New York politics has no greater hypocrite than Kathy Hochul, who was for congestion pricing before she was against it, before she was for it.
Them’s fighting’ words for sure. Looks like something I would write, but it wasn’t me. So who did?
Was it New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who’s already vying for his party’s nomination for the 2026 gubernatorial election?
Was it Donald Trump, issuing one of his middle-of-the-night tweets where he loves taking potshots at Democrat politicians?
Well, it was a tweet, or an X, or whatever it’s called these days. But it wasn’t from Trump or from Lawler or from any other Republican.
It was from a Democrat. It was from Rep. Ritchie Torres from the Bronx. And it could have national implications.
Although he’s still being coy about it, Ritchie Torres wants to unseat a fellow Democrat and run for governor of New York.
Torres is a self-proclaimed former progressive. He openly says, “I didn’t leave the progressive movement, the progressive movement left me.”
I hear that, it’s a catchy phrase, but he’s also a crafty politician. He understands which way the political winds are blowing.
On November 5th, Election Day, Donald Trump performed better in New York than any Republican for president has performed in decades.
Trump’s New York State vote, the state that is deeply blue, improved by 12 percentage points from when he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. In New York City, he went up by 7 percentage points.
In Torres’ own borough of the Bronx, Trump’s share of the vote was even more shocking. Against Kamala Harris, Trump gained 22 points from four years ago.
There was no state that saw a greater swing to Donald Trump than New York.
Torres is no fool, far from it. He sees what’s happening. Voters are concerned about the high cost of living, crime and illegal immigration.
So he’s calling out Governor Kathy Hochul for her well-deserved flip-flopping hypocrisy.
Take congestion pricing as one example. She was gung-ho about it and its $15 dollar daily charge. The license plate readers were in place, the MTA was already counting the $15 billion it was supposed to raise.
But what happened?
New York Dems were in a panic they would lose even more congressional seats than in 2022 with voters seeing red, and voting red. So, Hochul caved to pressure from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and possibly even Biden himself, and pushed off the implementation of the costly plan.
Lo and behold, after the election, she pulled a $9 reduced version from her back pocket, and this time, she made it stick.
Such a transparent political move. Such a regressive tax when New Yorkers’ wallets are already being raided by high taxes and fees.
Torres is hitting Hochul on the congestion pricing fiasco and he’s hitting her on being too soft on crime and on illegal immigration.
So let’s game this out.
First, if Hochul isn’t defenestrated like Joe Biden was, in other words, she’s not forced out of running for reelection, she will have a difficult race against Torres.
Her approval rating amongst New Yorkers is in the toilet. A June Siena College survey showed Hochul had the lowest favorability and job approval ratings she’s ever had, and that was before she announced the reinstatement of congestion pricing.
She’s not perceived as a strong, decisive leader and certainly not as someone from downstate who lives and breathes NYC issues.
On the other hand, Torres is a gay Afro-Latino who grew up in New York’s public housing with his sister and twin brother, raised by their single mom. He became the youngest person ever to be elected to New York’s City Council. And even though he now reps the poorest congressional district in the nation, he has shrewdly raised his profile locally and nationally in part, by being unabashedly pro-Israel and vociferous in condemning antisemitism.
The contrast between him and Hochul is jarring. He’s a rising star. She’s old news. I have little doubt she would lose to him in a head to head primary battle.
One way or another, after gaining the Democrat nomination, Torres will face a Republican challenger.
Last time around, then Congressman Lee Zeldin almost pulled off a massive upset against Hochul, coming within five percentage points of victory.
But now, Zeldin will be part of the Trump cabinet and another GOP lawmaker, Mark Lawler, is already running for his party’s nomination.
So let’s say it’s Lawler-Torres general election race.
Ironically, they’ve partnered with each other in the House of Representatives to write legislation to monitor antisemitic speech at colleges and universities.
Mike Lawler, or any Republican candidate could do well in the suburbs that mainly went for Trump, if Trump is doing well in Washington. But the fact of the matter is, you must win New York City if you want to be governor.
No way will the Manhattan liberals vote for the Republican Lawler. Torres will do well with the Latinos, Jews and African Americans in the other boroughs. He will have to convince the Asian voters that he hears their concerns about crime and being forced out of the city’s best schools because of DEI.
Zeldin was up against Hochul. Lawler will be up against Torres, a much tougher opponent.
Torres knows that by talking the talk and walking the walk of a centrist Democrat, not a leftist Democrat, he could head off a Republican upset and become the next governor of the State of New York.
And that potential Torres victory should not be viewed in isolation.
If in two years, Democrat Ritchie Torres can show that a lapsed progressive who is tough on crime, who wants a sane policy on immigration and who is proudly pro-Israel, can become governor in New York, home to AOC and her posse, it will send a message the Democrat Party must heed if they want to regain the White House in 2028.
Frankly, if the Dems had any common sense (and/or backbone), they’d tell Hochul to bow out and let Torres take on Lawler or whomever, and avoid a bruising primary.
He’s already opened that door for them by publicly saying Hochul is “the new Joe Biden”, implying she needs to step aside or she’ll lose in two years to the Republican.
Ritchie Torres is part of the future for the Democrats. Kathy Hochul is the ineffective, accidental governor and a sure loser if she’s the party’s nominee.
The problem is, who amongst the Democrats has enough clout, enough smarts, enough zhuzh, to tell her to make way for Torres? We’ll see if it’s Hakeem Jeffries, or Chuck Schumer.
Meantime, Ritchie Torres from the South Bronx isn’t going to wait. As Shakespeare said in a different political context, Torres has that lean and hungry look and to bet against that kid from the projects, is a bet I wouldn’t take.