Key Trump ally jumps into New York governor's race days after shocking Mamdani mayoral victory

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Elise Stefanik announces run for New York governor after Mamdani's mayoral win

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to announce her run for New York governor, react to Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral victory and share her take on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s leadership.

Rep. Elise Stefanik on Friday launched her long-anticipated Republican campaign for New York governor, entering the 2026 race as she challenges Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Stefanik, a top House Republican and one of President Donald Trump's closest allies, represents a conservative-leaning district in upstate New York and had been weighing a gubernatorial run for months.

"I'm running for governor to make New York affordable and safe. We have seen decades of single-party rule led by Democrats. And Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America," Stefanik said Friday morning in an appearance on "Fox & Friends."

"New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation, with the highest taxes, the highest energy bills, the highest utility bills. We also have a crime crisis because Kathy Hochul has brought us failed bail reform and has embraced the defund the police Democrats," Stefanik continued. 

"And after this week… when we saw a raging anti-Semite pro-Hamas communist who wants to raise taxes. And frankly, he barely won the majority of New York City voters, Kathy Hochul endorsed him and bent the knee," Stefanik added, referencing New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist.

STEFANIK WRITING NEW BOOK AMID GUBERNATORIAL RUN BUZZ

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York headlines a Staten Island GOP fundraising dinner in New York City on June 2, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )

"She has failed New Yorkers. So this is a broad coalition of Republicans, independents and Democrats who know that enough is enough. We need commonsense leadership to make New York affordable and safe again," Stefanik declared.

"I've always put New York families first. Kathy Hochul has put New York families last again and again and again. She's an accidental governor. She's only in this position because she was Cuomo's lieutenant governor," Stefanik also said. "And when New Yorkers were looking for strong leadership from a governor not to bend the knee to Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul bent the knee. Why did she do that? Because she is hemorrhaging support even in her own party among Democrats."

Hochul Campaign Communications Director Sarafina Chitika said Friday following Stefanik's campaign announcement that, "Sellout Stefanik is Donald Trump’s number one cheerleader in Congress and his right-hand woman in his war on New York: gutting health care, jacking up costs with expensive tariffs, and cutting funding for our police, schools, and hospitals. 

"Apparently, screwing over New Yorkers in Congress wasn’t enough – now she’s trying to bring Trump’s chaos and skyrocketing costs to our state. While Stefanik puts Trump first and New York last, Governor Hochul is lowering costs, cutting middle-class taxes, and fighting for the New Yorkers Stefanik abandoned," Chitika added.

When announcing her campaign Thursday, Stefanik said, "I am running for Governor to bring a new generation of leadership to Albany to make New York affordable and safe for families all across our great state."

"Our campaign will unify Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to Fire Kathy Hochul once and for all to Save New York," she pledged in her statement and an accompanying video.

Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership, again charged that "Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America,' repeating a line that she's used for months.

REPUBLICANS AIM TO LINK VULERNABLE DEMOCRATS TO MAMDANI

Rep. Elise Stefanik with then-former President Donald Trump, during the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race. (Getty Images)

"People are looking for strong, commonsense leadership to be a check on this radical insanity that we’re seeing play out in New York City with Zohran Mamdani as a tax-hiking, defund the police, antisemite socialist," Stefanik said in an interview Thursday on Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

And in her campaign launch announcement, she reiterated that Hochul "bent the knee" to Mamdani.

Stefanik, who once criticized Trump during his first presidential run, has since become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress.

After Trump’s White House victory last year, he briefly considered naming Stefanik U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but ultimately backed off amid concerns that her departure would shrink the GOP’s razor-thin House majority.

COULD THIS TRUMP ALLY BREAK THE GOP'S 20-YEAR LOSING STREAK IN THIS KEY STATE?

It has been more than two decades since a Republican last won a New York gubernatorial race. The last was former Gov. George Pataki’s re-election in 2002.

But Hochul could face a tough re-election fight.

A former lieutenant governor, Hochul took office in 2021 after Democrat Andrew Cuomo resigned amid multiple scandals.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is running for re-election in 2026. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)

She defeated then-Rep. Lee Zeldin by just over six points in 2022 to win a full four-year term. But Zeldin's showing was the best by a Republican gubernatorial nominee since Pataki won re-election to a third term in 2002.

Meanwhile, Trump, who lost New York by 23 points in the 2020 presidential election, trimmed his deficit by 10 points last November.

Hochul, a moderate Democrat from Buffalo, is facing a primary challenge from New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, in a very rare move by a lieutenant governor to primary challenge a sitting incumbent.

Stefanik is expected to hammer Hochul as she focuses her campaign on the issue of affordability.

"People are very concerned about affordability and I have a strong record of delivering for families," she highlighted in her Fox News interview.

And she charged that Hochul had made New York "the most unaffordable state in the nation. We have the highest taxes, the highest energy prices, the highest utility prices, the highest grocery prices, and rent that continues to skyrocket."

Democrats notched double-digit victories this week in New Jersey and Virginia, emphasizing affordability as a top issue. Stefanik said those results show Republicans must put forward a clear economic vision.

"You have to have a vision, and you have to put forth policies to make your state affordable again," she said. "We are going to win the affordability message because her [Hochul] record is making it the most unaffordable state in the nation."

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But New York State Democratic Party spokesperson Addison Dick charged that "Elise Stefanik is a rubber stamp in Washington for Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is raising costs, gutting health care, and defunding New York schools, hospitals, and police."

And Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe charged that "from gutting health care to backing cost-raising tariffs, Stefanik’s record as Trump’s cheerleader in chief could not be more toxic with New York voters."

After Stefanik's announcement, Hochul's campaign launched a new video and new online microsite titled "SelloutStefanik."

Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York seriously mulled a run for governor. But Lawler announced in July that he would seek re-election and forgo a gubernatorial run.

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Stefanik, however, has already begun assembling a seasoned campaign team that includes veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who served as chief pollster for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

But Stefanik may not have the Republican nomination to herself. 

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump ally who was re-elected this week, may be eyeing a run for governor, GOP sources in New York confirmed to Fox News.