Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a prominent ally of President Donald Trump, would narrowly defeat incumbent New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) in a potential head-to-head matchup, according to a new poll from the conservative Manhattan Institute.
The survey shows Stefanik leading Hochul by one point, 43% to 42%, among registered voters. The same poll found Stefanik with a wider lead — 43% to 37% — over Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who is challenging Hochul in the Democratic primary.
An internal poll released earlier this month by a political action committee aligned with Stefanik showed a tighter race, with Hochul leading 48% to 43%. However, that poll also indicated that Stefanik would edge out Hochul, 46.4% to 45.9%, if voters were informed that the governor had endorsed Zohran Mamdani, the progressive frontrunner in this year’s New York City mayoral race.
To be sure, this is nothing short of a political nightmare for Democrats – who, by the way, are in danger of losing the governor’s race in neighboring blue New Jersey too, by the way.
Stefanik is widely expected to enter the New York gubernatorial race but has not yet formally launched a campaign. In response to the Manhattan Institute poll, her congressional campaign issued the following statement:
In a heavily Democrat leaning state, an independent poll that is heavily weighted towards registered Democrat voters shows Republican Elise Stefanik leading Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul in a head to head match up.
This marks the first time in decades that any potential Republican gubernatorial candidate (and in this case, the likely nominee) is polling ahead of a Democrat incumbent Governor, even before any official announcement.
In a decision that she will come to regret, Kathy Hochul lives up to her title as the Worst Governor in America when she chose to bend the knee and put New Yorkers LAST by desperately endorsing the Defund the Police, tax hiking, raging Antisemite Socialist Zohran Mamdani who will destroy New York.
Kathy Hochul and single party Democrat rule have failed New York making it the most unaffordable state in the country with the highest taxes, energy, utility, rent, and grocery bills making it unaffordable to raise a family, work, and start a business.
New Yorkers of all political parties are hungry for new commonsense leadership after decades of Hochul’s failed single party Democrat rule.
Elise Stefanik and the people of New York can and will win this righteous fight to Save New York.
This is happening in the age of MAGA, the age of Donald Trump – and the full-on left-wing meltdown shift currently being embraced by the ‘rising stars’ of the worst political party in the history of our country: Democrats.