A turnabout found one governor positioning herself as “leading the resistance” against President Donald Trump’s administration and saying the quiet part out loud about obstruction.
Following the presidential election and the tremendous loss suffered by now-former Vice President Kamala Harris, a leadership vacuum in the Democratic Party became prominent. Coupled with scandals and failed policies that had many jockeying for position for their own futures, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul contradicted a previous claim as she placed herself at the front of a “firewall” against the White House.
“We offered up an olive branch, [we said] ‘We’ll work with you on infrastructure. Let’s redo Penn Station,” the governor said during an interview with NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
“Those areas were common ground. But once you draw first blood on us, you know we’re coming back hard, and I will be leading the resistance on policies like these where you’re hurting New Yorkers directly,” she claimed. “This is our decision, not yours.”
Previously, Hochul told reporters, “I’ve been asked countless (times) ‘Are you leading the resistance?’ — No, I’m governing the great state of New York.”
While she behaved as though the position had been born out of the kibosh the Trump administration had placed on her congestion pricing scheme, further remarks suggested the previous statement from the governor, one of 10 Trump-appointed to the bipartisan Council of Governors, had been empty words.
“There’s many ways,” she said when asked by NPR’s Michel Martin about how the resistance was unfolding. “We are in litigation since day one. Our attorney general, Tish James, and I work closely together. And much of it starts in court, and we were able to successfully work together in litigation to at least temporarily stop a lot of the firings.”
Hochul went on to admit the obstruction efforts were attempting to hold out until the 2026 midterm elections as she explained opposition to things like the Department of Government Efficiency that had sparked a hiring promotion, “There’s not a lot of great options. We have a Republican White House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican House of Representatives. But elections come around very quickly. And it is our job to fight back in court, resist the way we are on congestion pricing, and each individual policy demands a different response.”
The Trump-Musk administration is treating federal workers like a reality TV stunt.
Our message is clear: New York wants you.
Come work in the greatest state in the nation. pic.twitter.com/QcsgCrYyeR
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) March 3, 2025
“But overall, this changes in 2026,” she added, having told Martin, “So, this is where Democratic governors, we know how strong we need to be. And this moment calls for all of us to be the firewall, to stand up against this destruction of policies that are helping people and have been in place for decades.”
While a February Siena College poll found 57% of New Yorkers preferred someone else to lead the Empire State moving forward, viewing her with only a 39% approval rating, Democratic strategist Jon Reinish reminded the New York Post, “New Yorkers are savvy.”
“You have to come back with receipts that you’ve gone toe-to-toe and won, meaning, gotten concessions or forced action in order to be able to take credit,” he added.
Similarly, New York state Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar told the newspaper, “She is just readily looking for ways to push back at him for political gain.”
“She says one thing and she does another, but she’s dealing with a New Yorker who is very intuitive on false rhetoric and his position versus hers has really not changed no matter how she reacts,” said Kassar.
His assessment played out in recent days as CBS News reported the governor had stripped Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado of a number of his offices as well as electronic devices after the personally picked second-in-command hinted at a primary challenge for the 2026 gubernatorial race.
To further support her effort to retain her office, Hochul’s campaign hired Preston Elliott as campaign manager, boasting in the announcement that he managed Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s 2022 reelection among a slew of Democratic Party victories.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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