Four more years — but with few details about what comes next.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has conspicuously avoided presenting a detailed agenda for what she hopes to accomplish during a second full term.
Her campaign website highlights her record and accomplishments from her first full four-year term, but offers little in the way of a policy roadmap or broader vision for the next four years.
It contains no specific proposals on taxes and spending, economic development, public safety, education or welfare programs.
Hochul is now also sidestepping questions about whether she supports tax increases as she tries to balance an appeal to moderates with the demands of the Democratic Party’s left flank.
Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani remains popular among a largely younger coalition of left-leaning voters energized by an anti-capitalist message centered on taxing the wealthy.
Hochul has aligned herself with Mamdani, seeking to tap into his supporters’ enthusiasm even as there are signs they have not abandoned their push for higher taxes after the governor gave Hizzoner a new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes in the five boroughs.
During her only debate with Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman on NY1/Spectrum News last month, Hochul gave a brief “no” when asked whether she would raise income taxes.
Yet in recent weeks, Hochul, 68, has been less direct when questioned about her tax plans.
Critics say her lack of specifics is particularly notable as she campaigns alongside Mamdani, while allies of the Democratic Socialists of America continue pressing for increased taxes to advance their socialist agenda.
“Hochul doesn’t have an agenda because Mamdani is writing one for her,” Blakeman, 71, said Sunday.
“He’ll call the shots, and Hochul will pick up the pen to deliver higher property taxes, higher income taxes, an inheritance tax, more businesses fleeing and more prisons closing,” said Blakeman, who serves as Nassau County executive.
Blakeman has outlined several proposals of his own, including a sweeping income-tax reduction plan that would eliminate taxes on the first $50,000 earned by single filers and the first $100,000 earned by married couples.
“Hochul knows what the agenda will be going forward,” GOP strategist Bill O’Reilly said. “She’s taking directions from Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America. She’s waiting for direction from the DSA.”
State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar said the governor has “kicked the can down the road” on explaining her positions on taxes and green-energy mandates, which she moved to delay during an election year.
“Hochul has a status quo agenda, an awful agenda,” Kassar said.
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Hochul, a former lieutenant governor, assumed office after Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August 2021 amid sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies.
She was elected to her first full term in 2022.
When Cuomo sought reelection to a second term in 2014, he released a detailed, more than 200-page policy book titled “Moving the New York Forward.”
When Cuomo ran for a third term in 2018, his campaign website featured an extensive list of accomplishments from the previous four years, but provided few details about his plans for the next term.
The Hochul campaign supplied comments the governor made during a press gaggle last week as evidence that she has an active agenda for a second term.
“We’ve launched so many ambitious initiatives. When you’re trying to do work that should have been done decades ago — whether it’s investing in transformational infrastructure projects like the Interborough Express, connecting Queens and Brooklyn — that’s going to take some time. Reinvesting in the subway system to make it even better and more efficient than it is today,” Hochul said.
“All the way up to bringing in more businesses like Micron, the largest private-sector investment in American history, with 50,000 jobs. I want to build a whole ecosystem, not just one company, but also create a Silicon Valley for semiconductor manufacturing. That takes time as we continue attracting more businesses, particularly to upstate New York.”
She also said she would update New York’s energy plan using an “all-of-the-above approach” that includes reviving nuclear power, a process that “takes years to do.”
“As soon as this election is over, I’ll be reaching out to the Trump administration again, saying, ‘The politics is over now. Would you please give us the authorization to move forward on nuclear?’”
Hochul said she would continue expanding universal child care, a goal that “can’t happen in a year or two.”
“That takes time to build out the infrastructure for that: the locations, the personnel we need to staff them, as well as making sure that we have the resources. So, we’re going to continue on.”
She also said she wants to build “housing all over.”
“So that’s a lot, isn’t it? I’m excited about it. We’ve come a long way. We’ve made real progress in helping people with the affordability crisis and helping families who are struggling. But I’m excited about the next four years if the voters give me that opportunity.”
On her campaign website, Hochul lists four categories of accomplishments, including a section titled “standing up to Trump.” She touts approving a law to “hold ICE agents accountable” and suing Trump over tariffs.
She also highlights her legislative effort to reduce auto-insurance costs, inflation and utility rebate checks, a ban on cellphones in schools, the expansion of universal pre-K and child care, and funding to increase patrols in the subway system.
