Free Republic

A major labor union has launched an ad blitz ripping Dem Gov. Kathy Hochul as so “radioactive” and “toxic” that midterm candidates from her own party want nothing to do with her. The Transport Workers Union of America, whose local members include roughly 40,000 city subway and bus workers toiling under an MTA contract that lapsed in May, began airing the scathing spots Friday, a day before early voting opened. “Governor Kathy Hochul is so radioactive, even Democratic candidates are running away from her,” the ad kicks off, referring to the state’s top Democrat who effectively controls the MTA through...

BRONX, N.Y. – Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is courting disaffected Democrats as he seeks to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul, betting that frustration over affordability, crime and the party's leftward shift could help him make inroads with traditionally Democratic voters. "They're not Democrats. They're socialists and communists," former Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman told Fox News Digital. "They're just not Democrats, they're not moderates." Kaufman delivered the blistering criticism while rallying alongside Blakeman at the Crosstown Diner in the Bronx, where several voters expressed similar frustrations with Democratic leadership and said they were backing the Republican candidate. "Every...

A Democratic Governors Association-backed Super PAC is pouring more than $4 million into boosting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s re-election bid as she desperately tries to fend off Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman in the tight race. Greater Empire State — which began releasing anti-Blakeman attack ads Saturday — reported receiving $4.34 million in donations between late July and Oct. 2 to hype Hochul, according to its latest state campaign filings. A big chunk of the money came from former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg; the Greater New York Hospital Association Management Corp.; and Leadership for New York, a super PAC run by Jay...

Dems the breaks. Rep. Tom Suozzi will snub a Long Island campaign event with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday because of a scheduling clash — as other down-ballot New York Democrats distance themselves from the unpopular Empire State leader. Suozzi’s campaign told The Post that the five-term Long Island congressman was “fully booked,” and couldn’t make the “Nassau County Young Democrats’ Bus Tour and Canvass Launch.” “Congressman Suozzi’s schedule is set weeks in advance and he is fully booked all weekend,” a spokesperson for the Nassau County pol said Friday. The cold-shoulder comes after two other Democratic candidates in high-profile...

The Democratic candidate running against Republican Rep. Mike Lawler shockingly threw Gov. Kathy Hochul under the bus — telling a crowd she agreed with her opponent that the governor “has got to go.” Cait Conley delivered the jaw-dropping burn this week, becoming the second Democratic congressional candidate to publicly distance themselves from Hochul ahead of next month’s midterms. The stunning moment came after Lawler, the incumbent congressman repping New York’s 17th House District, railed againstt New York’s business climate — citing the highest in the nation taxes, congestion pricing and red rape — during a Putnam County VFW forum Tuesday...

On Tuesday, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) faced her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, in the only debate of the New York governor's race. Spectrum News hosted the event for what many consider a toss-up race. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Bruce Blakeman are nearly neck-and-neck as they head into the gubernatorial election’s only debate Tuesday, a stunning new poll found.Democrat Hochul leads the Republican Nassau executive 47% to 44%, a Pollfinity survey released Tuesday found.The poll found about 6% of voters were undecided, while another 3% planned to cast their ballots for others.It went as expected. Blakeman came...

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman vowed Tuesday to end New York’s sanctuary state policies on his first day in office — as Rep. Mike Lawler unleashed a profanity-laced attack on Gov. Kathy Hochul. The Republicans gathered in Chappaqua alongside the family of Sheridan Gorman — the 18-year-old Loyola University student gunned down by an illegal migrant — to demand law enforcement cooperation with ICE after two previously deported men were arrested in separate Hudson Valley cases. “The insanity is over, we’re putting New Yorkers first,” Blakeman declared. “On January 1st, as governor, I will sign an executive order, New York...

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been appointed as special prosecutor in the Cornell University sexual assault investigation, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday, following increasing scrutiny and uproar over how university police and the local district attorney’s office handled the matter two years ago. Hochul said in a statement that “newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation,” which has in turn “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith.” She said James, who has been attorney general since 2019, will take over the case of a former Cornell University student who alleged in a lawsuit last...

Nearly 200,000 people paid to care for disabled loved ones through Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $11 billion Medicaid-funded homecare program will hold a vote on whether to unionize — a move that could mean higher costs for taxpayers. The politically influential 1199 SEIU union would also grow in sway and net a big payday from the new members’ membership dues from those paid through the terminally troubled Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP. The union vote would massively boost SEIU’s 450,000 member ranks in what would be the largest union vote in history, according to the organization. Critics fear unionization...

Energy groups are pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to restart Indian Point’s dormant nuclear reactors as part of a new ad blitz for “Climate Week.” The Democratic governor’s face will appear on a billboard on a truck alongside the message “open up Indian Point, or the heat goes out and the light goes out.” Westchester County’s Indian Point was closed in 2021 under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo after years of pressure from anti-nuke activists and politicians who worried that its location just 40 miles out of Midtown would mean disaster in the case of a meltdown. But Hochul is leading an...

ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul is exploring building a new 3,000-bed state prison — the largest in New York — in a baffling reverse-of-course after shuttering numerous correctional facilities. The state Corrections Department is seeking proposals to construct the massive proposed $750 million facility somewhere in the state, according to stunning documents released this week and obtained by The Post. “The proposed facility will include approximately 3,000 beds, multiple new housing and support buildings, security systems, and significant site and utility infrastructure improvements,” the documents said. As to where the new prison might be located, the documents only said it...

The families of 9/11 victims opposed to Zohran Mamdani’s attendance at the 25th anniversary memorial have received celebrity support. Banging his gavel in the name of respect for the 2,977 lives lost on September 11, 2001, Adam Levy, son of world-renowned Judge Judith “Judy” Sheindlin, and star jurist of forthcoming CBS series “Adam’s Law,” is unabashedly backing the throng of protestors who’ve called for Mamdani’s exclusion from this year’s annual remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero, Friday, at 8:46 a.m. “Don’t show up at this memorial when you’ve supported radical Islam in the past,” Levy raged to The Post about Hizzoner....

Republican Bruce Blakeman could pull off a stunning upset in New York’s closely watched governor’s race — with the conservative challenger just four points behind Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in a new poll. Hochul only leads the underdog and current Nassau County executive 49.6% to 45.7% among likely voters, according to the survey conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for the Blakeman campaign. The remaining 4.7% of likely voters are undecided, the poll, based on interviews with 800 likely voters from Aug. 27-31, shows. The nail-bitingly close results reflect growing dissatisfaction with Hochul’s ability to lead the Empire State. More...

NEW YORK, NY — Governor Kathy Hochul desperately tried to warn New Yorkers that Republicans were taking away women's rights, but no one in the room could hear her because her mouth was covered by a hijab. With the hijab making Hochul's voice sound like the muffled groans of the teacher from Charlie Brown cartoons, New Yorkers remained tragically ignorant of the threat that Republicans pose to women's freedom. "Bwahh-bwahhh. Gllll. Merrrr," said Hochul, waving her arms frantically. Attendees and members of the media were bewildered. "Huh. Wonder what she's saying under there," said local man Hamza Malik. "Seems like...

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday complained President Donald Trump has failed to fulfill an 11-month-old promise to restore millions in federal funding to New York’s homeland security operations. Trump said on Truth Social last year he had reversed cuts that took New York’s federal counterterrorism budget from $287 million down to $30 million, but Hochul said Tuesday New York was still $87 million short. “Shame on you for withholding this money, not delivering it to me right now, 10 days before we honor those lives that were lost on 9/11,” Hochul said during a news conference...

Conservatives slammed Gov. Kathy Hochul for wearing a headscarf during a visit to an Islamic center in New York City over the weekend. The Democratic governor wore a charcoal gray suit and a black scarf mirroring those many Muslim women don to symbolize modesty and their religious faith, according to a clip of the appearance at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York in Queens. Hochul addressed the congregants during the weekly Friday Jummah prayer service, giving a shout out to “his excellency” Tareq Albanai — the United Nation’s permanent representative for Kuwait — thanking him for welcoming her to...

Drive from Buffalo into Genesee County and you will pass fields that have grown corn and soybeans for generations. Soon, thousands of those acres will be covered by steel and glass. New York state is forcing industrial-scale solar plants onto rural communities that never asked for them, and the people who live there are discovering just how little their voice counts when a governor decides differently. The Mandate Behind The Mess.. New York is tearing up rural communities, wiping out wildlife sanctuaries, and burying prime agricultural soil under solar installation in the name of green energy. The root of this...

New York Democrats have driven one of the state’s major donors into the arms of Republicans... billionaire James Dolan, owner of the NBA champion New York Knicks, has spearheaded an effort to pour millions of dollars into Republican Bruce Blakeman’s gubernatorial campaign. In 2022, Dolan backed Blakeman’s opponent, Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul. Now, in conjunction with his company and with family members, Dolan has given so much money to pro-Blakeman committees and super PACs that he stands as New York state’s single largest GOP donor. New York Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar offered one explanation for the billionaire’s apparent shift....

Voters Say Hochul Better on Increasing Affordable Housing By 16 Points & Making Prices More Affordable by 7 Points; She Narrowly Leads on Keeping NYers Safe, Developing NY’s Energy Future & Addressing Undocumented Immigrants Living in NY On Each of 4 Character Traits, Blakeman’s Net Score Beats Hochul’s Net Score: ‘Tough,’ ‘In Touch with Average NYers,’ ‘Honest,’ and ‘Gets Things Done’ NYS Attorney General: James 54% – Komatireddy 36% State Comptroller: DiNapoli 56% – Hernandez 32% Congressional Generic Ballot: Democrat 54% – Republican 38% Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul leads Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman 49-39%, according to a new...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman told Democrats to get over it after party leaders filed a complaint against him for a series of AI campaign ads. Blakeman said he’d continue to use artificial intelligence ads despite a complaint to the Board of Elections from state Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs that accused the GOP candidate of violating state law by not disclosing the use of the tech in some of the ads. “Everybody knows it’s AI, and it’s funny — so what’s your problem? Get a life,” Blakeman, who is currently serving as Nassau County executive, said during a campaign...