Gov. Hochul Kathy Hochul called New Yorkers who vote for Republican House candidates “anti-American” and “anti-women” — a smear that sparked furor across the Empire State and beyond.
“If you’re voting for these Republicans in New York, you are voting for someone who supports Donald Trump and you’re anti-women, you’re anti-abortion and basically you’re anti-American,” Hochul said on MSNBC Saturday.
“You just trashed American values and what our country is all about — over and over.”
But Republicans said it was Hochul doing the trashing — and even Democratic strategists said demonizing a large segment of voters as anti-American was not helpful to their candidates.
“This is about as helpful as a severe migraine. It’s never a good thing to identify a large segment of voters as un-American,” said ex-Democratic Rep. Max Rose, who is aiding Democrats in House races.
“Kathy Hochul doesn’t represent a majority of Democrats — anywhere,” said Rose, who served one-term representing Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn.
State Republican Party chairman Ed Cox fumed, “She’s smearing at least one half of American voters and all Trump voters.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-Hudson Valley) told The Post, “Governor Hochul has once again disgraced herself and the state of New York by calling supporters of some of the most bipartisan members of Congress ‘anti-American.’
“It’s shameful and wrong and shows exactly how much of a partisan hack Kathy Hochul really is. She must be voted out in November of 2026, but only after Republicans hold the House thanks to our New York GOP delegation.”
He noted that his Democratic opponent, ex-Rep. Mondaire Jones, didn’t appear with Hochul when she was in the 17th House district in the Hudson Valley Saturday.
Upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, called Hochul the “worst governor in America” after seeing the clip.
And state Conservative Party chairman Gerard Kassar said he was “amazed” in a scathing rebuke of the governor.
“It demonstrates why she is so unpopular,” Kassar said. “Her statement is asinine.”
Republicans said the statement is so offensive that it looks as if Hochul is angling for a job in a Kamala Harris administration, if the vice president wins, because it certainly is not a plus for a re-election bid in 2026.
A Siena College poll released last month showed that only 36% of New Yorkers gave Hochul a favorable rating, while 51% viewed her unfavorably.
A decade ago, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo caught flak for saying conservatives have “no place” in New York.
“Who are they? Right to life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay — if that’s who they are, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are,” Cuomo said in 2014.
Hochul’s camp had no immediate comment to the criticism.