Hochul has her strategy, and she’s sticking to it after primary day

There may have been a wave of democratic socialist and progressive primary victories in New York City and other parts of the state Tuesday, but Gov. Kathy Hochul isn’t preparing to join the Democratic Socialists of America any time soon, especially not as she prepares for her own general election. In her first comprehensive remarks on Tuesday’s election results, she said Wednesday morning she’s ready to harness the energy that attracted voters to populist candidates by huge margins in order to combat a common enemy among Democrats: President Donald Trump. 

Hochul’s endorsed candidates had a mixed bag on Tuesday, with those in direct contest with candidates backed by New York City Zohran Mamdani losing their races. Those included Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, with Espaillat’s loss being an upset. Socialist momentum against Hochul endorsees wasn’t limited to New York City either. Assembly Member Bill Magnarelli, a longtime incumbent in Syracuse, found himself narrowly trailing the DSA-backed Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown at the end of the night. Still, Assembly Member Jordan Wright survived his challenge, and Assembly Member Grace Lee, whom Hochul campaigned for over the weekend, defeated lefty former Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou in a fight for a lower Manhattan state Senate seat. 

But Hochul seemed unbothered by the fact that socialist populism was favored over her flavor of traditionally moderate messaging Tuesday. 

“I never said we’re united as a party,” Hochul told reporters at an unrelated press conference at her Manhattan office on Wednesday. “I’ve been involved in this political party my entire life. No one has ever accused us of being fully united behind one individual, one concept. That’s OK. We speak for many voices. That’s the beauty of the Democratic Party.”

Indeed, Tuesday’s results don’t mean the governor should get her DSA dues ready yet. “The governor’s task during the campaign, and then when she's governing, is not to chase that energy ideologically, but it’s to make sure that she’s responsive to those concerns that are fueling it, right, affordability, housing, cost of living issues,” Democratic strategist Marc Cohen told City & State. “I think that’s her challenge, goal and mission.”

Amit Singh Bagga, a progressive Democratic consultant who has worked for Hochul in the past, said the governor has demonstrated a pragmatic approach to both governing and coalition-building he imagines will serve her well in the general election later this year, despite many Democrats backing candidates to her ideological left in the primaries. 

“The governor has a very specific and tough job to do, which is to govern a state that is as diverse as any, politically diverse as any nation,” Bagga told City & State. “And she has already demonstrated a unique acumen in being able to do so in the last year through what has become a partnership – and not a rivalry – with Mayor Mamdani.” 

Hochul, who will lead the ticket for Democrats in November, said she found the “palpable energy and excitement” for socialist and progressive candidates in the city “exciting” – and she wants to make use of that in the general. “What I already spoke to the mayor about was, how do we harness this energy and this excitement about the political process … and direct that against the biggest threat to our country, and that’s Donald Trump,” she said. 

That will mean getting some of that Zohmentum in battleground areas in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island that perhaps aren’t as progressive as the Big Apple. “I’ll be working with everyone,” she said. “That’s the beauty of the Democratic Party, the internal debates are over as of last night.” 

“Internal debates” are not always over following a primary though, and lack of enthusiasm from the base to turn out has hurt Democrats in the past. But even as populist messages resonated across New York City, as well as in her home of Buffalo with the win of DSA-backed Assembly candidate Adam Bojak and the narrow lead of Brown in Syracuse, Hochul said she doesn’t have any plans to change her own campaign strategy heading in November based on the primary results. 

“I know what it takes to win statewide, and there are many, many disparate voices outside of New York City,” she said. “There are independents who need to be courted and brought to us to vote for Democrats in November. There’s disaffected Republicans who've had it with the MAGA movement.” 

Likewise, Cohen said the successes of candidates like Rep. Joe Morelle in Rochester and Assembly Member Didi Barrett in the Hudson Valley in fending off left-wing challenges demonstrated that the Democratic base around the state still is not unified in downstate progressivism, even as a few populist candidates performed well in Buffalo and Syracuse.

Bagga concurred that Hochul likely doesn’t need to shift her strategy or underlying ideology following the primaries, as significant as they might have been. “It’s not as though anyone who handed the victor their victories last night is going to vote for Republican, and so if I’m Kathy Hochul, I’m not particularly concerned that those voters are not turning out for me in November,” he said. Nor would he, were he the governor, be concerned about Republican attacks ramping up negatively tying her to the populist socialist successes. “I think the question becomes, ‘What is her posture with the Legislature going into next year?” Bagga said.

Hochul said people are “frustrated” right now, in large part thanks to Trump, and that frustration helped to propel those candidates with populist messages against more traditional Democratic candidates, including those she endorsed. “It is exasperating to live in this Trump America right now,” she said. “And that is, I think … what many of these individuals have capitalized on (in) this movement, which is exasperation and frustration with the status quo.” 

Hochul cited a variety of affordability agenda items that passed through Albany this year that she will campaign on to quell those frustrations – though did not mention her changes to the state climate law until asked about it, an action that has drawn strong condemnation from the very candidates who just won many of the Democratic primary elections. But even on that Hochul expressed confidence that the electorate will recognize her argument that Trump policies interfering with green energy advancement forced her hand. 

“I just deal in realities, and I think there’s a lot of people (that) understand that I, as a candidate, will be far better off than someone who’s literally running around the state of New York with the head of the EPA calling for fracking and more fossil fuel generated power,” she said, “so they will understand that I am their ally in this.”