Table's set for Election Day, New York's gubernatorial showdown

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Tuesday is Election Day, and residents from across the region, state and country will take to the polls to cast their ballots in a number of key races for political office.

Local party leaders have done all they can to prepare voters for Tuesday and ensure their voices are being heard with their ballots.

"This is New York, we know that. This is New York, this is Erie County. We have an enrollment advantage we've got to fight back on," said Erie County Republican chairman Michael Kracker during a rally Monday in Cheektowaga. "We've got to make sure that there's energy, and I certainly think whether it's today here at this rally or the last several months, energy is how I would define this campaign."

"We've had several different rallies and campaign events this weekend to help get out the vote here, and we've worked really hard. We feel like the results from early voting were very strong, Democratic-leaning and kind of a historic off-cycle midterm turnout here for early voting," said Erie County Democratic chairman Jeremy Zellner with WBEN. "Looks like we had almost 100,000 people take part, and we feel really good about the folks that came out that they were making their voice heard for Democrats."

Zellner adds people are making their voices heard in a polarizing time across the nation, and they've had enough of how things are playing out in Washington.

"I think Donald Trump has really pushed this country to the brink," Zellner said. "I think what he's doing with giving billionaires tax cuts and putting it on the backs of middle-class families and working people has really pushed people to the brink, and has sent them to the polls to make their voice heard. You're seeing it all over the country, people are are voting for Democrats. I think we're going to have a very big night tomorrow."

The most highlighted political race this November has been the New York gubernatorial race between incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

At Monday's GOP rally, Blakeman was in attendance as part of his final push across New York for the Governor's Office in Albany. He, along with Kracker feel Erie County can play a pivotal role in this year's gubernatorial race.

"I think it's evidence that Bruce knows how important Western New York is to his success in the campaign, but also how important Western New York is to our state," Kracker said. "Kathy Hochul spent her day [Sunday] with 'AOC' [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani in Astoria during a Bills game. Bruce Blakeman came right here to Bills country to help get out the vote, and tell Western New York he cares about the issues that matter to them, he's got solutions to the problems that are facing our state. And we believe if we deliver Erie County, we can deliver New York State for Bruce Blakeman."

Kracker feels Western New Yorkers feel forgetten to Hochul, and residents locally have had enough.

"Think about where she's gone to where she is. This was a conservative Democrat on the Hamburg Town Board. She stood up to Eliot Spitzer when he wanted to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. She opposed things like congestion tolls on the 190. Now she supports driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, she's changed her position on the Second Amendment, she's imposed congestion tolls on New York City. She wants to ban natural gas to heat our homes - during the Buffalo Blizzard, it was natural gas that protected a lot of people who might have otherwise perished in that blizzard. So to have a governor from Buffalo talk about something so insane as to preventing people from heating their homes with natural gas or burning wood in their home fireplaces is, frankly, insane," Kracker said.

As for Zellner, he feels that narrative from the county Republicans is preposterous.

"Kathy Hochul bleeds Western New York and Erie County. They know that," Zellner said. "She's the person who went out and saved the Buffalo Bills from leaving our community. She's the person that came out and is getting historic investments in Erie County in our region. She just came here last week to tout all the new resources that she's getting for the Town of Amherst and so forth. They know that. They're just grasping at straws."

So who is this gubernatorial election is a referendum on? Hochul or Trump?

To Kracker, it's Hochul who's on the ballot in New York State, not President Trump.

"She may try to put him on the ballot through her rhetoric, but I think that's a distraction from her failings as governor," Kracker stated. "She wants everybody talking about Washington because she's afraid to talk about New York, and I think that's why she's going to have problems on Election Day. You're seeing a national shift, no doubt, in the direction of the Democrats, but that's not resurrecting itself or materializing here in New York, because voters here in New York know how bad Kathy Hochul is."

Meanwhile, Zellner feels all the elections this year are a referendum on the president.

"You see that with every midterm election. But I think Donald Trump has been one of our biggest assets as a Democratic leader, because he's going around and he's not even lying anymore. He's telling people we should make sure we continue this economy for the billionaires so all the gas executives can make trillions of dollars when people can't even pay their health care," Zellner added.

What is the final message for those who have yet to cast their ballots, or those Independents that may be still on the fence in this gubernatorial race?

"If you're happy with the direction of our state, vote for Hochul. Who is, right? Who isn't feeling that costs are going up? That crime is going up? That cars are getting stolen out of your driveway? That's Kathy Hochul's responsibility," Kracker pleaded. "She can point the blame at Washington, but New York State is an outlier in the cost crisis. That's because of the policies of Kathy Hochul. So what do you have to lose? Let's change the direction of the state."

"I think they just need to go in and keep their eyes open," Zellner contested. "Anyone who sees what's going on in this country right now should be outraged. The amount of corruption at the top level, I think they need to go and make their voices heard."

Polls in Erie County on Election Day will open at 6 a.m. and remain open until 9 p.m.