Kathy Hochul won a second full term as New York governor on Tuesday night, with ABC News projecting that she had defeated Bruce Blakeman and held the state’s top office for Democrats. She also won by roughly 20 points statewide, a margin that made the result clear before all the ballots were in.
The result gives New York a first: its top two executive offices will now be held by women for the first time in state history, after Adrienne Adams was elected lieutenant governor. Hochul became New York’s first female governor in 2021, and on this night she turned that milestone into a larger one, telling supporters that leadership is not just about making hard calls but about having the humility to answer to the people of New York.
That answer came at the end of a long night in a race that had drawn far more attention than a routine reelection bid. People searching who won the election in New York were looking for a clear result in the state’s highest office, and the projection delivered it: Hochul kept the governorship, Blakeman fell short, and Democrats preserved control of a seat that has become central to the party’s power in the state.
The win also fits into a broader Democratic map that was taking shape elsewhere. ABC News projected that Democrats would take control of both the Senate and the House, called the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey for Cory Booker, and projected gubernatorial wins in Connecticut for Ned Lamont and in New Jersey’s 7th District for Rebecca Bennett. Cait Conley also defeated Mike Lawler in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
Even so, the night was not neatly finished everywhere. In Westchester County, election officials were still counting thousands of ballots after scanner problems forced many voters to place ballots in secure emergency bags instead of voting machines, a reminder that the final margins behind a big statewide victory can still be worked out long after the speeches are over.
For Hochul, the political meaning is already set. She enters a second full term with a larger mandate than before, and New York’s executive branch now has two women at the top for the first time in state history. The ballots still being counted may refine the record, but they do not change the outcome: Hochul won, and she won decisively.
