Trump, Mamdani front-and-center in Empire State battle between Hochul, Stefanik
President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani are not on the ballot next year, but they are smack in the political spotlight in New York State's 2026...
By Fox News · Fox News
President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani are not on the ballot next year, but they are smack in the political spotlight in New York State's 2026 race for governor. Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, in her first interview after declaring her candidacy for governor on Friday, linked Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to Mamdani , the 34-year-old socialist state lawmaker who won election on Tuesday as New York City mayor. "Kathy Hochul endorsed him and bent the knee," Stefanik charged in an appearance on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," as she pointed to Mamdani, who she claimed is "a raging anti-Semite, pro-Hamas communist who wants to raise taxes." Firing back, Hochul's campaign branded Stefanik "Sellout Stefanik" in a new social media account and in a new video, as it aimed to anchor the GOP challenger to Trump. FIERCE TRUMP HOUSE ALLY JUMPS INTO EMPIRE STATE GUBERNATORIAL SHOWDOWN "Sellout Stefanik is Donald Trump’s number one cheerleader in Congress and his right-hand woman in his war on New York: gutting healthcare, jacking up costs with expensive tariffs, and cutting funding for our police, schools, and hospitals," Hochul Campaign Communications Director Sarafina Chitika argued in a statement. And Chitika claimed Stefanik "is trying to bring Trump’s chaos and skyrocketing costs to our state. While Stefanik puts Trump first and New York last." Politics is larger and louder in New York , the nation's fourth-most-populous state, and that's definitely the case in what's expected to be a competitive and combustible battle for Empire State governor. SOCIALIST SHOCKWAVE: ZOHRAN MAMDANI STUNS NYC AS VOTERS HAND POWER TO DEMOCRATS’ FAR-LEFT FLANK "There's a lot of dynamics at work here. You have Donald Trump. You have the Mamdani factor," Lee Miringoff, director of the New York-based Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, told Fox News Digital. Republicans have been working to make Mamdani — whose June Democratic mayoral primary victory over forme…