By Gus Saltonstall
The governor of New York made an appearance outside an Upper West Side train station on Tuesday morning.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, along with an array of West Side elected officials, campaigned in front of the West 96th Street and Broadway train station around 8 a.m. Early Voting began on Saturday for elections across New York, including Hochul’s contest against Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman.
“It all comes together in the next week, and it’s an honor to have the support of so many people who are really thoughtful,” Hochul told West Side Rag. “This is an area of the state where people cast their votes with a lot of understanding of the candidates. They do their research. They understand the pertinent issues involved. So, to have the support of this part of the city and state is a point of pride for me.”
Hochul was joined by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Comptroller Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Councilmember Gale Brewer, Councilmember Shaun Abreu, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, and Democratic Assembly nominee Eli Northrup.
Multiple members of the Upper West Side Three Parks Independent Democrats club also joined in on the Hochul support.
“It’s important to make your voice heard,” Futter said about the importance of getting out to vote despite no presidential or mayoral election on the ballot. “We need to let everybody know that this state cares about its citizens and Kathy Hochul cares about its citizens.”
The reaction to Hochul was overwhelmingly positive from Upper West Siders commuting to work on Tuesday morning. “That’s my girl, Kathy,” one woman excitedly called out before posing for a photo with the governor, while multiple other passersby made sure to mention they had already voted for her despite Early Voting only kicking off a couple of days ago.
In Upper West Side fashion, West Side Rag heard at least two commuters voice displeasure at the entrance to the subway being more crowded than the typical weekday morning. We also counted at least 12 Secret Service and security team members stationed around the 96th Street subway entrance, dressed along the full spectrum of “I am clearly a Secret Service member” to “nothing to see here, fellow civilians.”
“Turnout is very important. Who the governor is. Who the attorney general is,” Nadler told the Rag. “It’s extremely important to the welfare of the people who the legislators are.”
WSR also asked Hochul about the implications of her race against Blakeman on a national level.
“He [Blakeman] has been wrapping himself around Donald Trump since Day One, and when he said he was going to bring Trump-style leadership to New York State, we knew that once New Yorkers learned that, they would reject that,” Hochul said. “They reject it nationally. They reject Trump-type policies getting a foothold in New York State, and this election is a referendum on just that. Donald Trump himself said in New York, vote as if I’m on the ballot, well, indeed he is, through Bruce Blakeman. That’s why I feel very confident about the outcome of this election, but I still need everybody to get out and vote.”
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Nice to see real New Yorkers out there supporting Hochul, who while not perfect is doing a solid job. I expect she will win a large majority of the UWS vote. Go get em Kathy!
She’s shorter than I imagined.