North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has been teasing a run for governor in 2026, said Wednesday that she will make a “final decision and announcement” after this year’s Nov. 4 election. She made the announcement shortly after Hudson Valley Republican Rep. Mike Lawler announced he will not run for the seat.

“Mike Lawler is a great, effective and hardworking representative for New York’s 17th Congressional District and is committed to protecting the House Republican Majority,” Stefanik said in a statement.

She began hinting at a gubernatorial run this spring, shortly after her nomination to become President Donald Trump’s United Nations ambassador was pulled by the White House. She has been critical of Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul from the start, but has ramped up the frequency of her statements on the head of the state in the past few months. While not officially announcing her candidacy, she’s all but committed to the race.

“I am focused on supporting strong Republican local and county candidates on the ballot this November to lay the groundwork with a strong team for next year,” Stefanik said. “Republicans are more unified than ever in our mission to fire the Worst Governor in America Kathy Hochul in 2026.”

For now, she said she’s focused on this year’s election cycle.

Stefanik has been particularly invested in New York City’s mayoral election. She blames Hochul for New York City Democratic voters picking Zohran Mamdani as their candidate for the mayor’s election this year following last month’s primary against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Stefanik calls Mamdani a “radical Communist Defund-the-Police Antisemite.”

She also said New Yorkers are “fleeing” the state because it is the highest taxed state in the nation, and blamed Hochul for the Saturday shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer.

“A CBP officer was just brutally shot in the face by an illegal in NY due to dangerous sanctuary state laws,” Stefanik said.

The off-duty officer, who is recovering in a hospital, was shot in what officials are saying was an attempted robbery. The suspects — Cristhian Aybar-Berroa and Miguel Francisco Mora-Nunez — are undocumented immigrants who have been arrested for robberies and kidnappings numerous times in the past year and had been ordered to be deported.

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Polling

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Recent polling from the firm co/efficient shows Stefanik in a clear lead for Republican candidates — with 64% of GOP support, 56 percentage points ahead of the next Republican.

Polling from Siena College earlier this month showed Stefanik as a clear favorite for New York Republicans, with 35% favoring her as their candidate, compared to 18% favoring Lawler. This poll also found Hochul leading Stefanik in a general election by 23 percentage points. Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy pointed out, though, that 16 months in politics is “many lifetimes away.”

“I am grateful for the outpouring of support across our great state from Republicans, Independents and Democrats who know it is our last best chance to Save New York,” Stefanik said.

Hochul’s own Lieutenant Gov. Antonio Delgado is also mounting a campaign to primary her on the Democratic line. This Siena College poll found Democrats “overwhelmingly” favor Hochul to Delgado, 49% to 12%.

In the last gubernatorial election in 2022, then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-Long Island, put up a tight race with Hochul, coming away with 47.15% of the vote to her 52.85%.

George Pataki was New York’s last Republican governor, serving three terms between 1995 and 2006.