Hochul, Blakeman make last-minute pitches to voters

Governor Kathy Hochul is supposed to be here already. She's running a few minutes behind, but she's making her fourth campaign stop here in lower Manhattan. She was in Harlem this morning. She made two stops in Harlem, and then she went to the Upper West Side where she campaigned with outgoing Congressman Jerry Nadler. But as you can see, she's going to be campaigning here. There's some local elected officials here that's going to be campaigning with her, handing out brochures, kissing babies. You know how it is before the day before the election. So there's a lot of Excitement here waiting for the governor. Now, later today, she's only going to be able to be here for a short time because later around 6.15, she has to be in Brooklyn where she's headlining an election eve rally with State Attorney General Letitia James and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, both who are also seeking re-election. And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will also be there. Now, here's what Hochul had to say earlier this morning in Harlem when asked about some of these early voter turnout numbers. There's an energy out there. People know what I stand for. They've had a chance to get to know me. They're benefiting from our policies and they know I still have work to do and they want to empower me with that ability. I'm excited about it. I take nothing for granted. So I'm saying every vote matters. Now, Hochul's opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, practically went on a statewide tour over the past two days, campaigning in eight cities in the last 48 hours. Today, Blakeman went to Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Binghamton. He's now on his way back, and later tonight, he'll be campaigning at the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. Blakeman first stopped this morning at Embassy Diner on his home turf in Nassau. He brushed off the polls and said he's feeling confident headed into tomorrow. I believe that. There are enough Democrats and independent voters that will vote for me that we will be victorious tomorrow because every day, every single day, another Democrat comes up to me and says, Bruce, I've never voted Republican in my life, but I'm voting for you this year. My party is nuts. Now, early voter turnout was 70% higher across the state than it was four years ago for the last governor's race in 2022. The polls close tomorrow at 9 p.m., so still time to get out there and vote tomorrow. Reporting live, I'm Morgan McKay. Steve and Natasha, back to you. All right, Morgan, thanks so much.