Kathy Hochul won a second full term as governor in Nassau County elections on Tuesday, defeating Bruce Blakeman and adding to a Democratic sweep across New York. The result gave Democrats a stronger hand in the State Senate and Assembly, while Hempstead Town is set to have a Democratic supervisor.
Hochul and Blakeman
Hochul said after her win, "Together, New York Democrats are leading the way for a country that is hungry for progress and we’re giving people a reason to believe again." Her victory came as voters also sent Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen back to the U.S. House, extending the party's gains on Long Island.
Gillen, from Rockville Centre, won despite Republican efforts to tie her to the left wing of her party. Suozzi, from Glen Cove, added another Democratic House result in a region that drew heavy attention on election night Tuesday.
Long Island races
Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino declared victory in closely contested races even though their opponents had not conceded. That left open how much of Long Island's congressional map would change once the final election results settled the balance of power.
Donald Trump posted, "I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter." Chuck Schumer called the results "a generational remake of the Senate map that is going to change America now and on into the future," while Hakeem Jeffries said, "America is back!" and, "This is a change election. And we understand as House Democrats we need to deliver dramatic change."
New York Legislature
Democrats took a supermajority in the State Senate in New York and won a larger majority in the Assembly in New York. That gives the party more room to advance legislation without relying on as many crossover votes, but the exact set of Long Island contests that made the supermajority possible was not spelled out in the results.
The next months will show whether those gains help settle the party's internal divide ahead of the 2028 presidential election year. For voters in Nassau County Elections, the immediate change is straightforward: Hochul returns to office with a broader legislative cushion behind her.
