Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As with all political wins in history, there's a lot of strategy that propelled New York Governor Kathy Hochul to reelection over fierce Republican challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin in Election 2022.
Democratic strategist Ken Kruly of politicsandstuff.com and Republican Lynne Dixon, a former Erie County Legislator and County Executive candidate, spent election night in studio on WBEN and say there were a number of factors that played a role. The economy, abortion and the Zeldin connection to former President Donald Trump are among them, both say.
Kruly says Hochul had an advantage in enrollment, but also worked hard. "She worked very aggressively. She had to run the state while she was running the campaign," says Kruly. "I attribute a lot of this to her personally, she's worked her tail off from the minute that she became governor. And she deserves a lot of credit for for the sticktoitiveness that she applied to this whole thing."
Dixon agrees. "She is a retail politician, she definitely gets out there in the public, and she mixes and mingles and speaks with the voters and has walked the beat," notes Dixon. Dixon adds Hochul brought in heavy hitters late in the campaign. Also helping is the 3.3 million voter advantage for Democrats, which Dixon says allows Hochul to get news coverage and raise her profile.
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Dixon says the Republicans need to take a look in the mirror. "How can we win some of these race? In order to get more successes going forward, they're going to have to reassess how they approach things and how they're able to raise money and how they are able to message and what is that message?" asks Dixon. She says Zeldin was a good candidate and worked hard, but there were issues like the economy and crime, but the Roe vs. Wade decision may have hampered his chances. "I think that hurt the Republican Party because the suburban mom, for example, who maybe was inclined to vote for a Republican this time because of the crime issue and because of the economy and how tough things are, and then that came up and and then that suburban mom that was going to go with the Republican maybe then decided to stay home with the Democrat Party because of that issue," says Dixon.
Kruly believes Zeldin's association with Donald Trump hurt him as well. "Donald Trump is highly unpopular in New York State. And Zeldin didn't do much to pull himself away from that. So and plus he had a track record of voting to not certify the election. So that that had an impact," he says.
Dixon believes the biggest issue was the economy. "44% of voters said that the economy was their number one issue. So you think about just how are you going to pay your utility bills? How are you going to pay for the groceries? How are you going to feed your family? And again, it's, it's, it's the quality of life stuff. What are you worried about, you're worried about how you're going to afford to feed your family and pay your bills," explains Dixon. Kruly agrees. "There's the Federal Reserve, there are other things that control those problems, and they're beyond anything that could be done, there's no member of Congress is going to have anything to do with bringing down inflation, because they can't, and there's limits to what elected officials can do. But if you happen to be in office, at the time, when we are in the situation, we're in with inflation and so forth, you're gonna pay a price if you're the incumbent," he adds.
Hochul becomes the first elected governor from Buffalo since Grover Cleveland in 1882.