New York State Governor Kathy Hochul is putting the brakes on Democrats’ intentions to delay as long as possible the special election to fill Republican House Representative Elise Stefanik’s seat, in case the Senate confirms her nomination by Donald Trump for the position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Democrats Carl Heastie and Andrea Stewart-Cousins advanced a bill to merge the special election with the Primary in June or Election Day in November when the new mayor of New York City will be elected. Their stated goal would be to “increase voter turnout and reduce the administration cost.”
In this way, if Stefanik resigned, her House seat would remain vacant for many months causing an imbalance in the already razor-thin GOP majority, which is currently 218 to 215. Republicans strongly opposed the Democrats’ proposal, arguing it was a political strategy to slow down the Trump administration’s agenda. They went so far as to ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch a corruption and conspiracy investigation in case Hochul decided to approve it.
The New York State governor opposed her own party’s direction by choosing the process already in place, under which Hochul has around 90 days to call and organize the special election to find Stefanik’s replacement. According to rumors reported by the Gothamist, she granted the Republicans this favor to have an advantage on the congestion pricing negotiating table. The Trump administration is ready to eliminate the inbound toll on Midtown Manhattan by withdrawing the Department of Transportation’s approval. However, Trump told the New York Post that he wants to “keep negotiating”
