NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Democrats dealt Republicans a series of bruising defeats in New York, scoring a landslide victory at the top of the ticket while flipping a marquee House seat and making deep inroads into some of the state’s most reliably conservative territory.
Governor Kathy Hochul cruised to reelection by a double-digit margin, outperforming her six-point victory from 2022, while Democrat Cait Conley ousted Republican Representative Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley. The party also won the attorney general’s race and was positioned to add seats in the state legislature.
Even where Republicans appeared poised to hold on, Democrats pushed them to the brink. Races in New York’s 1st Congressional District on Long Island and the 21st District in the North Country were each separated by about two points early Wednesday, according to preliminary counts. Two years ago, Republicans won both districts by double digits.
The victories marked a reversal from 2024, when Trump made striking gains across the state, particularly in New York City and its suburbs. The tide turned sharply, however, as Trump’s popularity sank and voters turned on his party amid rising prices and concerns over immigration enforcement.
“Just a few weeks ago Donald Trump came to New York and told voters to pretend that he was on the ballot,” Hochul said in her victory speech. “Well, Mr. President, you got your wish.”
The New York results on Tuesday were part of a broader Democratic resurgence that cost Republicans their House and Senate majorities. Democrats flipped Republican strongholds around the country, from Senate seats in Texas and Kansas to a Kentucky House seat that Trump carried by 15 points in 2024. The party also won gubernatorial races in Texas, Georgia and Iowa.
The gains extended into states neighboring New York. Rebecca Bennett ousted two-term Republican Representative Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th District and Democrats flipped seats in Pennsylvania.
The national sweep puts two New Yorkers in position to lead the Democratic majorities in Congress. Chuck Schumer is expected to remain the party’s Senate leader, while Hakeem Jeffries is poised to take the Speaker’s gavel in the House.
“By and large the national blue wave washed out a lot of New York officials” from the GOP, said Larry Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. “Republicans are pretty much back to where they started in terms of making progress statewide.”
Republicans haven’t won statewide in New York since Governor George Pataki secured a third term in 2002. The party’s last sustained period of dominance stretched from the 1990s into the early 2000s, when Pataki occupied the governor’s mansion, Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York City and Alfonse D’Amato represented the state in the US Senate.
In 2024, Trump won 30% of New York City and 43% of New York State, the largest share for a Republican presidential candidate in decades.
This year, Democrats capitalized on Trump’s slumping approval ratings. In the Hudson Valley, Conley emerged victorious in one of the most fiercely contested House races in the country. Lawler had built a national profile as a Republican capable of winning in politically divided suburbs and won reelection by more than six percentage points in 2024, even as Kamala Harris narrowly carried his district.
On Long Island, Democrats came close to pulling off two major upsets. Christopher Gallant nearly ousted Republican Nick LaLota in the 1st District, while Patrick Halpin came close to defeating Republican Representative Andrew Garbarino in the 2nd, according to preliminary results.
Either result would have marked a striking breakthrough in a region that has become central to the GOP’s strength in New York. Both Republicans had won their previous two elections by double-digit margins.
In the North Country, Democrat Blake Gendebien mounted an unexpectedly competitive challenge in the 21st District, territory that would ordinarily have given Republicans little cause for concern. He was trailing Republican Anthony Constantino by about two percentage points early Wednesday with more than 80% of votes counted.
Trump carried the district with about 60% of the vote in 2024, and Republican Elise Stefanik had held the seat comfortably for 12 years.
Republican Nicole Malliotakis held on to her seat in New York’s 11th district, which represents Staten Island and a slice of southwestern Brooklyn. The Supreme Court had halted an attempt to redraw her district earlier this year amid a wave of redistricting nationwide.
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