NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a close Republican ally of President Donald Trump, announced Friday that she is running for governor of New York, a place she portrayed in a campaign kickoff video as “in ruins” because of lawlessness and a high cost of living.
In her video, a narrator declares, “The Empire State has fallen,” while painting a bleak picture of urban, liberal leadership and life in New York City, although the message appears to have been aimed at an audience in other, more conservative parts of the state.
Her candidacy may lead to a fight with Gov. Kathy Hochul, a centrist Democrat, although both candidates would first have to eliminate all intra-party rivals before next November’s election.
Stefanik, 41, has touted a candidacy for months, often castigating the 67-year-old Hochul as the “worst governor in America.” She also attacked Hochul for supporting rising democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, now the elected mayor of New York City.
In a written statement, Stefanik said she is running to “make New York affordable and safe for families across our great state.”
“Our campaign will unite Republicans, Democrats and independents to fire Kathy Hochul once and for all to save New York,” she said.
Hochul’s campaign released its own attack ad against the Republican on Friday, calling her “Sellout Stefanik” and accusing her of enabling Trump’s tariffs and federal funding cuts to education and health care.
“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,” said Hochul campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika.
Representing a conservative congressional district in northern New York, Stefanik was once a pragmatic and moderate Republican who avoided saying Trump’s name, simply calling him “my party’s presidential nominee.”
But in recent years she has become a brash supporter and passionate defender of Trump’s MAGA movement and has risen up the Republican Party’s congressional hierarchy, aligning herself with Trump’s political style.
Last year, Stefanik was selected to be the president’s ambassador to the United Nations, but her nomination was later withdrawn over concerns about her party’s slim majority in the House of Representatives. She then began running for governor and very quickly received public support from Trump.
Their announcement video, titled “From the Ashes,” portrays New York as a hazardous place plagued by “migrant crime” and economic crisis, blaming “Kathy Hochul’s failed policies” while haunting, ominous music plays in the background.
New York City police officials have long touted a decline in crime and said this week that the city is in its eighth consecutive quarter of declines in sedate crime.
The Republican primary field remains unclear ahead of the 2026 race.
On Long Island, Republican Nassau County Administrator Bruce Blakeman has said he is considering a run for governor. In a statement Friday, he said he had “great respect” for Stefanik but that the GOP needed to nominate a candidate who would have “broad appeal among independents and common-sense Democrats.”
“The party must nominate the candidate who has the best chance of defeating Kathy Hochul, and I have been encouraged to run by business, civic and political leaders across the state and I am seriously considering it,” said Blakeman, who easily won re-election to another four-year term on Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler had considered running but instead decided to run for re-election in his competitive House district in the Hudson Valley.
Hochul faces a competitive primary in which her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, is running against her.
Democrats have a huge lead in voter registration in New York. The state’s last Republican governor was former Gov. George Pataki, who left office about two decades ago.
Still, Republican Lee Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman and current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, made a sedate run for office in 2022 and came within striking distance of Hochul. ___
AP writer Philip Marcelo contributed to this report.
