Harris and Clinton make case for Hochul in New York: ‘Everything is on the line’

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is scrambling to boost Democratic turnout, and she found some big names employing a familiar message to do so.

Hochul, facing a tightening race against Republican challenger Lee Zeldin as the campaign shifts focus to crime and the economy, rallied Thursday in Manhattan with Vice President Kamala Harris and former Sen. Hillary Clinton. They urged supporters to get women to the polls: Elect Hochul to a full term or put abortion rights at risk.

"We’re going to need people in the state house and at local levels who have the courage to stand up and push back against what is happening. And in that way, who is your governor matters," Harris told the crowd at Barnard College.

Hochul, like other Democrats across the country, has spent much of the campaign focused on abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A new campaign mailer from New York Democrats depicts an OBGYN from Buffalo who is "terrified for the women of New York that Lee Zeldin could become governor."

Hochul is facing an unexpectedly close race in Democratic-heavy New York with most polls showing her with leads of between 4 percentage points and 11 percentage points. That's too close for comfort in a state that has twice as many Democrats as Republicans and hasn't elected a GOP candidate statewide in two decades.

That has forced her party to bring in some of its most prized campaign surrogates to aid Hochul in a race many had written off as an easy victory for Democrats; President Joe Biden has visited New York twice over the past month to highlight the state’s economic development efforts.

“The Republicans make no secret about what they want," Clinton said. "They actually say the quiet part out loud. And Lee Zeldin and the Republicans, along with Trump and their allies, are literally fighting tooth and nail to turn back the clock. Of course they want to turn back the clock on abortion. They’ve spent 50 years trying to make that happen."

Zeldin has seized on voters' concerns about crime and the state's high cost of living, estimating it will top abortion rights and threats to democracy as the top issues on Election Day. The Long Island congressman opposes abortion, but he has vowed to not try to repeal New York's abortion access laws, which are among the most robust in the nation. Hochul further strengthened them soon after the court struck down Roe in June.

"I have been highlighting the basic point that New York a few years ago codified far more than Roe, that when we woke up a day after the Dobbs decision, the law in New York was exactly the same as it was before, and I’m not going to change it," Zeldin said in an interview Saturday.

Hochul contends that voters shouldn't buy it — pointing to the GOP-appointed Supreme Court justices who promised not to touch abortion rights, only to overturn Roe.

“I’ve heard my opponent say, 'Oh, don’t worry, the day after the Dobbs decision nothing changed in the state of New York, so don’t worry,'" Hochul told the crowd. "You know why nothing changed in the state of New York? Because I’m the governor.”

She has sought to beat back the criticism on her crime agenda by crisscrossing New York City and her own flurry of ads on her criminal justice record. But she also continues to focus on New York's protection of abortion rights — hoping to replicate Democrats' success over the summer in an upstate New York House victory and in other races across the nation where abortion was a motivating factor, including in Kansas, where an anti-abortion constitutional amendment was rejected.

Democratic strategist Bruce Gyory, who has worked for three previous governors in New York, said women — typically over age 40 — have composed 53 percent of the vote in New York's general elections for more than a decade. It could be a strong boost to Hochul's campaign if they turn out alongside younger, single women, who typically turn out more in presidential years than midterms.

Recent polls, he noted, have sampled a smaller share of women than actually turn out, which might be hurting Hochul in the polls. For example, a Siena College poll last month that showed Hochul up 11 points included 50 percent men and 49 percent women.

"The likely voter sample is not picking that voter up, and I think Republicans, in a mirror image of the Democrats in 2016, are ignoring it," Gyory said, referring to the 2016 presidential election. "What if that likely voting polling data is wrong and those younger, single women come in to vote as the women who usually vote in large numbers, which are women over 40?"

Clinton made the point about turnout Thursday morning ahead of her event with Hochul. Clinton knows about winning New York: She won two terms as U.S. senator and lives in Westchester County. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will campaign with Hochul in New York City this weekend, too.

For Hochul, the former first lady said on CNN, "I think it's more of a turnout issue. Every poll that I've seen shows Kathy Hochul still ahead, and I expect her to win on Tuesday. But a midterm election is always difficult for the party in power."

She added that Thursday's rally will emphasize "how this election has to be put on the front burner for everybody and voters need to turn out and vote for themselves, vote for making a real difference in their lives."