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      How Zeldin’s Anti-Abortion Stance May Affect the N.Y. Governor’s Race

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      Representative Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor, said the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was a victory for family, life and the Constitution.The confetti was still falling at her Democratic primary victory party Tuesday night when Gov. Kathy Hochul rolled out a general election warning: If her Republican opponent wins in November, he could follow the Supreme Court’s lead and curtail New Yorkers’ abortion rights.Yet in his own victory speech, that Republican opponent, Representative Lee Zeldin, had not a single word to say about the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Just days after he had lauded the ruling, Mr. Zeldin instead stuck to criticizing Ms. Hochul’s handling of crime, inflation and the pandemic.As New York enters what may be the most competitive general election the Empire State has seen in two decades, their divergent approaches were no accident.To win in New York, a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one, Mr. Zeldin needs to reach well beyond his conservative base and present himself as a common-sense alternative in an effort to appeal to political independents and Democrats worried about public safety and spiking living costs.To stop him, Ms. Hochul is determined to convince those same voters that Mr. Zeldin’s views are far more extreme than he lets on — above all, when it comes to a woman’s right to an abortion.“This is not an ordinary Republican,” Ms. Hochul, the state’s first female governor, said Wednesday morning on NY1 shortly before rolling out a new website labeling Mr. Zeldin a figure from the “extreme fringes.”“He also supports taking away women’s right to choose,” she said. “This is New York.”Indeed, the issue has the potential to be an unusually potent one in a state like New York, which in 1970 became just the second in the nation to broadly legalize abortion. Since then, New Yorkers have never elected a governor who opposes legalized abortion, and they remain overwhelmingly supportive of abortion rights.An average of recent polls calculated by The New York Times before the Dobbs decision showed that roughly 63 percent of adult New Yorkers believe abortion should be legal, compared with 32 percent who do not. Only seven states, and the District of Columbia, were more supportive.Mr. Zeldin, a conservative four-term congressman from Long Island, has been a reliable vote to limit abortion access and to bar federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood. He co-sponsored legislation that would, with few exceptions, federally ban abortions after 20 weeks and criminally penalize doctors who violate it. Those positions have won him top marks from anti-abortion groups.Just days before a draft of the Dobbs decision leaked this spring, Mr. Zeldin told New York Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, that he supported appointing a state health commissioner who “respects life as opposed to what we’re used to,” according to a recording of the event obtained by NY1.Key Results in New York’s 2022 Primary ElectionsOn June 28, New York held several primaries for statewide office, including for governor and lieutenant governor. Some State Assembly districts also had primaries.Kathy Hochul: With her win in the Democratic, the governor of New York took a crucial step toward winning a full term, fending off a pair of spirited challengers.Antonio Delgado: Ms. Hochul’s second in command and running mate also scored a convincing victory over his nearest Democratic challenger, Ana María Archila.Lee Zeldin: The congressman from Long Island won the Republican primary for governor, advancing to what it’s expected to be a grueling general election.N.Y. State Assembly: Long-tenured incumbents were largely successful in fending off a slate of left-leaning insurgents in the Democratic primary.“For a Republican to win in New York, you need to run the straight flush, a perfect campaign,” said Thomas Doherty, a top aide to the former Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, who suggested Mr. Zeldin may have made costly missteps by talking up his anti-abortion views.“I don’t know what Zeldin’s thinking was, other than maybe he had a problem in the primary,” Mr. Doherty said.Mr. Zeldin’s allies argue that Democrats are vastly overestimating how much everyday voters will care about the abortion issue come November, particularly at a time when many New Yorkers are fearful about public safety and struggling to make ends meet amid rising costs for rent, gas and groceries.Those issues have helped drive Republicans to victory in Democrat-friendly turf in Virginia, New Jersey and parts of New York over the last year. In New York, polls consistently show voters believe the state — and the country — are headed in the wrong direction, views that Mr. Zeldin, a lawyer and Army veteran, hopes could help propel him to victory.“The Democrats are pushing this abortion debate because they’ve failed so miserably in the other areas that they don’t want to talk about those things,” said Bruce Blakeman, the Republican Nassau County executive who upset a Democratic incumbent last November. Besides, he contended that many voters agree with Mr. Zeldin’s abortion stance.“The fact that he may be more restrictive than others with respect to abortion is his personal choice,” Mr. Blakeman added. Mr. Zeldin himself has repeatedly tried to stress that the governor has limited power to change abortion laws in New York, particularly given Democrats’ tight hold on the Legislature in Albany and a 2019 law codifying federal protections in case Roe was ever overturned.“New York has already codified far more than what Roe provided, so the law in New York State is exactly the same the day after the Supreme Court decision gets released,” Mr. Zeldin said in a recent interview with The New York Times. (His spokeswoman did not return a request for comment for this story.)But, as Ms. Hochul has shown by initiating an advertising campaign to clarify New Yorkers’ abortion rights and dedicating $35 million in state funds to promote abortion access, the governor does have broad discretion to interpret, enforce and reinforce the state’s status as an abortion safe haven.If Mr. Zeldin may now be trying to sidestep the abortion issue as he heads into a general election fight, he has made no secret of his views in recent months.When the Supreme Court handed down its decision last week, reversing nearly 50 years of precedent, the congressman celebrated it as “a victory for life, for family, for the Constitution, and for federalism” and shared his own experience as a parent of twin daughters born more than 14 weeks prematurely.“In a state that has legalized late-term partial birth abortion and non-doctors performing abortion, in a state that refuses to advance informed consent and parental consent, and where not enough is being done to promote adoption and support mothers, today is yet another reminder that New York clearly needs to do a much better job to promote, respect and defend life,” he said in a statement.The issue is unquestionably a difficult one for Republicans to navigate in New York, where primary voters tend to prefer more socially conservative candidates, but the general electorate tilts more leftward. Still, Mr. Zeldin’s views depart from other members of his own party who have successfully won statewide office in New York in recent decades, like Mr. Pataki, who was last elected in 2002.When Mr. Pataki was still in office, his political staff conducted a poll asking voters to identify his views on abortion. The results showed that about a third of voters believed Mr. Pataki was for abortion rights, about a third thought he was opposed and the rest said they had no idea.The governor and his aides were pleased.Mr. Pataki was, in fact, a supporter of a woman’s right to choose. But the poll suggested he had managed to thread a sticky needle for a Republican in a state where his primary voters opposed abortion but the vast majority of residents believe women have a right to end a pregnancy. The model helped Mr. Pataki win three terms.Flush with millions of dollars to spend on campaign ads, Ms. Hochul and her Democratic allies are not trying to hide their strategy. They are prepared to go after Mr. Zeldin not just on abortion, but his views on gun restrictions and support for former President Donald J. Trump, including a vote to overturn 2020 election results in key states.“You’ve got an extremist view held by Lee Zeldin, and we’re not going to keep that a secret,” said Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic Party chairman. “The voters need to know what they are buying.”Dana Rubinstein More

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      Five Takeaways From Tuesday’s Elections

