It’s only mid-February and we are already into the 2026 elections. Blame it on the decision to move primaries from September back to June.
Moving up the primary had all sorts of consequences. Party endorsements in February and petitioning kicking off at the end of the month. What were they thinking? The likelihood of freezing temperatures and snow packed sidewalks presents a problem. It also means that there is hardly a break between the previous election and the next one up.
The state’s political parties held their conventions in the past few days to select the endorsed candidates for governor and lt. governor (running as a team), attorney general, and comptroller. There weren’t any surprises. The only suspense leading up to the events was the question of who each gubernatorial candidate would select for lt. governor.
The Democrats and Governor Kathy Hochul went first. Their choice for lieutenant is Adrienne Adams, the former Speaker of the New York City Council. On the political spectrum Adams sits somewhere in the moderate middle like Hochul.
The Republicans were left with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman after Congresswoman Elise Stefanik exited the stage. Blakeman was the party’s second choice which in this case was the only other option available.
Blakeman seemed to have a problem finding someone to run with him. Three names surfaced last week but evidently all declined. One of them was Erie County Sheriff John Garcia.
There was a story circulating locally last week that Donald Trump had called Garcia to encourage him to run.
Anyway, on Saturday Blakeman settled on Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino to be his running mate. Over the weekend Republicans learned that in 2024 Giardino had filed papers to run against Donald Trump in the New Hampshire presidential primary. So… on Monday Blakeman named Madison County (population 68,000) Sheriff Todd Hood as his running mate. That decision won’t be finalized until Wednesday, so stay tuned.
All the above does not end the party candidate selection process. Antonio Delgado has ended his campaign for governor but there may be a Republican primary.
Having a disgruntled lt. governor go off on their own or simply disappear is hardly something new in New York State. In the past fifty years Governors Carey, Mario Cuomo, Pataki, and Andrew Cuomo have all had to deal with changes in the office.
Former Libertarian candidate Larry Sharpe, now a Republican, plans to challenge Blakeman for the party nomination. That’s not something that the Republicans were expecting.
The road to running a statewide primary when you are passed over by the state party convention is a tough one. Petitioning must produce at least 15,000 valid signatures that are spread out to include at least 100 signatures from each of one-half of the state’s 26 congressional districts. It sounds like an enormous task and it is.
Polling and finances all pointed to an easy win for Hochul in the primary.
A Republican primary for governor could be more interesting. Sharpe could run to the right of Blakeman on several issues and that tack often works for the party. Upsets are possible. Carl Paladino snatched the Republican nomination away from Rick Lazio in 2010.
The Working Families Party nominee is a placeholder perhaps until after the Democratic primary. The Conservatives fell into line, nominating Blakeman.
Looking past the June primary, Hochul has a considerable lead over Blakeman in recent polls heading toward November. Since a majority of state voters do not know anything about him, she can use her campaign to define him, a process already underway as she and the state Democratic Party hammer him with his close connection with Trump.
Much political reporting about the race for governor reminds folks about Hochul’s relatively close win over Lee Zeldin in 2022. But here is a little history to put that into perspective. Mario Cuomo’s first election for governor in 1982 was close but in the next two re-election campaigns he swamped his Republican opponent. George Pataki’s first election for governor in 1994 was close, but the next two were easy. It is a sign that state voters, after having seen the governor in operation, are comfortable with staying with him or her. The same is likely true in 2026. The last incumbent to lose an election was Mario Cuomo in 1994.
The other statewide offices
Leticia James was nominated for re-election by acclamation at the Democratic convention. She is high on Donald Trump’s retribution list. She could very well be the leading vote getter among statewide candidates in November. The Republican candidate for the office will get caught up with how she agrees or disagrees with the leader of her party on a host of legal issues.
Tom DiNapoli is running for his fourth elected term as state Comptroller. He potentially has two primary opponents if they can navigate the petitioning process. It is hard to run for an office that voters know little about. DiNapoli has done his job of managing the state’s financing, conducting audits, and building the state’s retirement system. He should easily win any primary and general election.
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