Hochul toes the party line all the way to Chicago

Daily Point

Hochul prizes her partisan limelight

For years, Kathy Hochul has kept cordial ties with the national Democratic Party organization, and as governor and de facto leader of the state party, she has stayed in alignment.

So it’s fitting that even though she doesn't have a starring slot on the first night of the party’s Chicago convention, Hochul, at one time a U.S. House member from the Buffalo area, will be at the rostrum Monday evening as part of the buildup to Kamala Harris’ nomination for the top spot.

For better or worse, Hochul’s partisanship has always been front and center.

As governor, Hochul has national fundraising ties and has unabashedly fostered legislation clearly aimed at helping Democrats maintain their role as the majority party in Albany and Congress. She signed off on redistricting plans that were intended to increase the Democratic presence in the House. She also cooperated with a reshuffling of the state’s top court that enabled the party to force an off-cycle remapping of House districts that had enabled Republicans to capture a few New York seats two years ago.

When Hochul surprisingly "paused" the Manhattan tolling plan expected to produce billions of dollars in transit funding, she offset at least temporarily what would have been an effective anti-tax issue at the polls for Republicans. Eclipsing the issue in this way seems to have been in the short-term interests of the House’s top Democrat, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, who wants to be speaker rather than minority leader. Hochul as a party power logically defers to Jeffries on the matter of trying to recoup congressional seats. Her signing of legislation that forces local elections into presidential and gubernatorial years, under the guise of increasing turnout in much of the state, was sought and cheered by the party’s state chairman, Jay Jacobs.

Hochul undoubtedly previewed some of that message when she appeared earlier in the day before the Wisconsin delegation as the four-day convention opened. She called Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, a good friend while in Congress.

"We’ll do our job in New York," Hochul said. She hailed Vice President Kamala Harris on economic issues, and added: "But it’s also our opportunity to forever banish Donald Trump from the national stage."

Late last year, she was asked by The New York Times whether she would use her position to help Democrats gain House seats. She bluntly replied: "Yes. I am also the leader of the New York State Democratic Party. I embrace that."

Last week, when she announced her convention role, Hochul said: "I understand there's [a] lineup with, President Biden will be there, and Hillary Clinton, and I’m really, really honored that they selected me to be on that night."

Hochul long had political alliances that overlap with former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s circle, and like the Clintons, insiders note how Hochul comes up big in the area of political fundraising.

Some party insiders grumbled in 2022 that her shaky gubernatorial campaign was too much of a franchise of the Democratic National Committee, emphasizing pro-choice positions in a state where abortion rights won’t be threatened. The generic nature of her campaign themes may have cost her some support in that year’s election. She survived an uncomfortably close challenge from Republican ex-Rep. Lee Zeldin.

One can say that Hochul will be in her natural element Monday night, while soon-to-depart President Joe Biden draws the lion’s share of media attention. She was not one of those who openly agitated last month for Biden to stand aside and let Harris carry the torch. Nor did she insist he stay in. "I am with him as long as he wants to do this," she told a Bloomberg TV interviewer. That was the position of diplomatic necessity in the national party, the tone you can expect from Hochul.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

Talking Point

Ex-Rep. Tim Bishop boosts old friend Walz for VP

Former Rep. Tim Bishop, a Democratic National Convention delegate, these days is an enthused member of the party chorus boosting his former close House colleague who’s newly on the ticket for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Bishop, 74, of Southampton, represented the 1st Congressional District for six terms. He recalled when reached by phone before the Chicago event that he first met Walz in the summer of 2006, the year of the latter’s first successful run for Congress. Walz also served six terms in the House before becoming governor of his state. The overlap brought them together on committee work and legislation, including bills affecting transportation, agriculture and veterans.

"I think the public is getting to know who he is — humble, down-to-earth and hardworking and funny as hell," Bishop told The Point on Sunday. "He’s a really, really good guy. Every now and then, someone comes along not only good at policy and good at politics but just a first-rate human being. He’s someone you’d be lucky to have as a best friend."

Bishop, who served through 2015, sees what other party stalwarts see as a big advantage: Walz comes from a Midwestern state, which figures to be valuable in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he said. Bishop blasts Walz’s GOP rival JD Vance for trying to besmirch the governor’s military record, and insists the Democrat is "the real deal."

As for CD1, the Democrats have been trying to get the seat back since Republican Lee Zeldin defeated Bishop in 2014, which was the second time Zeldin challenged him. These days, Bishop is a distinguished visiting lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Worried for 'shore'?

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Quick Points

Rare concurrence for Harris and Trump

• Polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump heading into this week’s Democratic National Convention were criticized by Trump, who insists he is on top in the race. Harris responded to recent polling by saying, "I very much consider us the underdog." On at least this topic, they agree.
• As Democrats descend on Chicago for their convention, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer defended Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic plan, saying people are "reading too much" into her much-criticized proposal for a federal ban on price gouging. "Reading too much" is another way of saying "this is a problem for her campaign."
• Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona says Vice President Kamala Harris "absolutely understands the issues" at the border. He did not say she could solve them.
• At a weekend rally, former President Donald Trump said of Vice President Kamala Harris, "I’m much better looking than her." Why does that matter?
• If you’re wondering which 2024 presidential battlegrounds are the most pivotal, the Trump campaign to this point reportedly has placed advanced TV ad buys in only two swing states — Pennsylvania and Georgia. The money always talks.
• "We are not going back" has become a campaign motto for Vice President Kamala Harris. Democrats hope that also refers to 1968, when the party’s convention also in Chicago featured bloody clashes between Chicago police and anti-Vietnam War protesters.

— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com

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