Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign is crediting her reelection victory to a strategy that paired affordability messaging with attacks on Republican Bruce Blakeman’s ties to President Donald Trump and cooperation across the Democratic Party.
Campaign communications director Sarafina Chitika laid out that argument in a Sunday op-ed in Empire Report. Her account offers the campaign’s assessment of how Hochul expanded her support after a close race in 2022, along with a prescription for Democrats navigating disagreements between moderates and the party’s left.
Chitika described a 20-point win over Blakeman, a victory margin three times larger than Hochul’s previous one and what she called a record vote total for a New York governor. She also credited Hochul with improving her margins in key congressional districts, New York City and Blakeman’s home region of Long Island, and helping Democrats expand their state Senate majority.
Defining the opposition early
Chitika wrote that Hochul faced a difficult political environment when she joined the campaign a year and a half ago. Voter frustration with incumbents and the governor’s narrow 2022 margin had encouraged potential challengers, including Mike Lawler, Elise Stefanik, Blakeman and Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
The campaign responded with attacks on Republican rivals and an effort to unite Democrats around affordability. Once Blakeman became the remaining opponent, Chitika said, the goal was to establish his connection to Trump before he could introduce himself to voters as a suburban moderate.
That approach included rapid responses to his statements, advertising and surrogates across the state. Chitika described ads challenging his positions on Medicaid, immigration enforcement and Hochul’s data center moratorium. One campaign production used a puppeteer to portray Blakeman as controlled by Trump.
Chitika also credited organizing outside paid advertising. She wrote that Hochul invested in rebuilding the state Democratic Party’s organizing operation, started knocking on voters’ doors earlier and sent mail in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Mandarin.
A case for cooperation across the party
The op-ed argues that Hochul maintained a moderate identity without making conflict with progressive Democrats a defining part of her campaign. Chitika pointed to Hochul’s opposition to income tax increases and support for policing investment as examples of positions she held while seeking support across the party.
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She also highlighted the governor’s school cellphone ban, defense of congestion pricing against Trump, opposition to federal immigration enforcement practices and support for a statewide data center moratorium. Chitika presented those policies as examples of a willingness to take forceful positions rather than avoid contentious issues.
Hochul’s endorsement of Zohran Mamdani after the Democratic mayoral primary figured prominently in that argument. Chitika cited the governor’s appearance with Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an example of partnering with the party’s left while retaining her own political identity.
Her broader recommendation was for Democrats to emphasize shared priorities such as affordability, health care, child care and money in families’ pockets. She argued that Democrats elected in states including New York, California, Texas and Ohio will need to work together despite ideological differences. The op-ed presents that approach as a lesson from Hochul’s campaign rather than announcing a new governing initiative.
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