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      The biggest question heading into Tuesday’s primaries was whether Democrats would be successful in guiding Republican voters to choose weak nominees for the general election.In Illinois, Democrats’ biggest and most sustained investment succeeded, but in Colorado, Republicans chose candidates who didn’t have nominal primary support from across the aisle, setting up several general elections that are expected to be very competitive.Elsewhere, far-right candidates remade Republican politics down the ballot in Illinois, while incumbents who aren’t facing ethics inquiries coasted to victories. And a special election in Nebraska was far closer than anyone expected.Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s contests across eight states.Democratic meddling in G.O.P. primaries produces results … sometimes.Democrats have determined that it’s much easier to win a general election if you can handpick your opponent — especially if that opponent happens to be a far-right Republican who can easily be painted as an extremist.So in Colorado and Illinois, they tried to help those sorts of candidates.Such meddling isn’t a new phenomenon — it rose to prominence in the 2012 Missouri Senate race — but Democrats have used the risky strategy this year to prop up a series of underfunded far-right candidates running against Republican establishment favorites who were seen as a greater threat to Democrats in November.On Tuesday, Democrats learned that it’s possible to elevate a flawed Republican if he already has a functioning campaign, but that they can’t make something out of nearly nothing.In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the billionaire Democrat, spent $35 million to stop Mayor Richard C. Irvin of Aurora, a moderate Republican, while promoting Darren Bailey, a far-right state senator who once vowed to kick Chicago out of the state.Mr. Pritzker at a deli in Chicago on Tuesday. He backed Mr. Bailey in the belief that he would be a weaker general-election candidate than Mayor Richard C. Irvin of Aurora, a moderate Republican.Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York TimesMr. Bailey had been campaigning for more than a year and had his own billionaire patron, the conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein. Mr. Pritzker did such a good job stamping out Mr. Irvin that the mayor placed a distant third, more than 40 percentage points behind Mr. Bailey.“Tonight, J.B. Pritzker won the Republican primary for governor here in Illinois,” Mr. Irvin said in a concession speech. “He spent a historic amount of money to choose his own Republican opponent, and I wish Darren Bailey well.”Key Results in New York’s 2022 Primary ElectionsOn June 28, New York held several primaries for statewide office, including for governor and lieutenant governor. Some State Assembly districts also had primaries.Kathy Hochul: With her win in the Democratic, the governor of New York took a crucial step toward winning a full term, fending off a pair of spirited challengers.Antonio Delgado: Ms. Hochul’s second in command and running mate also scored a convincing victory over his nearest Democratic challenger, Ana María Archila.Lee Zeldin: The congressman from Long Island won the Republican primary for governor, advancing to what it’s expected to be a grueling general election.N.Y. State Assembly: Long-tenured incumbents were largely successful in fending off a slate of left-leaning insurgents in the Democratic primary.But the same tactics didn’t work in Colorado, where a shadowy Democratic group spent nearly $4 million attacking Joe O’Dea, a construction executive who supports some abortion rights, while trying to aid Ron Hanks, a far-right state representative who didn’t spend anything on television advertising.Mr. Hanks’s threadbare campaign raised just $124,000 — a pittance that in many places can barely pay for a competitive state legislative race. Democrats couldn’t help lift Mr. Hanks to victory if he couldn’t help himself.Mr. O’Dea now figures to give Colorado Democrats what they feared: a competitive general-election contest against Senator Michael Bennet, who has privately told people his race will be difficult.Colorado Republicans reject two election deniers.Not since Georgia’s elections over a month ago have Republican primary voters summarily rejected a slate of 2020 election deniers — but those contests were colored by former President Donald J. Trump’s failed quest for vengeance against Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.In two statewide races in Colorado, Republicans had a choice between a candidate who accepted the outcome of the 2020 election and one or more whose campaigns were animated by their rejection of the legitimacy of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.In both cases, voters chose the candidate tethered to reality.In the Senate race, Mr. O’Dea accepted the results of the election, while Mr. Hanks predicated his campaign on denying them. In a video announcing his campaign last year, Mr. Hanks shot a gun at what appeared to be a photocopier labeled as a Dominion voting machine.Joe O’Dea, a Republican who supports some abortion rights and accepts the outcome of the 2020 election, won his party’s nomination for Senate in Colorado.David Zalubowski/Associated PressAnd in the Republican primary for secretary of state, Tina Peters, the Mesa County clerk, who is under indictment in relation to a scheme to find evidence that the 2020 election was fraudulent, placed third in a contest in which she was the best-known candidate.Ms. Peters and the second-place finisher, Mike O’Donnell, who has also promoted 2020 falsehoods, combined to win a majority of the vote, but both placed well behind Pam Anderson, a longtime local election official.The Colorado races are hardly emblematic of Republican voters nationwide. In Illinois, Mr. Bailey and Representative Mary Miller, who both refused to accept the 2020 results, strolled to victory in their primaries. New York Republicans gave nearly two-thirds of their primary vote for governor to Representative Lee Zeldin and Andrew Giuliani, who have also cast doubt on the results.It’s Darren Bailey’s party in Illinois.Mr. Bailey, the newly minted Republican nominee for governor of Illinois, didn’t just trounce a field of better-funded candidates (with a lot of help from Mr. Pritzker). His coattails extended down the ballot to lift an array of like-minded conservatives.Throughout Central and Southern Illinois, signs read “Trump-Bailey-Miller,” highlighting the alliance between the former president, Mr. Bailey and Ms. Miller. The congresswoman, who apologized last year after making an approving reference to Hitler, won her primary against Representative Rodney Davis after the two were drawn into a district together.Down the ballot, Mr. Bailey’s personal lawyer and traveling campaign companion, Thomas DeVore, was leading the Republican primary for attorney general over Steve Kim, a former staff member for Gov. Jim Edgar.Supporters of Mr. Bailey at his election night party in Effingham, Ill. Jim Vondruska/Getty ImagesA few of Mr. Bailey’s picks in state legislative races defeated rivals backed by campaign cash from Kenneth Griffin, the Chicago billionaire and chief benefactor of the Illinois Republican Party.One of Mr. Bailey’s chosen candidates for the Illinois House, Bill Hauter, a pediatric anesthesiologist at a hospital in Peoria, campaigned on a platform opposing public health restrictions to stem the coronavirus pandemic.Early Wednesday, Dr. Hauter was up by double digits in his open-seat primary for a Central Illinois district against a candidate funded in part by millions of dollars Mr. Griffin spread across the state to support moderate, establishment-friendly candidates in down-ballot primaries.“I’m up against a lot of money,” Dr. Hauter said in an interview at a Bailey campaign stop last week in Lincoln, Ill. “But money is not the motivation. It’s not message, it’s not supporters, it’s not enthusiasm. It’s not all these things that you need.”It still requires special circumstances to oust an incumbent.In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul fended off two challengers. Her late-in-the-game lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, also coasted.And in other states, several members of Congress who were thought to be endangered prevailed:Representative Michael Guest of Mississippi, a Republican who was dogged by his vote for a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol;Representative Blake Moore of Utah, a Republican who allied himself with Senator Mitt Romney and Representative Liz Cheney, who are now apostates for much of their party;Representative Danny K. Davis of Illinois, a Democrat who narrowly held off a spirited campaign from a progressive challenger.Republican senators in Oklahoma and Utah also had little trouble winning renomination.But there are lines voters won’t let candidates cross. Representative Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi Republican, lost a runoff after the Office of Congressional Ethics concluded he had misused campaign money, including directing $80,000 toward a waterfront home he was trying to sell.Mr. Palazzo fell to Mike Ezell, a sheriff.Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, center, after easily winning her Democratic primary on Tuesday.Desiree Rios/The New York TimesIn New York, Ms. Hochul was never believed to be in danger against her two challengers, one more liberal and one more conservative than she is.But Mr. Delgado’s victory was less assured. He faced a robust challenge from Ana María Archila, a former immigrant rights activist who made her name confronting Senator Jeff Flake in a Senate elevator during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.Mr. Delgado, who joined Ms. Hochul’s administration in May after his predecessor resigned in scandal, still took about 60 percent of the vote in a three-way race.Surprisingly close, but no cigar, for Nebraska Democrats.Few outside the Cornhusker State paid much attention to the special election to fill the House seat vacated by former Representative Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned after he was convicted of lying to federal investigators. It was widely assumed that Mike Flood, a Republican state senator, would coast in Tuesday’s special election and again in November.But the combination of a low-turnout contest, an under-the-radar effort from local Democrats and anger over the Supreme Court’s decision last week ending the constitutional right to an abortion led the Democrat in the race, State Senator Patty Pansing Brooks, to come within a few points of Mr. Flood in a district Mr. Trump carried by double digits in 2020.“Nebraskans turned out to send a very loud and clear message that access to abortion services must be legal and protected,” said Jane Kleeb, the Nebraska Democratic Party chairwoman. “We can and will win in red states.”Mr. Flood and Ms. Pansing Brooks will face off again in November, and the incumbent will again be a heavy favorite. More

