Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY., speaking during the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo — J. Scott Applewhite)

ALBANY — Keeping the buzz alive about a potential run for governor, Rep. Elise M. Stefanik paid the state Capitol a visit on Monday and blasted Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul and the Democrats who run New York for policies she said are making the state less affordable and less livable.

“Another year, and other failed, radical, reckless agenda and legislative session in New York state passed by single-party, Democrat rule, led by the worst governor in America, Kathy Hochul,” Stefanik said. “I dubbed her the worst governor in America because she is. Kathy Hochul and far left Democrats have once again failed New Yorkers with this year’s legislative session.”

Stefanik described the state budget, coming in at $254 billion for the year, as “anti-worker, anti-family, anti-farm, anti-small business, anti-manufacturing and anti-law enforcement.” She blasted the $11 billion increase from last year’s spending plan, the inclusion of a $10 million legal fund meant to help Attorney General Letitia A. James defend herself in a federal fraud case that was brought by the Trump administration, and also took aim at a few pieces of proposed legislation that are under consideration in the last voting days of the year.

“The so-called Packaging Reduction Act, which is a tax, make no mistake, on everyday goods,” she said.

She also blasted a controversial bill introduced by two New York City lawmakers that would cap the number of cows allowed on dairy farms to fewer than 700. Stefanik criticized Hochul for not commenting on the bill even as she works to boost the upstate dairy industry, referencing the April announcement both she and Hochul attended in Oneida County to herald the construction of a massive Chobani processing facility.

“Kathy Hochul has the audacity to present a golden spoon to the Chobani CEO but she won’t speak out about Democrat legislation that will crush our farms,” Stefanik said.

Hochul generally doesn’t comment on pending legislation before she acts on it, but it’s highly unlikely the dairy farm limitation bill will ever make it to her desk, as it lacks support from upstate Democrats that would be necessary to advance in the Senate and Assembly.

Stefanik also hammered Hochul’s handling of the ongoing crisis in the state prisons. She didn’t hone in on the two recent murders of incarcerated people by corrections officers, but on Hochul’s response to the officers’ strike and the ongoing staffing shortages at nearly every facility.

“New York Democrats led by Kathy Hochul have abandoned our brave corrections officers and allowed our prison system to fall into utter chaos,” Stefanik said. “Believe me, I represent so many COs in my district who know that this governor has turned her back on them.”

Stefanik said it was hypocritical of the governor to use New York National Guard troops to secure the state prisons, then turn around and criticize President Donald J. Trump for deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles in the face of widespread protests against his immigration crackdown.

Her message Monday touched repeatedly on the issue of affordability. Stefanik talked of New York’s taxes, how regulations at the state level make things more costly. But Stefanik voted to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a budget bill that will extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts and seeks to balance the loss of income by making deep cuts to federal benefits like Medicaid and SNAP. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that the bill, if passed into law with the exact wording it has now, would result in higher costs for low-income households by cutting benefits, while cutting costs for high-income earners by cutting taxes.

When asked if she was comfortable with that on Monday, Stefanik seemed to dismiss the CBO’s analysis entirely and accused the reporter of partisanship.

“In Washington, it’s always interesting, the media are stenographers for the Democrat party, it appears to be the case in Albany and New York state as well,” she said.

Stefanik said the bill “improves” the Medicaid program by taking away funding that would be used to give medical care to undocumented immigrants — although nothing in the language of the reconciliation bill directs the billions of dollars being cut from Medicaid to target undocumented recipients.

In New York, the Medicaid program is open to undocumented immigrants who meet the income requirements, and state law requires the program to remain that way. Stefanik said if she were to become New York’s governor, she would use executive action and work with the legislature to end that requirement.

She’s been openly floating a possible run for New York governor since her bid to become the next ambassador to the United Nations was torpedoed in early April. Stefanik said on Monday that she will make a formal decision on whether to run “in the coming months.”

Stefanik’s performance was lambasted by the state Democratic Party. Spokesperson Addison Dick shared a statement shortly after Stefanik left the Capitol.

“Elise Stefanik dodged question after question because there’s no good way to defend ripping away health care from two million New Yorkers,” he said. “While Stefanik lies to her constituents’ faces about her and Trump’s plan to gut Medicaid, New Yorkers see right through it — and they know Governor Hochul’s budget puts money back in their pockets, cuts taxes for the middle class, and makes our streets and subways safer.”