New York has become an increasingly interesting election option for Republicans over the last two election cycles, making the incompetence of Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) all the more glaring.

Hochul is the country’s most politically inept governor east of California, having inherited the job after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s scandals and escaping a competitive race with former Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in 2022 in a state that Democrats are used to winning easily. In the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris’s margin over President-elect Donald Trump in New York was closer than Trump’s margins over Harris in Florida and Texas, two states Democrats convince themselves are competitive. Democratic control over New York is not as solid as it once appeared.