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      Hochul and Zeldin Will Face Off in the Fall

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul cruised to victory in the Democratic race but could face a tough fight in November.Good morning. It’s Wednesday. We’re following two stories — the results in the New York primaries for governor, and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 20-year prison sentence for serving as Jeffrey Epstein’s enabler.Hiram Durán for The New York TimesGov. Kathy Hochul cruised to victory in the Democratic primary. The race was called by The Associated Press 25 minutes after the polls closed, cementing Hochul’s place as the state’s top Democrat after less than a year in the state’s top job.She withstood challenges from Democratic opponents on her left and her right — Representative Thomas Suozzi, who made crime and public safety his main issues, and Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate, who said she had not addressed problems like soaring housing prices.As my colleague Nicholas Fandos writes, Hochul’s victory set the stage for a potentially bruising fall campaign against Representative Lee Zeldin, a conservative congressional ally of former President Donald Trump who defeated three other Republicans in their primary. With warning lights flashing for Democrats nationally, Zeldin and his supporters hope they can build on discontent about inflation and crime and win a statewide race in New York for the first time in 20 years.The Democratic contest for lieutenant governor also went Hochul’s way: Her handpicked running mate, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, survived a challenge from Ana María Archila, a progressive activist who was aligned with Williams and had been endorsed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Diana Reyna, Suozzi’s running made, was on track to finish in third place.For Hochul, who took office less than a year ago after the resignation of Andrew Cuomo amid a sexual harassment scandal, victory in the primary was a crucial step toward winning a full term in November. She has plenty of money at her disposal, having amassed roughly $34 million in donations as of late last week.She spent the final days of the campaign presenting herself as a protector of liberal values in the wake of landmark Supreme Court rulings on abortion rights and gun regulations. Hochul, the state’s first female governor, stood, symbolically, under a glass ceiling at a victory party in Manhattan. “To the women of New York,” she declared, “this one’s for you.”“We cannot and will not let right-wing extremists set us backwards on all the decades of progress we’ve made right here,” she added, “whether it’s a Trump cheerleader running for the governor of the state of New York or Trump-appointed justices on the Supreme Court.”Zeldin defeated Andrew Giuliani, who had captured far-right support based on his connections to former President Trump, his former boss, and his lineage as the son of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Zeldin also beat Rob Astorino, the party’s nominee for governor in 2014, and Harry Wilson, a corporate turnaround specialist who spent more than more than $10 million of his own money on the race.WeatherExpect a sunny day with a high near the mid-80s. In the evening, it will be mostly clear with temperatures around the high 60s.ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKINGIn effect until Monday (Independence Day).The latest New York newsJacquelyn Martin/Associated PressPoliticsRoe v. Wade fallout: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for an investigation into whether two Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade should be impeached for “lying under oath” at their confirmation hearings.Gun laws: New York lawmakers will consider creating weapon-free zones and making handgun bans the default condition in businesses, and New Jersey might require those who carry to be insured.More local newsSchool budget cuts: New York City public school funding is tied to student enrollment, and students have been leaving city schools in droves for years. Now, the city is saying schools must make cuts.R. Kelly trial: The former R&B singer R. Kelly will be sentenced in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday for commanding a vast scheme to recruit women, as well as underage girls and boys, for sex.Rudolph Giuliani: Mayor Eric Adams said the Staten Island district attorney should investigate former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for falsely reporting a crime after video footage undermined Giuliani’s allegations that he had been physically assaulted by a supermarket worker.Arts & CultureGlobal jazz: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 35th season will present 22 programs from late September through next June, and feature performers from five continents.The Met’s chief executive steps down: Daniel Weiss will step down in June 2023 as president and chief executive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Food crawl? Try swimming: A dedicated band of swimmers (and eaters) explores New York restaurants by water, with lunch as the reward.Maxwell sentenced to 20 yearsGhislaine Maxwell, right, and the financier Jeffrey Epstein.U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York/AFP, via Getty ImagesGhislaine Maxwell is the well-traveled former socialite who once hobnobbed with presidents, princes, moguls and magnates — and who was convicted last year of sex trafficking for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to exploit and abuse underage girls. On Tuesday, saying that “the damage done to these young girls was incalculable,” Judge Alison Nathan sentenced Maxwell to 20 years in prison.Nathan also imposed a $750,000 fine, noting that Epstein had left Maxwell a $10 million bequest, money one of Maxwell’s lawyers said she has not received. The disgraced financier was awaiting his own trial on sex trafficking charges when he hanged himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, leaving his culpability unresolved forever.Bobbi Sternheim, one of Maxwell’s lawyers, said Maxwell would appeal, adding that Maxwell had been “vilified” and “pilloried” and “tried and convicted in the court of public opinion.” She suggested that jurors had treated Maxwell as a stand-in for Epstein, who Sternheim said had escaped accountability: “Clever and cunning to the end, Jeffery Epstein left Ghislaine Maxwell holding the whole bag.”The sentencing served as a bookend to a lurid case that spotlighted a world where the halo of glamour concealed the routine infliction of intimate, life-changing cruelty. The case against Maxwell showed how she and Epstein used wealth and status to exploit women and girls as young as 14 years old. Prosecutors said she recruited them for him.The judge said Maxwell was “not being punished in place of Epstein or as a proxy for Epstein,” calling what Maxwell did “heinous and predatory.”Maxwell’s British-accented voice was heard for the first time since her arrest nearly two years ago. Standing at the lectern in blue prison scrubs, her ankles shackled, she acknowledged “the pain and the anguish” of the women who had addressed the court at the sentencing hearing.But she stopped short of apologizing or taking responsibility for the crimes for which she was convicted.Understand the Ghislaine Maxwell CaseCard 1 of 5An Epstein confidant. More

