Hochul Declares Victory Against Zeldin In NY Gov’s Race

NEW YORK CITY — Incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul declared victory in her race against Republican challenger Lee Zeldin, but votes from key counties had yet to be counted, according to early results.

"I'm not here to make history: I'm here to make a difference," she said in a late Tuesday victory speech.

Hochul declared victory at 11:12 p.m. based on a projected win by MSNBC, ABC and Bloomberg News. Other outlets such as NY1 and the Associated Press hadn't yet made similar calls.

Hochul had 56.3 percent of the vote to Zeldin's 43.7 percent, according to preliminary NY1 results as of 11:16 p.m.

Only 56.26 percent of the vote statewide had been counted.

Much of New York City's vote had been counted, with Hochul appearing to carry all boroughs except Staten Island. But Zeldin had a chance to close the gap as results flowed in from counties outside the city, notably in his home turf of Long Island.

Indeed, a technical issue held up results from Suffolk County and could keep them from being counted until Wednesday.

Zeldin, shortly after midnight, pointedly did not concede. He said there were still more than 1.4 million votes to be counted.

"Enjoy watching the results because what you're about to see is that this will continue to get closer and closer and closer and closer as the night goes on," he said.

Polls closed Tuesday at 9 p.m. after Hochul and Zeldin spent the day making their last-minute appeals to voters.

Hochul hoped to become the first woman to be elected governor of the Empire State — she took her position after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned — but many political watchers believe she took the fact the state leans heavily Democratic for granted.

Zeldin, a congressional representative with close ties to former President Donald Trump, leaned heavily on a message that stoked fears over crime, especially in New York City.

“She made decisions that have alienated a lot of New Yorkers, and even if they’re Democrats, they’re supporting us," he said about Hochul during a rally last week. “And as a consequence we are going to do well in New York City compared to Republican candidates in the past.”

Polls showed that Zeldin is the most competitive Republican gubernatorial candidate since 2002 and could have a shot at pulling off an upset.

Hochul, after running a “rose garden” campaign for months, appeared to sense in recent weeks that the election wouldn’t be a cakewalk.

She drummed out Democratic heavy hitters such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, who predicted that the governor's race could be decided by one borough.

“I’m telling you all this because the whole election could come down to how big the turnout is in Brooklyn,” he said, according to a Politico report.

Mayor Eric Adams also threw his support behind Hochul, although many Democrats groused that he overhyped crime in New York City — where statistics show violent crime dropping, but others rising — and unwittingly gave Zeldin’s message a boost, as CNN reported.

Adams, when quizzed by reporters early Tuesday, brushed aside any chance that Zeldin could win.

He reaffirmed that with a late night tweeted congratulating Hochul on becoming the first woman to be elected governor in New York.

"History has been made!"

"Tonight, women and girls across the Empire State have seen another glass ceiling shattered — and the best is yet to come," he wrote.