Taylor Swift, crime and caution: Takeaways from Gov. Hochul’s State of the State

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s third State of the State address stood out as much for what she didn’t say as what she did.

There was no expansive and polarizing housing plan. There was no hint that Hochul would take on an explosive issue such as bail. And the governor only brought up the touchiest of local political issues — the downstate migrant crisis — to say that she would save any thoughts on it for a later date.

Outlining her priorities for the new year in an address to the state Legislature, the moderate Democrat played it safe, skipping contentious issues that have animated past legislative sessions and offering a relatively modest constellation of some 200 goals for lawmakers to line up behind.

At the onset of a critical election year in New York, Hochul seemed ready to chart a cautious course that would stave off Democratic infighting or other pitfalls. Still, while the speech met praise from some, others — including pockets of progressives and the Republican leadership — quickly offered criticism.

Here are five takeaways from a busy day in Albany.

No moon shots

Fresh off her general election victory in 2022, Hochul set aggressive goals in budget talks last year, seeking changes to bail reforms that were tough to sell to the left-leaning Legislature, and pushing lawmakers to support a polarizing housing plan that would compel municipalities to build housing stock.

Hochul succeeded on bail, but her housing plan failed, hitting suburban resistance. She did not revive the politically thorny home-creation plan on Tuesday, instead presenting a $500 million blueprint to convert state sites into as many as 15,000 housing units.

New York state is a key congressional battleground in the fall. Hochul may be wary of picking fights that could alienate suburban and upstate voters. And she may also have little interest in putting state lawmakers in tricky positions ahead of the election.

“She’s picking places where the Legislature and she can agree,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant. “If you don’t make trouble, you don’t have problems, and nobody’s going to make trouble unless they have to.”

Taxes touchy for progressives

Hochul has pledged to spend carefully with looming budget deficits, and has shown little interest in hiking taxes.

Invest in Our New York, a coalition of progressive advocacy groups pushing for higher taxes, promptly criticized Hochul after the speech.

“Her refusal is completely tone-deaf to the needs of middle-class, working-class, and low-income New Yorkers,” the group said in a statement, highlighting a Siena College survey commissioned by the coalition that found most New Yorkers favor higher taxes for the wealthy.

“Instead of listening to the majority of New Yorkers, the governor seems content to maintain the status quo,” the group added.

Crime stays front and center

Hochul, who faced an unexpectedly competitive, crime-focused Republican challenge in 2022 from then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, continued Tuesday to keep public safety at the heart of her messaging.

Violent crime rates fell last year in New York, a trend Hochul highlighted. But the governor also said she understood that safety remains top-of-mind for New Yorkers.

She focused especially on the vexing challenges of domestic violence and retail theft. “The potential of a crime — no matter how serious — is causing anxiety for our residents,” she said.

After the speech, the GOP continued to paint Hochul as weak on public safety.

Assemblyman Will Barclay, an Oswego County Republican and the minority leader, said in a statement that the governor’s “vague” address showed no interest in “fixing glaring problems in the state’s criminal justice system.”

Hochul holds off on migrant plans

As her ally New York City Mayor Eric Adams — who has aggressively pushed for more state aid for the city’s asylum seeker crisis — watched from the audience on Tuesday, Hochul decided not to dig into migrant policy, saying that she would save it for her budget proposal next week.

It was a slight departure from last year, when she did not address the migrant crisis in her State of the State remarks, but did reserve a section of an accompanying policy book to delve into some immigration-related initiatives.

After this year’s speech, Adams expressed little concern that Hochul did not flesh out her thinking on the challenge, and said he himself was not ready to describe how much funding he wants the city to receive in the next state budget.

“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” the mayor told reporters, adding that his administration and the governor’s administration are in talks about state support. “I’m going to let them do their thing while I do my thing.”

The governor could be in her Taylor Swift era?

In her speech and policy blueprint, Hochul seemed to draw inspiration from one of the most popular people on the planet: Taylor Swift.

“As Taylor Swift reminds us, everybody here ‘was someone else before,'” Hochul said in a foreword to a 181-page policy book her office released along with the speech, quoting Swift’s song “Welcome to New York.”

For good measure, the governor also weaved the quote into her address, and described the 34-year-old singer as a “philosopher.” As Hochul exited the Assembly Chamber, the song rained down on the audience.

In a broadly cautious speech, the music might have been the safest choice of all.

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