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      Gov. Hochul Cruises to Democratic Primary Win in New York

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York took a crucial step toward winning a full term on Tuesday, easily fending off a pair of spirited primary challengers and cementing her status as the state’s top Democrat less than a year after she unexpectedly took office.The runaway victory by Ms. Hochul, the state’s first female governor, sets the stage for what could be a grueling general election contest against Representative Lee Zeldin, a conservative congressional ally of former President Donald J. Trump who beat out three fellow Republicans in a gritty race for his party’s nomination.Ms. Hochul enters the November contest with deep structural advantages: She has the power of the governor’s office and overflowing campaign accounts, her party enjoys a more than two-to-one registration advantage and Republicans have not won statewide in New York since Gov. George E. Pataki secured a third term in 2002.But with warning signs flashing red for Democrats nationally and New Yorkers in a dour mood over elevated crime and skyrocketing prices for housing, gas and a week’s groceries, both parties were preparing to run as if even deep blue New York could be in play this fall.The general election contest promises to have sweeping implications that ripple well beyond New York in the aftermath of two recent landmark Supreme Court decisions that ended the federal right to an abortion and curtailed New York’s ability to regulate firearms. The state has long been a safe haven for abortion and had one of the most restrictive laws regulating firearms, positions Mr. Zeldin and Mr. Giuliani oppose and could try to change if one of them wins.With that fight looming, Democratic primary voters on Tuesday chose Ms. Hochul, a middle-of-the-road incumbent who spent the campaign’s final weeks casting herself as a steady protector of the state’s liberal values — if not the firebrand or soaring orator who have found success in other races.“We cannot and will not let right-wing extremists set us backward on all the decades of progress we’ve made right here, whether it’s a Trump cheerleader running for the governor of the State of New York or Trump’s appointed justices on the Supreme Court,” Ms. Hochul told supporters at a victory party in TriBeCa in Manhattan.Standing, symbolically, under a glass ceiling, a jubilant Ms. Hochul added that she stood “on the shoulders of generations of women” in her effort to become the first to win the governorship.Ms. Hochul planned to quickly return to Albany, where she has called the Legislature back for a rare special session to respond to the Supreme Court ruling invalidating a century-old state gun control law.The race was called by The Associated Press 25 minutes after the polls closed in New York.Ms. Hochul had won 67 percent of the Democratic primary vote, with 50 percent of the expected vote counted. Jumaane D. Williams, the left-leaning New York City public advocate, had won 21 percent of the vote. Representative Thomas R. Suozzi, a Long Island moderate who ran an aggressively adversarial campaign focused on cutting crime and taxes, won 12 percent of the vote.A Guide to New York’s 2022 Primary ElectionsAs prominent Democratic officials seek to defend their records, Republicans see opportunities to make inroads in general election races.Governor’s Race: Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to fend off energetic challenges from two fellow Democrats, while the four-way G.O.P. contest has been playing in part like a referendum on Donald J. Trump.Where the Candidates Stand: Ahead of the primaries for governor on June 28, our political reporters questioned the seven candidates on crime, taxes, abortion and more.Maloney vs. Nadler: New congressional lines have put the two stalwart Manhattan Democrats — including New York City’s last remaining Jewish congressman — on a collision course in the Aug. 23 primary.15 Democrats, 1 Seat: A newly redrawn House district in New York City may be one of the largest and most freewheeling primaries in the nation.Offensive Remarks: Carl P. Paladino, a Republican running for a House seat in Western New York, recently drew backlash for praising Adolf Hitler in an interview dating back to 2021.Democratic voters also rewarded Ms. Hochul’s handpicked lieutenant governor and running mate, Antonio Delgado, who survived a spirited challenge from Ana María Archila, a progressive activist aligned with Mr. Williams. Mr. Suozzi’s running mate, Diana Reyna, was also on track to finish third.Mr. Delgado, a former Hudson Valley congressman, was only sworn in a month ago after the governor’s first lieutenant, Brian A. Benjamin, resigned in the face of federal bribery charges and after Ms. Hochul pushed for a legal change to get him on the ballot.His victory was a the night’s second significant disappointment for progressives, who saw Ms. Archila as their best shot at winning statewide office this year. Ultimately, she could not overcome the vast financial and institutional advantages that helped Mr. Delgado blanket TVs and radios in advertising.Primaries in other statewide races — for U.S. Senate, state attorney general, comptroller and the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor — were uncontested.Turnout was relatively low across the state, especially compared with 2018. Combined with President Biden’s slumping approval ratings, Ms. Hochul’s relative newness to office and strong Republican performances last fall in Virginia, New Jersey and on Long Island, the figures were enough to give Democrats cause for concern as they pivoted toward a general election.“Democrats better not take this for granted because Lee Zeldin is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Isaac Goldberg, a New York Democratic strategist not working on the race. “He will appeal well to his fellow suburbanites who don’t know how far right he truly is.”Mr. Zeldin, 42, defeated Andrew Giuliani, who had captured far-right support based on his connections to Mr. Trump, his former boss, and the former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, his father. Mr. Zeldin had 42 percent of the vote, with 55 percent of expected votes reported.He also beat Harry Wilson, a corporate turnaround specialist who burned more than $10 million of his own money into his campaign, and Rob Astorino, the party’s 2014 nominee for governor.The victory was a triumph for the state’s Republican establishment, which threw money and support behind Mr. Zeldin early — a wager that a young Army veteran with a track record of winning tight races on eastern Long Island could appeal to the independents and disaffected Democrats that Republicans need to sway in New York to have a path to victory.Mr. Zeldin has tried to orient his campaign around bipartisan fears about public safety and inflation, promising to open up the state’s Southern Tier to fracking natural gas, reverse the state’s cashless bail law and end coronavirus vaccine requirements, while accusing Ms. Hochul of doing too little to restore public safety.BDemocrats have already started amplifying Mr. Zeldin’s more conservative positions on guns (Mr. Zeldin once said he opposed New York’s red-flag law), abortion rights (he celebrated last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade), and, above all, his embrace of Mr. Trump and vote on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn the results of the presidential election in key swing states.No Republican candidate who opposes abortion rights has won New York’s top office in the half-century since the state legalized abortion.For Ms. Hochul, 63, Tuesday’s vote was the first major test of electoral strength since she unexpectedly came to power last August, when Mr. Cuomo resigned as governor in the face of sexual harassment allegations.A Buffalo native in a party dominated by New York City Democrats, Ms. Hochul had spent much of career toiling in relative obscurity, briefly as a congresswoman from western New York and for nearly six years as Mr. Cuomo’s lieutenant governor.She moved quickly to establish herself as a political force as much as a governing one, leaving little doubt that she was the Democratic front-runner. She won the endorsement of nearly every major Democrat and labor union, assembled a $34 million war chest to vastly outspend her opponents on TV and glossy mailers and took pains to balance the concerns of Black and progressive lawmakers and New Yorkers fearful of crime when pushing for a set of modest changes to the state’s bail laws this spring.She had to withstand aggressive critiques from Mr. Suozzi on her right and Mr. Williams on her left, who argued that she was doing too little to address soaring housing prices or crime and portrayed the governor as another creature of Albany’s corrupt establishment.Polls also showed that Ms. Hochul’s decision to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills was especially unpopular with voters. Like fears about public safety, the deal could re-emerge as a campaign issue this fall.But in the primary contest, at least, it did not matter. Ms. Hochul’s winning margin and coalition closely resembled the ones that sent Mr. Cuomo to Albany for three terms: a strong showing in the New York City suburbs; upstate strongholds in Albany, Buffalo and Rochester; and among Black and Latino voters in New York City.There were also signs that her emphasis on abortion and guns was resonating with voters she will need to turn out in November.“We need someone who can stand up for women’s rights and safety in our schools and a cleaner environment,” said Rebecca Thomas, a financial consultant who cast her vote Tuesday morning in Manhattan’s Battery Park City, at the same site where Mr. Giuliani cast his ballot.Of her fellow voter, she added: “Wrong person, wrong time.”Téa Kvetenadze More

