Then Gov. Kathy Hochul took office for the first time in 2021, she was a relatively unknown. Few New Yorkers knew how to pronounce her name, let alone where Mrs. Hochul, Andrew M. Cuomo’s rarely tense lieutenant gouverneur, stood for.
Since then she has tightened an executive style that is equal to practical and protection of equal parts. And although many elements inform her political buffalo roots, her Catholic faith, her commercial-friendly sensitivity-Is may not be more central than her role as a mother.
“Doesn’t anyone know that I am a mother?” Mrs. Hochul, a Democrat, joked last week on an appearance to celebrate her most striking victory in this year’s budget: a call-to-be ban on mobile phones in schools. “I say it every day: I have been a mother for longer than I have been a governor.”
She built on this message in a Op-ed published on Friday by FOX NewsAn appeal to her status as the ‘first mother governor’ of New York to promise her dedication to protect children.
“We take our classrooms back and give children back their youth,” she wrote.
The message, and her choice for a conservative news exit to deliver it, was a striking example of how Mrs. Hochul embraced a kind of “family values” approach in line with the Republican Party of the nineties than with the Democratic Party of the 2020s.
Indeed, when drawing up the regulations of mobile phones, the Hochul government did indeed notice in search of states led by the Republicans such as Louisiana and Florida. Last year, when the Governor started a push to limit social media companies, New York followed the leadership of Utah, where the push to limit children’s media, led to the Banning books By Margaret Atwood, Rupi Kaur and Judy Blume.
Mrs. Hochul is expected to take on a difficult re -election challenge next year, with potential candidates from both parties who are considering hiring her. They include Democrats such as representative Richie Torres and Mrs. Hochul’s Lieutenant -Gouverneur, Antonio Delgado, and Republicans such as Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County Executive, and representative Mike Lawler.
Representative Elise Stefanik, a narrow ally of President Trump, has also shown interest in running and could be a particularly formidable opponent, whereby Mrs Hochul’s democratic conservatism against the fractious energy of Mr Trump’s Maga movement is being drawn.
Mrs. Stefanik criticized Ms Hochul’s budget of $ 254 billion for not doing enough to tackle violent crime and called it a “desperate attempt to strengthen a politically weakened and poisonous governor.”
Mrs. Hochul also has opponents in her own party. Her tendency to set herself with business interests and law enforcement annoys some Democrats, while some state laws grumble about her “because I said that” negotiating style.
Faced with medium poll figures and a persistent perception of weakness, Mrs. Hochul has sometimes sought a foil in Mr Trump, causing strict convictions of his policy and his attempts to eliminate congestie prizes.
Against that background it might be remarkable that Mrs. Hochul tried to humanize her image and to ask voters to see her as a mother. Her team insists that the mother instinct underlines its vision on what a governor should be: someone who keeps New Yorkers safe with a roof over their heads; Someone who ensures that their children have breakfast and those children prevent those children in the classroom to text.
In a state where more than a quarter of voters are not registered with both large parties, Mrs. Hochul knows that she will probably have to win support from people who may be eliminated by politics, but are open to hear from a ‘mother governor’.
The instinct is written about the legislative priorities of Mrs. Hochul, from affordability to public safety.
This year she insisted to make it easier for the police to remove people who have episodes of mental health from public spaces, built on her efforts to make the New York Budget stricter stricter, and gave officers of justice more leeway to transfer evidence to lawyers in defense.
Her protective instincts are also visible in its cautious approach to the finances of the state and Investment in reserveswho have reached their highest level in years. (This year she will use those savings, to pay off companies around $ 7 billion in COVID era Unemployment Insurance debt, in the midst of fear of a recession.)
But her world view of the mother is perhaps the most clear in the use of the state budget by Mrs. Hochul to give initiatives that are linked to the well -being of children. She expanded the tax credit for children to $ 1,000 for children under 4 and has assigned enough money to offer free breakfast and lunch to students from the Kleuterchool to high school.
Last year, the Governor regulated the use of so -called addictive algorithms that focus on children, and created a privacy provision that prevent social media companies from gathering personal data from children.
Mrs Hochul has framed her actions in broad, parent -friendly terms and say that it is a moral need to tackle the increase in mental disorders and the relegation of attention.
But in one important issue, Mrs. Hochul decided not to use her influence to force private schools to offer a basic training. Instead of, She recorded budget language to weaken the supervision of the state about private schools.
Mrs Hochul defended the move if necessary to preserve religious freedom in New York. The change was a priority of ultra -orthodox and chassidic legislators who represent Yeshivas, who collect millions of taxpayers, but Do not always give primary education.
The change was pinched by Mrs Hochul’s own education commissioner, as well as many Democratic legislators, who called it a politically motivated betrayal of the responsibility of the state towards children.
On the Senate floor, Senator Liz Krugeer, a Democrat in Manhattan, mentioned the provision ‘anti -Semitic’ because it would deprive Jewish children of a basic training, that the change could lead to a greater erosion of education.
“With this legal change, we actually say here in New York, if you define yourself as a religious school and you do not meet our most basic, sub-minimal standards for actual education, come on,” said Mrs. Krueger.
But in the ultra -orthodox communities of New York, a potentially crucial demography for Mrs. Hochul Come 2026, the move was celebrated If helping to secure ‘Freedom of Education’.
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