratorium on the server farms, and officials said it was an important step to develop state regulations that will let localities evaluate projects.

Blakeman said he supports local control and opposes Hochul’s moratorium. He accused the governor of impeding an economic boom.

Republicans are clearly aiming at their base of voters with their focus on immigration, although polls show a majority of New Yorkers are unhappy with ICE’s tactics. Ocasio-Cortez argued that issues like data centers will endear Hochul to her party’s base of progressive voters in New York City.

“We know something for sure, which is that Blakeman is a uniquely dangerous candidate. He wants to turn over the entire state to these tech oligarchs,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I do believe that everyday New Yorkers see this for what it is, and I know that people are very raring to turn out in November.”

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This week in New York politics

Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to change state law to make it easier for prosecutors to win convictions when victims of sexual assault had voluntarily consumed alcohol or taken drugs as Cornell University and a county prosecutor face intense scrutiny over their handling of a student’s gang rape allegations in 2024.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that Christopher Watler, a nonprofit executive who has spent decades building re-entry and diversion programs, will chair the city’s jail oversight board.
Since the start of President Trump’s second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted more than 19,500 arrests in New York state and nearly 18,000 in New Jersey, according to new government data.
The race between New Jersey incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democrat Rebecca Bennett may be on track to become the most expensive race for a congressional seat in the state’s history.
A legal 'loophole' has helped Gov. Hochul and her GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman raise millions of dollars from their Democratic and Republican parties, bypassing caps on individual campaign contributions.
Mayor Mamdani is facing pressure to present a more expansive vision for how to fix the city's schools — which are among the most segregated in the country — after a journalist's public reckoning over how to balance giving her own daughter a good education while fighting for a more equal public school system.
The Cannonsville Reservoir, New York City’s third-largest source of drinking water, could be expanding after a drought two years ago reduced the city’s water supply to worryingly low levels.
Three years ago, amid fears the U.S. Supreme Court could restrict access to pills used in medication abortion, New York state stockpiled misoprostol. But 150,000 pills in the state’s possession have all expired — and not a single one was distributed.
A federal judge in New Jersey rejected a Trump administration bid to employ a law traditionally used to shield abortion clinics to sue pro-Palestinian activists who participated in a raucous protest outside a New Jersey synagogue two years ago.
Tune in Thursdays at 1 p.m. to hear us talk about all of this on our pop-up politics show, "Who's Running This Place?"

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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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