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      Under Court’s Shadow, N.Y. Governor Candidates Lob Final Pitches

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      Rulings on abortion and guns shape the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s primary.A pair of seismic rulings by the Supreme Court jolted the race for governor of New York on Sunday, as Democrats and Republicans made final pitches to an electorate that found itself at the center of renewed national debates over guns and abortion rights.All three Democratic candidates for governor fanned out Sunday morning to Black churches in Harlem and Queens, Manhattan’s Pride March and street corners across the city to denounce the rulings and promise an aggressive response.“We’re going to pass a law that’s going to say, you can’t bring a weapon into this church on a Sunday,” Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Democratic front-runner, assured congregants at Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral of New York in Jamaica, Queens.“I don’t want those guns on subways, either,” she added. “I don’t want them in playgrounds. I don’t want them near schools.”The Republican candidates, who mostly lauded both rulings, generally stuck to other messages with broad appeal to a state where both abortion rights and gun control are popular — attacking Ms. Hochul for New York’s rising inflation and elevated crime rates.But in at least one episode, the abortion issue was hard to avoid. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, said that he was slapped in the back by a grocery store employee referencing abortion on Sunday afternoon while he was campaigning for his son, Andrew, on Staten Island.“The one thing he said that was political was ‘you’re going to kill women, you’re going to kill women,’” said Mr. Giuliani, who said he understood the remark to be a reference to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday.The police, who did not confirm the abortion remark, said a suspect was in custody but had not been charged. The younger Mr. Giuliani was not on hand.Equal parts exuberance and frustration, the final pitches roughly hewed the battle lines that were drawn months ago in races that have been punctuated by violent tragedies — like the racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket in May — and buffeted by quality-of-life concerns.Wendy Dominski of Youngstown, N.Y., left, exchanged a blown kiss with Andrew Giuliani as he arrived at Lebanon Valley Speedway in New Lebanon, N.Y.Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesOnly this time, the fights played out in the shadow of the Supreme Court decisions issued in recent days on abortion rights and New York’s ability to regulate firearms. The rulings have injected a fresh dynamic into the races and appear to have given Democrats a new sense of urgency.Ms. Hochul, the state’s first female governor, put both rulings at the center of her weekend hopscotch across the city, highlighting her decisions to spend $35 million to aid abortion access and call lawmakers back to Albany next week for a special legislative session to address the justices’ decision to overturn a 100-year-old New York law limiting the ability to carry concealed weapons.Hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, the governor raced to a protest in Manhattan’s Union Square, promising thousands of New Yorkers that New York would be a “safe harbor” for abortion under her leadership.In a show of her standing with the state’s Democratic establishment, Ms. Hochul and her running mate, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, also trotted out powerful Democratic surrogates. Mayor Eric Adams campaigned with them in Brooklyn on Saturday, and Representative Gregory W. Meeks, the chairman of the Queens Democratic Party who has prodded her to put together a more diverse campaign, accompanied her to church on Sunday.“I’m not telling you who to vote for,” Ms. Hochul teased in Jamaica. “You’re not supposed to do that in church.”Some voters said they were already impressed.“Thus far, I’ve been happy with what she’s done,” said Shirley Gist, a 74-year-old retired speech pathologist who voted early for Ms. Hochul on Saturday. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”Governor Hochul campaigned at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York in Queens on Sunday.Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesJumaane D. Williams, New York City’s left-leaning public advocate, and Representative Thomas R. Suozzi, who is running to Ms. Hochul’s right, did their best at a Sunday appearance at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem to convince the uncommitted of just the opposite.“I’m a common-sense Democrat. I’m tired of far left, and I’m tired of crazy right,” Mr. Suozzi said in remarks where he tied himself to Mr. Adams’s crime-fighting plans and pledged to cut taxes and improve public education. He knocked Ms. Hochul for accepting support from the National Rifle Association in past campaigns — an affiliation she has since disavowed.Mr. Williams did not explicitly address the Supreme Court decisions but laid blame nonetheless at the feet of Democratic power structure.“I have to be clear, Democratic leadership has failed this time,” he said. “They failed to act.”Still, it was far from clear that the attacks would be enough to turn the tide against Ms. Hochul, who is spending millions of dollars more in advertising than either primary opponent and holds a large lead in public polls. In fact, some Democrats predicted that backlash to the Supreme Court rulings would only help Ms. Hochul, a moderate from Buffalo who only took office last summer.“What can the two Democratic challengers do?” said former Gov. David A. Paterson. “They can’t be against it, so they have to kind of sit and watch.”He predicted a comfortable win for Ms. Hochul: “When people are embattled, they tend to vote more pragmatically,” he said.Democrats will also decide on a candidate for lieutenant governor on Tuesday. Mr. Delgado has ample institutional support, but he faces a pair of spirited challenges from Ana María Archila, a progressive activist aligned with Mr. Williams, and Diana Reyna, a more moderate Democrat running with Mr. Suozzi.Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate, said Democratic leadership has failed.Craig Ruttle/Associated PressThe winner will face Alison Esposito, a Republican and longtime New York City police officer.The Republican race for governor has been considerably more lively — full of name-calling, increasing disdain and sharper policy differences between the candidates. But with scant public polling available and most of the candidates still struggling to establish name recognition with primary voters, even the state’s most-connected Republicans were scratching their heads.“I have no idea how this turns out,” said John J. Faso, a former Republican congressman and the party’s 2006 nominee for governor.With Mr. Giuliani and Harry Wilson nipping at his heels, Representative Lee Zeldin, the presumptive front-runner backed by the State Republican Party, spent the weekend touring upstate New York in a campaign bus trying to shore up support in regions that typically sway his party’s primary.“Everybody’s hitting their breaking point right now,” Mr. Zeldin told a small crowd of about three dozen who gathered in an industrial park outside of Albany. He promised to rehire people who had been fired for refusing to be vaccinated, and to fire the Manhattan district attorney, who has become a punching bag for Republicans.Another candidate, Rob Astorino, spent Sunday shaking hands with potential voters on the boardwalk in Long Beach on Long Island.Mr. Wilson, a moderate who favors abortion rights and has positioned himself as a centrist outsider, has done relatively little in person campaigning. But he has blanketed the airwaves with more than $10 million worth of advertisements filleting Mr. Zeldin as a flip-flopping political insider.Near Albany, an entirely different message was being delivered by Andrew Giuliani, who spent Saturday night spinning laps around the Lebanon Valley Speedway in a Ram pickup emblazoned with his face. He gleefully tied himself to his former boss, Donald J. Trump: “You like that guy, right?”Though Mr. Giuliani, 36, is an outspoken critic of abortion and proponent of firearms, he spent much of his three hours at the speedway Saturday night reminding voters of his MAGA credentials.The cheers that rose from the crowd suggested he was among friends.Wearing an American flag wrap over a tank top, Wendy Dominski, 52, a retired nurse who drove five hours from Youngstown, N.Y., to volunteer for the event, said the other Republicans in the race are either RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — or “flat-out flip-flop liars.”She had little doubt who the former president supports, even if he hasn’t said so. “Giuliani stands for everything that Trump stands for, and that we stand for,” she said.Reporting was contributed by More

