(The Center Square) — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced she has tapped former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as her running mate as she seeks another term in the November elections.
Hochul’s pick sets up the first major party, all-female statewide ticket in New York history and comes as polls show the incumbent is well-positioned to win another four-years. In a statement, Hochul praised the Queens politician for her work on the City Council and said her hardscrabble upbringing has prepared her for the state’s second-in-command job.
“Raised by two union workers, Adrienne knows what it means to work hard and stand up for those who need it most,” Hochul said in a statement. “That’s why as New York City Council speaker, she led the charge to protect families, make housing more affordable, invest in our children, and stand up to anyone who seeks to harm our city.”
Adams was first elected to the City Council in 2017 and served as speaker from 2022 until the end of 2025, when she stepped down due to term limits. She ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor last year. In a statement, Adams said she was “honored” to work with the Hochul administration.
“There’s too much on the line for us to let Donald Trump raise costs, rip away child care and wage war on New York families — and Gov. Hochul and I are ready for this fight,” she said. “Let’s get to work.”
Hochul is seeking re-election to a second full term and faces a long-shot primary challenge from Democratic Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. The winner of the Democratic primary will likely face Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, who has criticized Hochul for pushing “radical leftist” policies as governor. He shrugged off Hochul’s choice of Adams as a running mate.
“Leave it to Kathy Hochul to select a radical running mate that welcomed the migrant crisis, defunded the NYPD by a billion dollars, and chased away thousands of jobs to other states,” Blakeman said in a statement.
Hochul’s announcement came just hours after Delgado announced that India Walton — a democratic socialist who previously ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Buffalo — will be his running mate in the June 23 Democratic primary.
A Siena College poll, released Tuesday, showed Hochul leading Blakeman 54% to 28% and noted the governor’s increasing support among Democrats and improved favorability ratings statewide.
Meanwhile, pollsters found Blakeman struggling to gain support for his recently launched campaign to return the New York governor’s office to Republicans for the first time in two decades.
