NY governor's race: Will Hochul's lead hold through the night?

Out of the race for New York, Governor Hochul entering tonight with a strong lead in the polls, but Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman is betting on a massive upset. We have a team of reporters with both campaigns tonight. Fox 5's Morgan McKay starts our coverage with Governor Hochul's team in Midtown. Morgan. Hey Steve, Governor Kathy Hochul holding her election night party here at the Hilton in Midtown. Hochul is seeking re-election for a second full term, but not only does she want to win, she wants to win by double digits. Now, four years ago in 2022 for the last governor's race, Governor Hochul beat her Republican opponent, Lee Zeldin, by only six points. Even though she still won, some Democrats blamed down-ballot losses on her poor performance and failure to to turn out Democratic voters. As a result, this year, Hochul poured some of her own campaign money into helping Democrats get elected across the state. Right now, most polls have Hochul leading anywhere from 9 to 12 percentage points over her Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. Early voter turnout this year in New York City was more than 60 percent higher than it was in 2022 for the last governor's race. Here is Hogle with more earlier today. I like to show up. You know, I don't believe in just sitting in my office in Albany if I come to town and go out and see where the people are and listen to them directly and let them know they have a governor who actually listens to them and cares about them. So it's been really reaffirming to see that for the next four years, the vote is willing to be very accessible to these communities. Now, Hochul is having her party tonight with State Attorney General Letitia James and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, both who are also seeking reelection this year. And also her running mate, former City Comptroller, or former City Speaker, Adrian Adams, is also going to be joining her on the stage tonight. And doors open a little after 6 p.m. Reporting live, I'm Morgan McKay. Steve, back to you. Very well. We appreciate it. Thanks, Morgan. Now to Long Island at Fox 5, Jody Goldberg with the Blakeman Camp in East Meadow tonight. Jody. Steve, we're at the Lannon inside Eisenhower Park. This is where Bruce Blakeman will be and other Republicans running for Congress and also local offices. He is expected later on. The room you can see behind me, pretty empty. It is expected to fill up tonight. We have been reaching out to his campaign and to find a little bit about what he's been up to today. We have not heard back, but I want to point out voter turnout is key, especially in this election and especially here on Long Island. Let's go over some of these numbers very quickly. We reached out to the boards of elections in Suffolk County. About 48,000 Republican voters turned out this morning. So far between this morning and 12 o'clock. And in Nassau County, 58,000 by 3 o'clock. And Bruce Blakeman himself cast his ballot this morning, sounding confident, saying voters want lower taxes, lower utility bills, and safer communities. He's hoping the support that helped him win re-election as Nassau County executive by a comfortable margin in 2025 will help him win re-election. translate into votes for governor this go-around. This is a turnout election, so whichever campaign turns out their voters today will win. I believe our voters are much more energized. We're talking about not only Republicans, but Democrats and independents who join with us in this mission to save our state. So I think there's a lot of Democrats who are going to be voting for me this day, and I think a tremendous amount of independents. People want change. And now I want to point out Blakeman is facing an uphill battle. Like Morgan mentioned, he is down by double digits according to latest polls. But it's a matter of will he win and be able to pull this off? And also, will his name on the top of the ticket be enough to help other Republicans win their races? Only time will tell. Let's send it back to you, Steve.