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      N.Y. Republican Quandary: How to Veer Right and Still Win in November

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      Most of the Republican candidates for governor are embracing conservative stances as the primary nears, but that may turn off moderate voters in November.POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — For most of his early political career, Lee M. Zeldin was a classic Long Island moderate Republican: As an Army officer elected to the State Senate, he worked with Democrats to champion causes like tax cuts, veterans’ benefits and even beer, protecting breweries in his district and elsewhere.That centrism began to fade after Mr. Zeldin was elected to Congress in 2014 and was cast off completely after the election of President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Zeldin was one of the earlier House Republicans to embrace Mr. Trump, a fealty that culminated in his vote to overturn the results of the 2020 election in key swing states.Now, Mr. Zeldin may be forced to reconcile his past and present stances as he pursues a run for governor this year, a tricky balancing act that will require him to win a surprisingly fractious four-way Republican primary on Tuesday and then try to appeal to a far more moderate general electorate.Mr. Zeldin has largely stayed in the right lane, voicing allegiance to an array of conservative touchstones, including support for the Second Amendment, rejection of abortion and a devotion to Mr. Trump.Even so, he on some occasions has seemed mindful of the general election audience, a nuance that has emerged in subtle ways in debates, interviews and on the stump.Mr. Zeldin, for example, celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday, calling it “a victory for life, for family, for the constitution, and for federalism” and adding that “New York clearly needs to do a much better job to promote, respect and defend life.” But last month, before the decision, he had also been keen to stress that “nothing changes” for states like New York, which have enshrined abortion rights.On the Second Amendment, Mr. Zeldin cheered the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to strike down a century-old law that placed strict limits on the carrying of handguns, calling it “a historic, proper and necessary victory.” He also says he would like to overturn a 2013 state law — the Safe Act — that tightened state guns laws.But after the recent massacre at a Buffalo supermarket, Mr. Zeldin walked back a call for the abolition of so-called red-flag laws, which prohibit gun ownership for those deemed a threat to themselves and others. He clarified that he simply felt such laws shouldn’t apply to “law-abiding New Yorkers.”Mr. Zeldin, right, with Kirk Imperati, the acting Dutchess County sheriff who is running for election.Richard Beaven for The New York TimesAnd even as Mr. Zeldin has attacked rivals for being “never-Trumpers” and Republicans in name only, he has stopped short of saying the 2020 election was stolen and didn’t exactly endorse a 2024 Trump campaign during the candidates’ first debate.“If President Trump wants to run,” Mr. Zeldin said, “he should run.”On Tuesday, too, when asked during the candidates’ final debate — hosted by Newsmax, the conservative cable network — if he was politically closer to Mr. Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence, Mr. Zeldin demurred, saying he was his “own man” — and drew a mixed reaction from a live audience in Rochester.Indeed, the challenge facing Mr. Zeldin, the putative front-runner endorsed by the state Republican Party, is one facing all four party candidates ahead of the primary on Tuesday: How to appeal to primary voters, hungry for red-meat issues like crime, immigration and social welfare, while not alienating more moderate swing voters who are dissatisfied with President Biden or Gov. Kathy Hochul, the incumbent Democrat favored to win her primary on Tuesday.Such a balancing act, political consultants from both parties say, is central to achieving one of the most daunting tasks in American politics: winning a statewide race in New York as a Republican.No Republican has done so since George E. Pataki won a third term as governor in 2002. And in the decades since, the task has become even more difficult as the state’s demographics have steadily drifted left while New York Republicans — once known for centrists like former governor Nelson A. Rockefeller — have banked hard to the right.“Right now, you have a race to the absolute bottom,” said Jefrey Pollock, the veteran pollster who is working with Ms. Hochul, referring to what he described as the Republicans’ pandering to right-wing voters. “So what you get is Republican candidates who are going to be incredibly out of step with general election voters on things that are going to be in the news, like guns and abortion and Donald Trump.”Mr. Zeldin’s victory in the primary is far from assured, with a spirited challenge coming from three rivals: Rob Astorino, the former Westchester County executive; Harry Wilson, a corporate turnaround specialist; and Andrew Giuliani, the son of the former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.Some voter surveys have shown Mr. Giuliani running a close second, or even surpassing, Mr. Zeldin in the closing weeks of the campaign.Even if Mr. Zeldin is the winner on Tuesday, it will be an uphill climb to the governor’s mansion in Albany. In pure statistical terms, Republicans are a third party in New York, trailing Democrats by more than three million registered members, and also outnumbered by nonaffiliated voters. And the calculus for Republicans winning in a statewide election generally means winning at least 30 percent of the vote in New York City, which is heavily Democratic. Still, with voters across the country rejecting Democratic leadership, and concern about crime and cost of living spiking in New York, Republicans believe this year could be an exception to that terrible track record. Even Democrats acknowledge that it could be a good year for Republicans, who lost their last foothold of power in Albany — control of the State Senate — in the 2018 elections. Mr. Zeldin insists that his proposed policies will remain constant even after the primary, emphasizing that he believes New Yorkers are most focused on kitchen-table issues like the economy, taxes and public safety.“These are issues that resonate with Republicans, these are issues that also resonate with independents, and they’re resonating with Democrats as well,” he said in an interview, adding that while “the conversation may be different in a general election,” on issues like guns, “My positions won’t change. My positions don’t change.”Like other Republicans, he’s also tried to emphasize less polarizing policies — mocking “the geniuses in Albany” and laying out ideas like stopping out-migration from the state, as well as reducing crime and government mandates.“We rule the government,” he said. “They don’t rule us.”From left to right, Harry Wilson, Rob Astorino, Lee Zeldin and Andrew Giuliani, at a recent debate of Republican candidates for governor.Pool photo by Brittainy NewmanLikewise, Mr. Zeldin’s Republican primary opponents seem aware of the calculations Republicans must make with voters.Mr. Wilson, a wealthy Greek American from the well-to-do enclave of Scarsdale, N.Y., is probably the campaign’s closest approximation of a moderate, having voiced support for abortion rights and advised the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama. He says he refused to vote for Mr. Trump in 2020 and wrote in Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and United Nations ambassador under Mr. Trump.Mr. Wilson, who has plowed more than $10 million of his own money into his campaign, has also shunned litmus tests on social issues, saying he’s running on an economic platform. He prefers to speak in wonky bullet points about overhauling state government and producing more housing units.“What I’m trying to do is lay out very clearly how different I am than any other candidate,” said Mr. Wilson said in a recent interview. “You used the term moderate. I think about it as someone who is not a politician — an outsider who has spent his entire career fixing failed organizations. And we need to hire a governor who has the capability to fix the most failed state government in the country.”Mr. Astorino, the former Westchester County executive, knows about the challenges of winning statewide in New York; he was the party’s unsuccessful nominee for governor in 2014. Still, he’s touted something Republicans have often pushed aside in primary contests in recent years: electability. He argues that Mr. Zeldin’s trail of votes in Albany and Washington has made him toxic to many New Yorkers.“I’m the most electable Republican in this race,” he said, noting his record winning Democratic crossover votes in “overwhelmingly blue Westchester County.”In an interview, Mr. Astorino played down the impact of Mr. Trump’s shadow over the race, insisting that voters would focus more on real-life concerns than on whom Mr. Trump might favor.“There’s the quality of life, the chaos, the dangerousness, the radicalism that’s taken hold because of the progressives right now,” he said. “All of that is subplot in this, but the basics are the economy, taxes, jobs and crime.”In the first debate, Mr. Astorino also went further than any other candidate in tying Mr. Trump to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, calling it “a horrible day in our nation’s history,” and saying that Mr. Trump “bears some responsibility.”Mr. Giuliani seems to be the most willing to embrace far-right talking points, seemingly hoping to energize the base by leaning on his father and emphasizing divisive culture-war topics. He railed against “the leftist media,” consideration for transgender people and critical race theory.Mr. Giuliani, who worked in the Trump administration for four years, has also actively sought Mr. Trump’s backing and unequivocally voiced his belief in the baseless conspiracy theory that Mr. Trump had won the 2020 election, the outcome of which he called “one of the greatest crimes in American history.”But in terms of political accomplishments and experience, Mr. Zeldin, who has represented the eastern part of Long Island since 2015, seems to have the upper hand. Trained as a lawyer, Mr. Zeldin passed the bar at the age of 23 and served in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer and prosecutor, as well as being deployed to Iraq with the 82d Airborne in 2006. He still serves in the Army Reserve; married with two twin daughters, Mr. Zeldin likes to joke that he is “the fourth highest- ranking person” in his family.On a recent Thursday night, in front of a well-dressed coterie of Republican faithful at an elegant event space in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Mr. Zeldin noted all the reasons he had for not running for governor, including the fact that he could have easily won another term and perhaps had a leadership position in a potential Republican majority in the House.But he said he was called to run to “save our state,” arguing — in a catch phrase from his campaign — that “losing is not an option.”“I’m not in this race to win a primary,” Mr. Zeldin said, stirring the audience to its feet. “I’m in this race to win in November.” More

