GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik announces 2026 run for New York governor, aiming to challenge NY Gov. Hochul

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

76% : My message to Trump’s 'top ally' — bring it on."New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a news conference, Feb. 20, 2025, in New York.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP, FILEAfter Tuesday's election victories for Democrats, a spokesperson for the New York State Democratic Party said New Yorkers will reject Stefanik, who was briefly nominated for a position as United Nations ambassador by Trump earlier this year."Voters in New York and across the country rejected Trump and his enablers earlier this week, and Stefanik will face the same fate when she launches her campaign to put Trump ahead of New Yorkers," Addison Dick wrote in a statement.Press releases from Stefanik’s campaign on Friday released after the announcement said that Stefanik has already netted endorsements from more than half of New York’s Republican county chairs and from the chair of the New York Republican Party."There will not be a Republican primary and a year from now, Elise will lead our team to victory over Kathy Hochul, end one-party Democrat rule, and make New York affordable again," New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox wrote in a statement.The upstate New York congresswoman, a onetime staffer for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign who helped former House Speaker Paul Ryan prepare for his vice presidential debate, gained prominence in the MAGA movement during the first Trump administration as a vocal defender of the president on the House Intelligence Committee during Democrats' first impeachment inquiry in 2019.
66% : Elise Stefanik, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, testifies during her Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building, Jan. 21, 2025.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images“I am running for Governor to bring a new generation of leadership to Albany to make New York affordable and safe for families all across our great state," Stefanik wrote.
37% : "Our campaign will unify Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to Fire Kathy Hochul once and for all to Save New York."An announcement video Stefanik posted on Friday focused on a similar message, with the video’s narrator largely pinning affordability issues and other key concerns on Hochul.The video does not mention President Donald Trump.President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office of the White House during an event about drug prices, Nov. 6, 2025.Aaron Schwartz/EPA/ShutterstockBut Hochul and the New York State Democratic Party are pointing to her close relationship with Trump as a detriment.
35% : Under Kathy Hochul's failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery prices crushing hardworking families," Stefanik wrote.Rep.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.