New York's top Democrat pushes party toward center amid swing House races

ALBANY, New York — Crafting New York’s $237 billion state budget this year came with a purpose for Gov. Kathy Hochul: Don’t hurt House Democrats in a pivotal election year.

The spending package, approved this month, is an intended course correction for Hochul and her fellow Democrats that focuses on rebutting the two issues Republicans have seized on — the state’s lack of affordability and loosening of criminal justice laws.

The plan is meant to increase new housing to lower costs and crack down on retail crime, as well as take on the proliferation of illegal marijuana stores, particularly in New York City.

The Democratic governor was hellbent on avoiding the same mistakes this year at the insular state Capitol. Over the past two years, Republicans for state and federal races focused on state-level issues — like a controversial cashless bail law and her own ill-fated housing plan that alienated suburbanites.

“This is the strongest of her budgets, and it shows an evolution in being able to not only think through the policy implications, but the political implications of the work,” Basil Smikle, a former state party executive director, said in an interview.


https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/29/new-york-hochul-crime-housing-00154863