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      Hochul Has Raised $34 Million So Far. Her Goal May Be Double That.

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul’s fund-raising pace could make her run for a full term the most expensive campaign ever for governor of New York.It was the night after the first debate among the major Democrats running to be New York’s governor, and the favored incumbent, Gov. Kathy Hochul, was in a fund-raising mood.As Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” played on the sound system at Hush HK, a gay bar in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, Ms. Hochul worked the crowd of well-connected guests who had paid $500 to $25,000 apiece to attend the June 8 event.As voters prepare for the Democratic primary on Tuesday, Ms. Hochul appears to be a prohibitive favorite over her rivals, Representative Thomas R. Suozzi of Long Island and Jumaane D. Williams, New York City’s public advocate.That has not stopped her from raising campaign cash at a furious pace: Ms. Hochul, who had already collected roughly $34 million in political donations as of Thursday, has set a target of raising a total of $50 million to $70 million by Election Day, according to three Democrats familiar with her plans.“The stakes of this election could not be higher and Governor Hochul is proud of the widespread support for her campaign,” Jen Goodman, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul’s campaign, said in a statement. “The governor will continue to build momentum from now until November, connecting with voters across the state and working tirelessly to deliver results for all New Yorkers.”Ms. Hochul and her team have exhaustively pursued contributions from all corners of the donor class: real estate and health care, cryptocurrency and gambling.And she shows no signs of letting up: On Monday, the day before the primary, Ms. Hochul plans a rooftop fund-raiser on Manhattan’s Far West Side. Admission costs a minimum of $100. Hosts are asked to give or raise $25,000.Should Ms. Hochul achieve her desired fund-raising goal, she may be in the running for most expensive campaign for governor in New York history — rivaling only the billionaire Tom Golisano’s failed bid to unseat Gov. George E. Pataki in 2002, an effort with an estimated cost of $54 million to $74 million. She will also put herself in league with similarly expensive campaigns for governor in Virginia and California.Ms. Hochul’s fund-raising effort is somewhat rooted in Albany tradition, with governors often gathering money from donors with business before the state even while the State Legislature is in session.“This is essentially an open seat, so I can understand the logic for why she wants to raise as much as she does to ward off significant competition,” said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a government watchdog. “On the other hand, where does the money come from?”A Guide to New York’s 2022 Primary ElectionsAs prominent Democratic officials seek to defend their records, Republicans see opportunities to make inroads in general election races.Governor’s Race: Kathy Hochul, the incumbent, is expected to handily win against Jumaane Williams and Tom Suozzi in the Democratic primary on June 28. But some allies worry her low-key approach comes at a cost.Lieutenant Governor’s Race: Ms. Hochul’s handpicked candidate is facing a sharp challenge from the Democratic Party’s left wing.Maloney vs. Nadler: New congressional lines have put the two stalwart Manhattan Democrats — including New York City’s last remaining Jewish congressman — on a collision course in the Aug. 23 primary.15 Democrats, 1 Seat: A newly redrawn House district in New York City may be one of the largest and most freewheeling primaries in the nation.Offensive Remarks: Carl P. Paladino, a Republican running for a House seat in Western New York, recently drew backlash for praising Adolf Hitler in an interview dating back to 2021.Ms. Hochul became the state’s first female governor last August after Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment that the state’s attorney general deemed credible.Many of her donations have come from the gambling industry, which is eagerly awaiting the issuance of up to three new licenses for casinos in and around New York City.In recent months. Ms. Hochul has raised more than $200,000 from donors with direct interests in gambling. More than $100,000 of that sum came from contributors associated with Hard Rock, a company that wants to open a casino in New York City, records show.Donors tied to Hard Rock gave Ms. Hochul $80,000 from June 18 to June 23, building on the nearly $40,000 they have given her since she became governor. Jim Allen, Hard Rock International’s chairman, was the largest single donor associated with the company. He gave Ms. Hochul $25,000 on June 20 after contributing almost $13,000 to her campaign in January, the reports show.In addition, Edward Tracy, the chief executive of Hard Rock Japan LLC and a former chief executive at the Trump Organization, gave Ms. Hochul $25,000 on Thursday.A Hard Rock representative declined to comment on the contributions and referred questions to Ms. Hochul’s campaign.Ms. Hochul smashed previous fund-raising records when she announced a $21.6 million haul at the beginning of the year, by far the largest amount any New York candidate had reported for a single filing period.She has continued pulling in money at a dizzying clip, in some cases raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day. She reported taking in $340,000 on Tuesday and another $200,000 on Wednesday, campaign finance records show. That is more than Mr. Suozzi raised in the previous three-week reporting period, which ended in mid-June.Ms. Hochul’s campaign team believes she needs a large campaign war chest to help ensure victory in an election cycle that is widely expected to favor Republicans. While she has been largely absent from the campaign trail, she has been a far more frenetic presence on the fund-raising circuit.On Wednesday, the chief executive of CLEAR — whose biometric technology is used to screen passengers at New York airports — hosted a fund-raiser for Ms. Hochul at Zero Bond, a nightclub often frequented by Mayor Eric Adams. Tickets cost $5,000 to $25,000, according to one invitee.In the most recent filings, which trickle in daily and include contributions since June 14, Ms. Hochul had already exceeded $1 million by Friday, with an average donation of about $10,000 and two new donors giving her the maximum $69,700. Since taking office, at least 10 percent of her cash has come from donors giving the maximum.Real estate interests, still smarting from their loss of a lucrative tax break that lapsed this year, continue to pour money into Ms. Hochul’s campaign. Two members of the Cayre real estate family, which controls the Midtown Equities firm, donated the maximum this week, bringing the family’s total to more than $400,000 since November.The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Several real estate titans have found a way to keep on giving even after hitting their limit with Ms. Hochul’s campaign: contribute to her running mate, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, instead. In the last few days alone, Mr. Delgado has picked up several five-figure checks from real estate industry contributors who had already maxed out to Ms. Hochul, pushing his total from all donors since June 16 to almost $600,000.Mr. Delgado succeeded Brian Benjamin, who resigned after prosecutors indicted him on federal bribery and fraud charges. The night before the indictment was announced, Ms. Hochul was at a fund-raiser in Midtown Manhattan that featured a performance of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by a former governor, David Paterson.“The lyrics for ‘Dock of the Bay’ are quite existential,” Mr. Paterson said in an interview this week before reciting them to a reporter. More

