Stefanik to launch 2026 New York governor campaign Friday vs Hochul

Rep. Elise Stefanik will officially launch her long-awaited campaign for New York governor on Friday, entering the 2026 race as the 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 considering 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 has been an outpouring of support from Republicans, Democrats and independents, all across our great state,” Stefanik touted. “Many Democrats who previously supported Kathy Hochul are lining up to lend their support.”

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Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York headlines a Staten Island GOP fundraising dinner in New York on June 2, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership, has for months repeatedly accused Hochul of being “the worst governor in America.”

And Stefanik blasted Hochul for the governor’s support earlier this fall of Zohran Mamdani, who this week was elected mayor of New York.

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“People are looking for strong, common-sense leadership to curb this radical madness that we see happening in New York with Zohran Mamdani like a tax hike, defund the police, an anti-Semitic socialist,” Stefanik said in his 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.

Rep. Elise Stefanik with former President Donald Trump, during the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. (Getty Images)

After Trump’s White House victory last year, he briefly considered appointing Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but ultimately backed out, fearing her departure would reduce the Republican Party’s razor-thin majority in the House.

It’s been more than two decades since a Republican won a race for governor of New York. The last date was the re-election of former Governor George Pataki in 2002.

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Hochul, meanwhile, could face a tough re-election fight.

Former lieutenant governor, Hochul took office in 2021 after a Democratic term Andrew Cuomo resigned amid multiple scandals.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is running for re-election in 2026. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)

She defeated then-Rep. Lee Zeldin by just over six points in 2022 to win a full four-year term. But Zeldin’s performance was the best by a Republican gubernatorial candidate since Pataki was re-elected to a third term in 2002.

Meanwhile, Trump, who lost New York by 23 points in the 2020 presidential election, narrowed his deficit by 10 points last November.

Hochul, a moderate Democrat from Buffalo, is facing a primary challenge from New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, in a very rare move by a lieutenant governor to primary challenge an incumbent president.

Stefanik is expected to hammer Hochul as she focuses her campaign on the issue of affordability.

“People are very concerned about affordability and I have a strong reputation for providing services to families,” she noted in her Fox News interview.

And she accused Hochul of making New York “the most unaffordable state in the country. We have the highest taxes, the highest energy prices, the highest utility prices, the highest grocery prices, and rents that continue to skyrocket.”

Democrats scored double-digit victories this week in New Jersey and Virginia, emphasizing affordability as a major issue. Stefanik said these results show that Republicans must offer a clear economic vision.

“You need to have a vision and come up with policies to make your state affordable again,” she said. “We’re going to win the message on affordability because it [Hochul] this record makes it the most unaffordable state in the country. »

But New York State Democratic Party spokesperson Addison Dick accused “Elise Stefanik of endorsing Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda in Washington that raises costs, destroys health care and cuts funding to New York’s schools, hospitals and police.”

And Democratic Governors Association spokesman Kevin Donohoe charged that “from destroying health care to increasing tariffs, Stefanik’s record as Trump’s cheerleader-in-chief could not be more toxic with New York voters.”

Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York seriously considered a run for governor. But Lawler announced in July that he would run for reelection and forgo a run for governor.

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Stefanik, however, has already begun assembling a seasoned campaign team that includes veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who served as chief pollster for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

But Stefanik may not have the Republican nomination to herself.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump ally who won re-election this week, may be considering a run for governor, Republican sources in New York confirmed to Fox News.