Analysis: The stars are aligning for Hochul

Here’s why:

• The new Siena College poll showed her with 36% approval among Democrats – double that of her nearest competitor.

• SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras, a close confidant of Andrew M. Cuomo, resigned last week after calls for his ouster from many corners of New York politics amid rising criticism (including from Assemblywoman Monica Wallace of Lancaster) for trying to contain sexual harassment allegations by one of the former governor’s accusers. It marked another successful effort to sweep clean from her administration any vestiges of her former ally.

• And most of all, the new governor’s perceived main opponent in the 2022 Democratic primary – Attorney General Tish James – withdrew in the face of Hochul’s mounting advantages in fundraising and the polls.

James had been viewed as Hochul’s main competitor – the woman who helped bring down Cuomo, who hailed from a Brooklyn power base and would spring from the same attorney general post that produced the state’s last two elected governors (Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer).

It was a stunning development, one some Democrats had been whispering about over the past few days. It now leaves Hochul with a new and impressive advantage as the party prepares to endorse a candidate just two months from now. She already has the backing of top Democrats such as Chairman Jay Jacobs and much of the upstate hierarchy. More now are sure to follow.

“Kathy owned the public policy debate, she owned the fundraising effort and she owned the endorsements by political leaders,” observed former Mayor Tony Masiello. “There was no place for anybody else to go. Her political experience paid off.”

James’ move is sure to cause more fallout. It appears to widen the progressive lane for candidates like New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and probably New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Is Rep. Tom Suozzi of Long Island now strengthened as the moderate alternative? Hochul’s State of the State address on Jan. 5 may provide answers if she proposes left-leaning programs favored by a left-leaning Democratic Legislature, or maybe she no longer feels the need to outflank James on the left.

And the once unthinkable possibility of New Yorkers electing an upstater for the first time in a century gains real credence.

It all happens as Hochul has seamlessly transitioned into the governor’s role, with no muss, no fuss and no Cuomo drama.

The race is far from over, but last week will be remembered in its history as significant.

...

Speaking of the State of the State, Hochul announced the annual speech that outlines every governor’s priorities for the year will this year move back to the Capitol’s ornate Assembly Chamber – the site where Gov. Al Smith first delivered the address from the Assembly rostrum in 1923. Cuomo turned the address into a high-tech affair, complete with glitzy graphics, when he moved it to the Empire State Plaza, and even moved it around the state in 2017.

• Sen. Sean Ryan takes issue with Mayor Byron Brown’s version of his Primary Night whereabouts, denying the mayor’s contention that Ryan high-tailed it off to challenger India Walton’s headquarters following early voting totals that showed her significant lead. “Didn’t happen,” he said, adding he left early for other gatherings – but not Walton’s.

Ryan and Brown are not exactly pals, however, following the senator’s outspoken support for Walton after her primary victory.

• Tony Farina, a veteran reporter with the Courier-Express and then Channels 2 and 7, is back on the air with his own political and other reports on WBBZ-TV. Farina debuts Dec. 17 at 12:30 p.m. on the Big Picture Show, followed by repeats on Dec. 18 at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 19, at 10:30 a.m.

Farina never fails to get the big interview. Indeed, his first features Mayor Byron Brown.