Two months ago, the New York gubernatorial race between Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., might have been considered an afterthought on the Democratic Party's midterms radar.
However, with 11 days before Election Day, the uber-confidence from 60 days ago has possibly been replaced by anxiety, stemming from Zeldin's sharp debate performance and consistent ascension in various media polls.
The New York Times characterized the current mood of the Hochul camp as "frantic."
From The Times' reporting, Hochul's static popularity might have Black and Hispanic/Latino voters seeking out other candidate alternatives or simply not turning out to vote at all.
"Mobilizing and activating African American voters, the backbone of the party in New York and nationally, is crucial," Neal Kwatra, a Democratic consultant, told The Times. "These voters, especially downstate, must be engaged and motivated if you're going to win statewide as a Democrat."
Party staffers are reportedly working diligently to energize the base of Democrat voters in New York City — as a means of nullifying Zeldin's supposed advantages in the suburbs and rural parts of New York state.
"The more Hochul gets out the vote in New York City, the more wiggle room she has with swing voters in the Hudson Valley, in Long Island and the Buffalo suburbs," Alyssa Cass, a Democratic political strategist, told The Times.
According to The Times, Hochul's gubernatorial campaign has "largely" been run by out-of-state consultants. As such, the sudden need to mobilize voters through traditional grassroots means has been "lagging."
Simply put, Democratic Party analysts might have initially anticipated Zeldin not putting up much of a fight on the Republican side, and Democrats have also "relied too much on the prestige of the governor's office and not enough on retail politics," wrote The Times.
"Hochul's victory was once presumed safe," in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, wrote The Times.
But in recent weeks, The Times wrote, Zeldin has been effective in making his final appeal to New Yorkers who have become increasingly considered about the sluggish economy, high inflation, residents fleeing to other states (thus increasing the tax burden) and the rise in crime.
Even with Zeldin's momentum, the Democrats still possess a wealth of built-in advantages, such as more in-state Democrats than Republicans and a significant fundraising gap between the two candidates, according to The Times.
Zeldin's push down the stretch — which will reportedly include campaign visits from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other prominent Republicans — essentially must thread the proverbial needle, in terms of maximizing the support generated from Republicans, independents and moderate Democrats ... while also hoping a number of indifferent Democrats never hit the polls.
And it appears Democrats are aware of this dynamic shift.
According to an email obtained by The Times, Sochie Nnaemeka, the party's director in New York, recently addressed an internal group in the following manner: "I know that some of us have deep policy disagreements with Kathy Hochul — that's why we endorsed Jumaane [Williams] in the [June] primary — but a Zeldin administration would be entirely destructive to our agenda," wrote Nnaemeka.
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