Elise Stefanik Slams “Worst Governor in America” Hochul Over Mamdani Endorsement, Says Democrats Are ‘Begging to Fire Her’

By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

In what may be a preview of New York’s next major political showdown, Rep. Elise Stefanik blasted Gov. Kathy Hochul this week for what she called “the most catastrophic political miscalculation of her career” — the governor’s endorsement of radical socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral race. Speaking exclusively to The New York Post on Saturday, Stefanik described Hochul’s decision as “a betrayal of every law-abiding New Yorker” and said that the backlash brewing inside her own party has left the governor “politically finished.”

“Democrats are reaching out to us in droves,” Stefanik told The New York Post, claiming even long-time party loyalists have grown fed up with Hochul’s leadership. “They will refuse to support Kathy, and they look forward to firing her next year.”

The upstate Republican lawmaker — a close ally of President Trump and widely seen as the GOP’s most formidable potential challenger to Hochul in 2026 — did not mince words. “Kathy Hochul bent the knee to a raging antisemite and ‘Defund the Police’ communist who’s going to destroy New York City,” Stefanik said of Mamdani, who has surged in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s mayoral election. “She owns this lock, stock, and barrel. It is catastrophic for the people of New York.”

Hochul’s controversial endorsement of Mamdani last month sent shockwaves through the Democratic establishment. As The New York Post reported, the decision was made under intense pressure from the party’s far-left wing, which has increasingly dictated the tone of New York politics in recent years.

The governor’s calculus, insiders told The Post, was simple — she wanted to avoid a bruising primary challenge next year from her estranged lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, and believed endorsing Mamdani could win her goodwill among the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) faction dominating city politics.

But the political fallout has been brutal. Stefanik, who branded Hochul the “worst governor in America,” said the endorsement was “the final straw” for centrist Democrats and independents alike. “She’s disliked not just by Republicans and independents,” Stefanik told The New York Post, “but by Democrats, and even the socialists who heckled her off the stage chanting, ‘Tax the rich.’”

Indeed, video captured last week at a Mamdani rally in Queens — where Hochul attempted to stump for the candidate but was shouted down by left-wing activists — went viral across social media. The chaotic scene, The Post reported, left Hochul visibly shaken as protesters drowned out her remarks, forcing her to leave the stage early.

“It’s humiliating,” Stefanik said. “She’s trying to appease the far-left radicals who despise her, and at the same time she’s alienating the hardworking New Yorkers who just want safety, affordability, and common sense. She’s failing everyone.”

Stefanik said that if Mamdani — whom she called “a silver-spoon socialist who’s never met a tax hike he didn’t love” — wins the mayoralty on Tuesday, it could ironically benefit Republicans across the state and even nationwide.

“It’s a full-blown socialist takeover of the Democrat Party playing out for all to see in the most important city in the world,” Stefanik told The New York Post. “And it’s going to be a significant drag on Democrat candidates up and down the ballot.”

She pointed to the refusal of State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs to endorse Mamdani as evidence of the widening rift. “Even Hochul’s own state party chair wouldn’t touch him,” Stefanik said. “You’ve got members of Congress who are Democrats refusing to endorse him because it’s existential — they know this movement could cost them their seats.”

The fracture within Democratic ranks has also revived speculation about a potential comeback by Andrew Cuomo, who has been running for mayor as an independent after losing the Democratic nomination to Mamdani in June. As The New York Post noted, Cuomo’s campaign has drawn quiet support from centrist Democrats and independents wary of the socialist tide sweeping city politics.

While Hochul has attempted to frame her endorsement as an act of unity — claiming in statements that she “deeply respects the will of Democratic primary voters” — the backlash has been fierce. Critics within her own party have accused her of abandoning moderates and cozying up to anti-Israel and anti-police elements for political gain.

Stefanik seized on those accusations, telling The New York Post that Hochul’s alliance with Mamdani — who has been rightly accused of antisemitic rhetoric and of supporting anti-Israel resolutions — is “a betrayal of the Jewish community” and “a moral stain on the governor’s record.”

“She backed an Israel-hating, anti-cop socialist,” Stefanik said. “New Yorkers aren’t going to forget that.”

The Republican firebrand also argued that Hochul’s policies have left New York “more dangerous, more unaffordable, and more unlivable than ever.” She cited the state’s crime surge, high taxes, and population loss as symptoms of “Democratic extremism run amok.”

“She’s the worst governor in America,” Stefanik reiterated in her New York Post interview. “And now she’s cemented that reputation by standing shoulder to shoulder with someone who wants to dismantle the NYPD and turn New York into a socialist experiment.”

For all of Hochul’s efforts to present herself as a stabilizing force, the numbers suggest trouble ahead. A Manhattan Institute poll released this week — and cited in The New York Post report — shows Stefanik narrowly leading Hochul by one percentage point in a hypothetical 2026 gubernatorial matchup.

The same survey found that Hochul’s favorability has collapsed among key voting blocs, including suburban moderates, independents, and working-class voters. Nearly 60 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the governor’s handling of crime, while 65 percent said New York was heading in the wrong direction.

Political analysts told The Post that Hochul’s decision to embrace Mamdani could worsen those trends. “She’s betting her political future on appeasing a radical movement that doesn’t trust her,” one Democratic strategist told the paper. “That’s a losing strategy in every part of the state outside a few DSA strongholds in Brooklyn and Queens.”

Stefanik, meanwhile, has been carefully positioning herself as the voice of “common-sense New York” — a message she believes resonates far beyond her conservative base. Her office confirmed to The New York Post that she intends to make a formal announcement about her 2026 gubernatorial campaign shortly after Tuesday’s election.

“I’m hearing from Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike,” Stefanik said. “They’re all saying the same thing — enough is enough.”

Hochul’s camp has tried to downplay the controversy, dismissing Stefanik’s remarks as partisan theater. State Democratic Party spokesman Addison Dick told The New York Post that the congresswoman is “running from her own record of failure in Congress.”

“While she sells out New Yorkers to Trump,” Dick said, “Gov. Hochul is cutting costs, protecting healthcare, and keeping our communities safe.”

But Stefanik countered that Hochul’s talking points “don’t pass the laugh test.” She accused the governor of presiding over record deficits, skyrocketing utility costs, and “a statewide exodus of families and businesses who can’t survive under her failed leadership.”

“People are voting with their feet,” Stefanik said. “They’re leaving because Kathy Hochul and her far-left cronies have made it impossible to thrive here.”

If the current trajectory holds, Hochul may face not only a resurgent Republican challenger but also an open revolt within her own party. Several Democratic insiders told The New York Post that Hochul’s embrace of Mamdani has emboldened progressive factions while alienating moderates — creating a leadership crisis within the state party.

“She’s trying to play both sides and losing both,” one Democratic county chair told The Post. “The far-left doesn’t believe she’s one of them, and the centrists think she’s surrendered.”

For Stefanik, that internal turmoil is an opening. “We’re watching the implosion of the New York Democratic Party in real time,” she said. “And it all starts with Kathy Hochul’s cowardice.”

As Election Day looms, the stakes could not be higher. A Mamdani victory, as The New York Post has repeatedly warned, would not only reshape New York City politics but also reverberate across the nation, amplifying concerns that the Democratic Party is veering irreversibly toward socialism.

For Hochul, the gamble may prove fatal. For Stefanik, it could be the springboard to the governor’s mansion.

“New Yorkers are ready for change,” Stefanik told The New York Post. “They want safety, sanity, and strength — not socialism.”