The governor of New York has said her state’s 5.4 million Republicans should leave the state.
“Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, OK?” Kathy Hochul said at a rally in Kingston this week. “Get out of town. Because you don’t represent our values.”
“You are not New Yorkers,” she added.
Hochul said New Yorkers support “women’s rights” and castigated Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, Congressman Lee Zeldin, and former President Donald Trump.
Her comments are being scrutinized as both hostile and potentially damaging to the states.
In an opinion piece for The New York Post, the CEO of the Empire Center Tim Hoefer wrote: “If you can move beyond the frankly disgusting political partisanship and intolerance, her message is fiscally irresponsible, even dangerous. The governor probably already knows this, but the state’s extensive public sector is heavily reliant on personal income taxes paid by residents, and with nearly $14 billion in projected budget gaps over the next five years, it can’t afford to lose any taxpayers, let alone 5.4 million of them.
The Empire State has already lost 1.5 million residents in the past decade, and there’s no sign of that trend letting up. In fact, more than 350,000 New Yorkers relocated during the 12 pandemic-plagued months leading up to July 1, 2021.”
Twitter users shared similar sentiments online.
"New York is no longer a free state," wrote one user.
"So if all the republicans leave the state who will be working to pay the bills for all the entitlement filled liberals that feel the government has to take care of them," wrote another.
Hochul, who took over as governor when Andrew Cuomo resigned following sexual harassment allegations, is currently campaigning for her first full term in office. She previously served as the state’s lieutenant governor for seven years.
Based on the average of three recent polls, Hochul leads her Republican challenger, Zeldin, by 18 points.
In a fundraising email sent on Aug. 23, the state’s Republican Party quoted Hochul in its appeal to underscore the necessity for action.
“This year we must send Kathy Hochul and the Democrats a giant message that we aren’t going anywhere. Not only are we NOT leaving, we’re going to take our state back from the corrupt, disastrous Democrats who are destroying New York,” the email said, per OANN.
In an Aug. 26 post on Twitter, Zeldin said "Kathy Hochul's Gotta Go!"
"New York has a Governor who believes that if you disagree with her you are no longer a New Yorker and needs to leave the state," he wrote. "Just think about how nuts that is."
