We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

One New York Democratic politician’s take on his governor signaled infighting was on the way to “avoid sleepwalking toward impending disaster and defeat.”

Whereas most leftist talking heads appeared to learn nothing from the 2024 election, an increasing number of figures from the Democratic Party had caught on that losing arguments and personalities demanded change. With that in mind, New York Rep. Ritchie Torres didn’t hold back when likening Gov. Kathy Hochul to the party’s outgoing leader, President Joe Biden.

“Kathy Hochul is the new Joe Biden. She may be in denial about the depth of her vulnerabilities as a Democratic nominee. A Democratic incumbent who is less popular in New York than Donald Trump is in grave danger of losing to a Republican in 2026–an outcome not seen in 30 years,” the congressman wrote on X Friday.

“Waiting until it’s too late gave us a Republican President in 2024 and could give us a Republican Governor in 2026,” he continued. “Let’s avoid repeating history and avoid sleepwalking toward impending disaster and defeat. ‘Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’”

The lawmaker’s caution came as many concluded that the loss from Vice President Kamala Harris to President-elect Donald Trump had signaled the end of the era of former President Barack Obama.

While strategists conducted postmortems following the election that determined the party couldn’t rely on “yesterday’s voices when we’re trying to solve tomorrow’s problems,” Torres had spoken to Politico amid talks of a potential challenge to Hochul come 2026.

“I will confess that I’m hardly an expert on every county in New York. But I look forward to traveling throughout the state. I hope to embark on a listening tour and find out about the needs of New York state,” he told the outlet as he suggested the “unpopular” incumbent “could easily lose to Mike Lawler” as the GOP representative considered his own gubernatorial bid.

“The case could be made that we need a Democrat who can win a general election, not an unpopular Democratic incumbent who is in grave danger of losing to a Republican for the first time in 30 years,” said Torres.

As the Democratic National Committee would also be in need of a new leader with Chair Jamie Harrison expected to opt out of seeking another term, the congressman had also aimed at the “far left” for the treatment of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“Even though the greatest path to 270 runs through Pennsylvania, the far left chose to wage a smear campaign to sabotage Josh Shapiro, the highly popular Governor of Pennsylvania,” he posted on X regarding the runner-up to be Harris’ running mate.

“The far left went on a crusade against Governor Shapiro simply because he dared to speak out as a Jew against antisemitism in the wake of October 7th. Never mind that the presidential race could have been decided by a single vote in Pennsylvania,” the New York lawmaker contended. “Its hatred for Donald Trump was exceeded only by its hysterical hatred for Israel and any Jew who dares to identify with it.”

“In the end, Pennsylvania did not matter because we lost all the swing states. But the antisemitism aimed at Josh Shapiro should be neither forgotten nor forgiven,” he added as Hamas sympathizers had impacted races in states like Michigan.

Kevin Haggerty
Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.