A Democratic Governors Association-backed super PAC just collected $4.34 million to keep Kathy Hochul in the governor's mansion, and the donor list reads like a hostage negotiation between Bloomberg, the hospital lobby, and the online gambling industry. The group, Greater Empire State, started airing anti-Blakeman ads Saturday, according to the New York Post, while insisting Hochul is in a "commanding position" and that nobody is worried. Nobody spends four million bucks on a race they aren't worried about.
Follow the Money, Then Follow the Money Again
Let's start with the checks. Between late July and Oct. 2, Greater Empire State pulled in $4.34 million, per its state campaign filings. Michael Bloomberg gave $1 million. The Greater New York Hospital Association Management Corp. gave $1 million. Leadership for New York, a super PAC run by strategist Jay Martin, a former executive director at the New York Apartment Association, gave another $1 million.
That's three million dollars from three sources, and not one of them is a regular person who got misty-eyed watching a Hochul campaign video. This is the sound of institutional New York buying insurance.
The rest of the haul is where it gets fun. The Sports Betting Alliance, which exists to push online gambling interests, kicked in $600,000. Hess Corporation CEO John B. Hess also chipped in. If you wanted a donor list that screams "we would like the governor to stay friendly," you could not hire a better copywriter.
The Ad Is Just One Name Repeated Until It Hurts
The PAC released its first two general election ads Saturday, hammering "MAGA Bruce Blakeman" for backing "Donald Trump's cost-raising agenda that is hurting New York." Subtle it is not. The man's name is Bruce Blakeman, and the ad would like you to hear "MAGA" first and "Bruce" second.
This is the whole Hochul strategy in one neat package. During Tuesday's debate, she said Trump's name roughly 20 times, trying to staple his unpopularity in deep-blue New York, especially New York City, onto Blakeman's forehead. Twenty times in one debate. At that point you're not debating, you're doing an exorcism.
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, answered that he and the president are friends, but that the friendship won't influence his decisions if he becomes governor. Voters can decide how much weight that assurance deserves from a guy running as the Trump-friendly option in a state Trump has not exactly carried in a landslide.
Nobody Is Worried, Please Stop Asking
Here's the part that made me laugh out loud. Kevin Donohue, a spokesman for the super PAC, said Hochul "is in a commanding position to win re-election" and that her coattails will help Democrats win big down-ballot. He also said Blakeman's campaign is "struggling with weak polling and fundraising."
Meanwhile, a Pollfinity survey released Tuesday had Blakeman within 3 points of Hochul. Another official for the PAC then claimed "they are not worried about this race."
Look, I've seen people who aren't worried. They don't announce it to reporters while writing a $4.3 million check. Commanding positions do not usually come with a late-October cash infusion, and the Hochul campaign already got a $10 million boost from the state Democratic Committee last month. That's $14 million in help for a candidate who is supposedly cruising.
Blakeman's Camp Smells Blood and a Talking Point
Blakeman spokeswoman Madison Spanodemos wasted no time. She said the late money "shows just how desperate Dems are," and called Hochul "the worst governor in America for her high taxes and soaring electric bills." She added that Hochul "can spend millions trying to cover for her failed record, but money can't overshadow the highest taxes and utility bills in the nation."
The hyperbole is doing a lot of work there. "Worst governor in America" is a big claim in a country that contains, you know, other governors. But the pitch is clear: Blakeman wants this to be about your electric bill, not about his phone contacts.
And that's the real fight. Hochul wants a referendum on Trump. Blakeman wants a referendum on Hochul. Whoever wins that framing probably wins the race, and both campaigns know it, which is why the ads, the debate lines, and the spokespeople all sound like they were generated by the same two opposing slogan machines.
Who Exactly Is Buying This Governor
The Hochul campaign declined comment, which is the most honest thing anyone said in this entire story. Because here's the awkward bit for a candidate whose side is running ads about a rival's corporate-friendly, billionaire-friendly agenda: her own supporting PAC is stuffed with a billionaire, a hospital trade group, a real estate-adjacent political operation, and a gambling lobby.
None of that is illegal. All of it is how modern campaigns work. But if you're going to hit your opponent for serving powerful interests, it helps when your own allies' donor list doesn't look like a seating chart at a lobbyist's wedding.
To be fair, the other side isn't pure either, and Republicans wrote the book on big money in politics. This is the system both parties built and both parties feed. It's just funnier when the party that talks about getting money out of politics needs a seven-figure check from the sports betting people to hold a statewide race.
The Dingo Take
In the last days of a doomed siege, the defenders always start sending out heralds to announce that morale is excellent, supplies are plentiful, and the enemy is on the verge of collapse. Then the gates open and everyone sees the empty granary. That's what "we are not worried about this race" sounds like when it arrives attached to a $4.34 million war chest and a 3-point poll.
Hochul may well win. New York is a blue state, Trump is unpopular there, and "MAGA Bruce Blakeman" is a decent line when you repeat it twenty times in a debate. But the people closest to the race are acting like it's close, because it is close. The money doesn't lie even when the spokespeople do.
The real story is who's paying. Bloomberg, the hospital lobby, a strategist tied to the apartment industry, and the sports betting people all just bought a seat at the table. Hochul will say she answers only to New Yorkers. Fine. But when four million bucks of institutional cash shows up in October, somebody's going to expect a phone call in January.
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