Key Trump ally jumps into New York governor's race days after shocking Mamdani mayoral victory

By Fox News · Fox News

Rep. Elise Stefanik will officially launch her long-anticipated campaign for New York governor on Friday, entering the 2026 race as a Republican challenger to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, multiple sources confirmed to Fox News on Thursday. Stefanik, a top House Republican and one of former President Donald Trump's closest allies, represents a conservative-leaning district in upstate New York and has been weighing a gubernatorial run for months. "It will be very, very soon and people are very excited," Stefanik said Thursday in an interview on Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum." "There’s been an outpouring of support from Republicans, Democrats, independents, all across our great state," Stefanik touted. "Many Democrats who previously supported Kathy Hochul are lining up in support." STEFANIK WRITING NEW BOOK AMID GUBERNATORIAL RUN BUZZ Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership , for months has repeatedly charged that Hochul is "the worst governor in America." And Stefanik has blasted Hochul over the governor's endorsement earlier this autumn of Zohran Mamdani, who this week was elected mayor of New York City. REPUBLICANS AIM TO LINK VULERNABLE DEMOCRATS TO MAMDANI "People are looking for strong, commonsense leadership to be a check on this radical insanity that we’re seeing play out in New York City with Zohran Mamdani as a tax-hiking, defund the police, antisemite socialist," Stefanik said in her Fox News interview, again linking Hochul to the progressive mayor-elect. Stefanik, who once criticized Trump, has since become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress. After Trump’s White House victory last year, he briefly considered naming Stefanik U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but ultimately backed off amid concerns that her departure would shrink the GOP’s razor-thin House majority. It has been more than two decades since a Republican last won a New York gubernatorial race. The last was former Gov. George Pataki’s re-election in 2002…