Rep. Elise Stefanik didn’t mince words on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures when she called Gov. Kathy Hochul “the worst governor in America” and made plain she’s seriously considering a 2026 run to clean up Albany’s mess. That blistering assessment wasn’t theater — it was a warning to voters who’ve watched New York get more expensive and less safe under one-party Democratic rule.
Stefanik laid out the conservative case plainly: sky-high taxes, runaway costs for energy and groceries, and a crime crisis that has left hardworking families paying the price for political softness. Those aren’t abstract talking points — they’re the lived reality for millions who are fed up with leadership that talks compassion while enabling chaos.
The stakes just got higher after Zohran Mamdani—an unapologetic democratic socialist—won New York City’s mayoral race on November 4, promising radical policies that will only push costs and disorder into the suburbs and upstate. New York’s moderates should be worried: a radical-controlled city and a weak, tone-deaf governor is a recipe for disaster for the whole state.
Governor Hochul’s public embrace of Mamdani has handed Republicans a clear contrast to run on, and Stefanik has seized the moment to tie Hochul to the left’s most extreme demands. The backlash isn’t just partisan chest-thumping — many voters see this as proof that Albany’s establishment has lost touch with everyday New Yorkers who simply want safe streets and affordable bills.
Stefanik made it real in early November when she formally launched her Save New York campaign, releasing a hard-hitting video that framed the race as a battle to restore common-sense governance and hold Hochul accountable for cozying up to radical city leadership. She’s running to unite conservatives, independents and disillusioned Democrats around a simple platform: restore safety, lower costs, and put taxpayers first.
This is the kind of fight conservatives should welcome — not polite, incremental pleas but bold clarity. New Yorkers deserve leaders who will stand up to lawlessness, roll back punitive taxes, and promote energy policies that lower costs instead of punishing families and small businesses.
If Stefanik follows through, this race will force a long-overdue debate about whether New York’s future belongs to the people who built it or to an elite political class that prefers virtue-signaling to results. Patriots who love this state should rally behind a vision that restores opportunity, secures neighborhoods, and defends the dignity of work against the ruinous promises of left-wing ideology.