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      How to Vote in New York’s Primary Election

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      How to vote early or on Election Day as Gov. Kathy Hochul seeks to fend off Democratic rivals and as Republicans pick a challenger.The race for New York’s next governor is in full swing, and Primary Day is set for Tuesday, June 28. The early voting period began last weekend and continues through Sunday.The primary will decide some important questions: Will Gov. Kathy Hochul, who took office after her predecessor resigned last August, notch a decisive win over Democratic challengers? And who will be the leading face of the state’s Republicans?Here’s what you need to know about the primaries for governor, and the other races on the ballot.Who’s running for governor and lieutenant governor?In the Democratic primary, Governor Hochul is running against two challengers: Representative Tom Suozzi, a Long Island congressman, and Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate.The four Republican candidates for governor are Representative Lee Zeldin, a Long Island congressman endorsed by the state party; Rob Astorino, a former Westchester County executive who ran for governor in 2014; Harry Wilson, a former hedge fund manager; and Andrew Giuliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a Trump ally.In New York, lieutenant governors are elected separately. In the Democratic race, Ms. Hochul’s deputy, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, is running against Diana Reyna, a former City Council member running in tandem with Mr. Suozzi, and Ana María Archila, an activist allied with Mr. Williams who was recently endorsed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.In the Republican primary, the only candidate for lieutenant governor is Alison Esposito, a former New York City police deputy inspector whom Mr. Zeldin named as his running mate.Ms. Hochul has a formidable lead in fund-raising over her Democratic opponents and has racked up key endorsements. She is also using the power of incumbency, emphasizing popular measures she helped push through the legislature, like a bill to shore up protections for abortion providers as an expected Supreme Court decision looms to overturn Roe v. Wade.Mr. Williams, who is challenging Ms. Hochul from the left, ran a competitive race against her for lieutenant governor in 2018 but has not gathered the same momentum this time. Mr. Suozzi is bucking party leaders in a bid to outflank the governor from the right with a focus on crime and taxes.The Republican race has been playing in part like a referendum on former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Zeldin, once considered a moderate, has become a strong Trump supporter who has accused rivals of insufficient fealty to the former president. That dynamic, whoever the winners, sets up a stark contrast between the parties ahead of the general election.What other races are on the ballot?The June 28 ballot also includes primary races for the State Assembly, the lower chamber of the Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats. All 150 seats are up for grabs in the fall, though not all members face primary challenges.In the Democratic Assembly races, a slate of left-leaning candidates are challenging a number of established members.They aim to push Democrats to commit to progressive agenda items — such as climate bills, including one allowing the state to build publicly owned renewable energy projects — or defeat them by focusing on those issues.Candidates for state attorney general and state comptroller are unopposed in the primaries, as is U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, though he will have a Republican challenger in the fall.Voters in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens can also vote on candidates for judgeships.When and how can I cast my ballot in person?The early voting period began last weekend and continues through Sunday, June 26.You can also vote on Election Day, Tuesday June 28. Polls are open that day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.How do I find my polling place?In most cases, your polling place during the early voting period will be different from the one you’d go to on Election Day. Enter your address here to find the locations for each.That website will also tell you the hours for early voting at your polling place, the locations of accessible entrances, and which legislative districts you’re in. You may also have received a voter guide in the mail that contains this information.Anyone who encounters obstacles to voting can call the state’s election protection hotline at 866-390-2992.How do I vote by absentee ballot?The deadline has passed to apply for an absentee ballot by mail, but you can apply for one online here.You can also apply in person at your county board of elections until June 27, or identify someone else to deliver your application. You can cite the Covid-19 pandemic or a number of other issues as reasons you’d like to vote absentee.But under a recent change in the law, if you request an absentee ballot and then decide to vote in person instead of voting on a machine, you will have to submit an affidavit ballot.Absentee ballots must be mailed or submitted to your county election board by Election Day. Mailed ballots must arrive by July 5 to be counted. To see if yours has been received, use the new absentee ballot tracking tool recently added to the state’s voter registration and poll site search page.Just over 89,000 ballots had been cast during the early voting period as of Thursday, according to the state board of elections.Why is New York having another primary in August?The state’s highest court rejected redrawn election maps, declaring the district lines drawn by Democrats were unconstitutional. So the primaries for Congress and State Senate were pushed to Aug. 23 to give a court-appointed special master time to redraw the districts.One race to watch: Representative Jerrold Nadler, an Upper West Side Democrat, is battling Representative Carolyn Maloney, a fellow Democrat who represents the Upper East Side, after redistricting mingled their districts.Another high-profile race is happening further downtown and in parts of Brooklyn, where 15 Democrats have moved to enter a primary for a newly drawn open seat, including a congressman, a former congresswoman, and an ex-mayor. More