Kathy Hochul
D · Governor, New York · Tier 2
Tier 2, “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Incumbent Democratic governor; mainstream pro-Israel. Pushed statewide “buffer zone” legislation around houses of worship and marched in the May 2026 Israel Day Parade with Schumer and AG James; the next day she wrote that Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had joined the march, “is a far-right extremist whose hateful and divisive rhetoric is fundamentally at odds with the values we hold dear in New York,” adding, “I strongly condemn his participation.” In July 2025 she called for Israel to work with the United States “to immediately ensure sustained humanitarian aid can reach civilians” in Gaza, saying “Allowing innocent children to starve to death is simply unconscionable.” No statement of hers calling Gaza a genocide was found; she treats campus “calls for genocide” as civil-rights violations, and endorsed Zohran Mamdani in 2025 while keeping her own pro-Israel posture. During her October 13, 2026 debate with Bruce Blakeman, who accused her of letting antisemitism rise “under your watch,” her campaign issued a statement, JNS reported, calling the Jewish community’s safety “a solemn responsibility and a critical priority” and citing her as “the first American official to visit the Gaza envelope after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.” In a Politico interview published on Israel’s election day, October 27, 2026, she said defending Israel would be “a lot easier” if Netanyahu lost, recalled warning Israeli officials after October 7 that “An overreach could change that dynamic, and that’s what’s happened,” and said of a Palestinian state that “as long as Netanyahu is sitting there, that is not in his interest to do that,” the Forward reported.
A mainstream pro-Israel governor. She marched in the Israel Day Parade and, on the same day, signed a statewide buffer-zone law shielding houses of worship from protests, and she treats campus “calls for genocide” as civil-rights violations. She has not called Gaza a genocide in any statement found, a mainstream position rather than daylight. What separates her from 1/2 is her July 2025 statement on the famine: “Allowing innocent children to starve to death is simply unconscionable,” and “support for the people of Israel also requires us to demand that the Israeli government do what is right.” In October 2026 she said Israel’s “overreach” after October 7 had cost it the world’s support.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).