Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) released a new digital ad Monday, touting the governor as a Trump fighter and a “mom from Buffalo.”
Hochul was born in Buffalo and spent most of her political career there before becoming part of New York’s executive office.
The New York Democrat is trying to curry support from voters ahead of her 2026 reelection bid. She’s likely to face Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), if the pair make it out of their respective primaries. Stefanik is not mentioned in the ads.
Voters in western and upstate New York largely skew red, but the Hochul campaign is looking to change that.
The ad starts with a look over Buffalo’s frigid landscape before delving into Hochul’s past moments fighting Trump.
“She doesn’t come from money, and she’s not just our governor. She’s a mom from Buffalo, and it doesn’t get much tougher than that,” the ad starts.
It features moments from interviews, her congressional testimony with other state governors, and press conferences.
In one moment, she dares border czar Tom Homan to arrest her over immigration policies, saying he “can’t intimidate a governor.”
In another, Hochul laments what she views as the president’s executive overreach. “New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years. You sure as hell are not going to start now,” the ad concludes.
Hochul highlighted her life experience as a “mom from Buffalo” in a statement. She’s the mother of two children with former U.S. Attorney Bill Hochul.
“Serving as New York’s first mom governor is an honor,” Hochul told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Being a Buffalo mom made me who I am. My parents and community raised me to work hard, serve others, and never back down from a fight. I bring those values to the job every day as I fight for New York families.”
STEFANIK RELEASES AD RIPPING HOCHUL FOR ALLEGED REDISTRICTING HYPOCRISY
The ad will run across Meta’s platforms starting on Monday. The ad is the campaign’s first digital spot of the cycle.
While Hochul’s popularity has grown in recent months, after voters rebelled against her for her delay of congestion pricing and subsequent reinstatement, Stefanik remains in the competitive conversation.
An August Siena Poll showed the governor with a 14-point lead over Stefanik 45% to 31%, with 20% of voters undecided.
Stefanik’s team criticized the governor as “running scared” for releasing an ad trying to “rebrand herself as a tough, moderate ‘Mom.’”
“No amount of desperate rebranding is going to make up for Kathy Hochul’s abysmal job as Governor who delivered the affordability crisis with some of the highest taxes in the nation, the energy crisis with skyrocketing costs, and the crime crisis making it unsafe for every family,” Alex DeGrasse, a Senior Advisor to Stefanik, told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
With neither candidate winning their primary yet, it’s still early. But Hochul and Stefanik have relentlessly attacked each other for months.
“In the last 4 years, @KathyHochul’s failed Far Left Democrat policies have crushed law abiding, hard-working families across New York,” Stefanik posted on X Sunday. “Fire Hochul.”
The governor has often responded to her with a nickname, “Sellout Stefanik.” The name is supposed to illustrate how the New York Representative has bowed to the administration’s priorities, like tariffs and the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“Sellout Stefanik and Donald Trump’s tariffs are squeezing New York families. They’re pushing our businesses into “survival mode,’” Hochul wrote on X.
“It’s a scam, plain and simple,” Hochul added.
HOCHUL SAYS “GAME ON” WITH NY REDISTRICTING
The governor recently announced her intention to fight the Texas Republican redistricting aimed at giving the GOP more House seats. New York has several competitive House seats that the legislature could tinker with if Hochul can help strike down a clause in the state’s constitution banning mid-decade redrawing.
“Game on,” she wrote last week in response to the Texas House passing the new maps. Hochul is expected to be part of a larger resistance including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA, who called a special election in his state for later this year to pass Democratically-favored congressional maps.