Kathy Hochul's Speech Is a Road Map to the Campaign That Lies Ahead

As Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered her most consequential speech since becoming chief executive of New York, she did not discuss the contested Democratic primary she is navigating to retain her seat, nor did she mention the likelihood of an expensive general election against a well-funded Republican.

But in tone and substance, her address on Wednesday and accompanying 237 pages of policy proposals offered a road map to how she is approaching both dynamics.

In her State of the State remarks, her first as governor, Ms. Hochul often emphasized core Democratic priorities, from combating climate change to expanding access to affordable child care. But she also moved to blunt more conservative messaging on matters of public safety, the economy and the culture wars that have raged around how to handle the coronavirus pandemic.

“During this winter surge, our laser focus is on keeping kids in school, businesses open and New Yorkers’ lives as normal as possible,” she said, even as some Republicans seek to paint the Democratic Party as the party of lockdowns.

Ms. Hochul assumed the governorship last August, taking over after former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned in disgrace, and she is running for her first full term as governor this year at yet another moment of staggering challenges for the state.

As coronavirus cases spike, parents grapple with uncertainty around schools,and the Omicron variant upends the fragile economic recovery, Ms. Hochul acknowledged the pain and exhaustion gripping many New Yorkers. But she also emphasized a record of accomplishment, in particular around vaccination rates, and sought to exude competence and decisiveness in crisis, offering a preview of her efforts to run as the steady-hand, above-the-fray candidate.

A number of Democrats are seeking to challenge that image.

Representative Thomas Suozzi of Long Island, a former Nassau County executive who has positioned himself to Ms. Hochul’s right on some issues and in tone, is sharply questioning her executive experience. He sometimes refers to the state’s first female executive as the “interim governor” — a move that could backfire with some voters — and he is working to cut into her base in the suburbs.

“New York needs a common-sense governor who has executive experience to manage Covid, take on crime, reduce taxes and help troubled schools,” Mr. Suozzi said in a statement after her speech.

Jumaane D. Williams, the New York City public advocate who lost the 2018 lieutenant governor’s race to Ms. Hochul by 6.6 percentage points, is running as a self-declared “activist elected official” with close ties to New York’s left-wing political movement, which can play an important role in energizing parts of the primary electorate. He said on Wednesday that some of her proposals were not sufficiently “bold” to meet the challenges of the moment — a view echoed by leaders of a number of left-wing organizations.

“Discussion of these issues is important, acknowledged and appreciated,” Mr. Williams said in a statement. “But that discussion must be accompanied by the political courage to envision and enact transformational change for New York City and across the state.”

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City has also taken steps toward a run.

Attorney General Letitia James had been Ms. Hochul’s most formidable opponent, but she dropped her bid for governor last month, and on Wednesday she stood next to the governor, applauding. Ms. James’s exit cleared the way for Ms. Hochul to rapidly lock down more institutional support from unions and elected officials, and she is expected to post a formidable fund-raising haul later this month.

Ms. Hochul, who has referred to herself as a “Biden Democrat,” on Wednesday sounded by turns like a centrist who welcomes big business and an old-school politician keenly focused on the needs of working-class New Yorkers.

For example, she called for efforts to bolster the salaries of health care workers “so those doing God’s work here on Earth are no longer paid a minimum wage.”

But at another point, she pledged that New York would be “the most business-friendly and worker-friendly state in the nation.”

Ms. Hochul laid out a number of measures to bolster the social safety net, and she also endorsed some left-leaning criminal justice proposals, including a “jails-to-jobs” program and other efforts to help formerly incarcerated people access employment and housing.

She also pledged to pursue a five-year plan to offer 100,000 affordable homes, though some housing advocates thought she should have offered far more comprehensive protections since the state’s eviction moratorium is poised to expire. And she laid out a bevy of climate, infrastructure and transportation-related initiatives.

If many aspects of the speech played into concerns of rank-and-file Democratic voters and union officials, Ms. Hochul also repeatedly made overtures to a broader ideological and geographical swath of voters who will power the general election. (“I think I have a personal experience with just about every pothole in New York as well, especially on the Long Island Expressway,” she said, referring to an important political battleground.).

Representative Lee Zeldin of Long Island is seen as the most formidable Republican contender in the governor’s race, though any Republican seeking a statewide office in New York faces very long odds, and Mr. Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally, would face particular scrutiny for voting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Still, Ms. Hochul’s speech came several months after Democrats were deeply shaken by election results around the country. In New York, Democrats suffered a spate of unexpected losses in local races in November, driven on Long Island by concerns around crime and taxes. The governor’s race in neighboring New Jersey — which was defined partly by debates over taxes — was closer than many expected, with a stunning down-ballot loss. And the Democratic candidate in the Virginia governor’s race lost a contest that was shaped by education matters, including parental frustration concerning closed schools.

The governor aimed to address all of those issues directly.

She repeatedly emphasized her commitment to combating gun violence and tackling quality-of-life issues, and she has endorsed funding for law enforcement officers and prosecutors and investments in neighborhoods where violent crime is common. She also stressed that she understood deeply held concerns around public safety, even though New York is far safer today than in earlier eras.

“This is not a return to the dark days of the ’70s and ’80s and ’90s,” she said. “But that’s not our metric for success. We need to get back on track.”

Ms. Hochul devoted a significant part of her speech to discussing matters of affordability. She proactively addressed the challenge of inflation, she made overtures to farmers — not typically seen as a reliable Democratic constituency — and she offered a number of tax proposals. She proposed accelerating tax cuts for the middle class, and her call for a property tax rebate may be especially resonant in the suburbs.

Ms. Hochul made clear she wanted those who had left the state during the pandemic — “an alarm bell that cannot be ignored” — to return and to see the state as a place of economic opportunity.

“That’s the steepest population drop of any state in the nation,” she said. “An alarm bell that cannot be ignored.”

But she also avoided discussion of one of the state’s most divisive topics: bail reform legislation passed in 2019, which has become a political lightning rod that Republicans have sought to weaponize. Her silence on the matter drew criticism from Mr. Suozzi.

Ms. Hochul took the stage in white, a color often associated with the suffrage movement. As she emphasized collaboration and suggested she did not have time for petty rivalries, she drew implicit contrasts with her predecessor, who ruled with an iron fist and resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment.

“I’m well aware of the significance of this moment,” she said. “The first time in New York’s history that a woman has delivered this annual address. But I didn’t come here to make history. I came here to make a difference.”