Rep. Elise Stefanik is set to launch a 2026 campaign for New York governor, according to three sources with knowledge of her decision.
Her entrance into the race sets the stage for one of President Donald Trump’s top allies in the House of Representatives to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s re-election bid, should Hochul survive a primary challenge. Stefanik is expected to announce her decision to run in a video on Friday, sources who were informed of her plans told Gothamist.
A spokesperson for Stefanik did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
Stefanik, a top-ranking House member who has represented much of northern New York since 2014, will begin her gubernatorial bid after spending months laying the political groundwork, meeting with the state’s GOP leaders and helping them raise funds while making clear she planned to run.
As with any Republican, she faces an uphill battle in deep-blue New York, a state that has twice as many Democrats as Republicans and hasn’t elected a member of the GOP to the governor’s office since George Pataki, who served from 1995 through 2006.
Stefanik’s imminent entry into the race, first reported by Politico and The New York Times, had been expected for months as she worked behind the scenes to tie up support from Republican leaders. Her path to the Republican nomination received a boost in July, when another potential Republican candidate — Rep. Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley — declined to enter the race.
In recent days, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who won re-election on Tuesday, has floated his own name for governor, telling the New York Post he’ll meet with party leaders about a possible run in the coming weeks.
Stefanik would be the first woman to serve as the Republican nominee for New York governor should she win her party’s nod. Hochul was the first woman to serve as the Democratic nominee in 2022.
For much of the year, Stefanik and Hochul had already been treating each other as political opponents, with Stefanik repeatedly branding Hochul as “the worst governor in America” and Hochul retorting with a Trumpian nickname of her own — “Sellout Stefanik.”
In recent weeks, Stefanik has delighted in criticizing Hochul for endorsing New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state Assemblymember who Republicans around the country have been eager to use as a foil in their own races.
“Hochul truly is the worst governor in America and voters across the political spectrum, including even the socialists she bent the knee to, all know that she is truly the worst governor in America,” she said in a statement last month. “New Yorkers will fire Kathy Hochul next year.”
Hochul, in turn, has blamed Stefanik and Republicans for the ongoing federal government shutdown and the pending expiration of federal health care subsidies.
“Voters in New York and across the country rejected Trump and his enablers earlier this week, and Stefanik will face the same fate when she launches her campaign to put Trump ahead of New Yorkers,” Addison Dick, a spokesperson for the state Democratic Party, said in a statement Thursday.
Hochul took office in 2021 following former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation after previously serving as his lieutenant governor. She won her own full term in 2022, defeating Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin by six points — a relatively narrow margin by New York standards.
The incumbent governor is also facing a Democratic primary from Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, whom Hochul first appointed to the role in early 2022. The relationship soon soured, with Delgado expressing frustration with his minimal role in Hochul’s administration. He is now challenging Hochul from her left.
The 2026 primary election is set for June 23, with the general election to follow on Nov. 3.
Jon Campbell
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