Hochul Wins New A: Called at 9 PM, and the Congestion Toll Stays

It took exactly as long as the polls stayed open. At 9:00 PM the AP desk in Man A called the State of New A for Gov. Kathy Hochul, with 13% of the statewide vote counted and Hochul at 76.1% to Bruce Blakeman's 23.9%, a margin of 52.2 points. Hochul and running mate Adrienne Adams, the first all-woman major-party ticket, win another term.

Borough by borough, New A's own board is barely moving. The BX is 31% in with 12 votes, all from BX Homesteads, out of 38 expected. Man A, New BK, Long Island and New S all show 0% reported. That means the call rests on the statewide count and on where the votes sit: Man A holds about 24,900 votes at a full count and New BK about 27,800. Flatbush, Downtown New BK, Midtown Man A and Progress Heights, the most progressive ward in the State, are the reliably Democratic bloc the Hochul camp was counting on. Final polls had her up 11 to 14 points.

Out on Long Island, Blakeman's home turf, the mood near the OP Gas Station on the West Island was sour. "We drove to the polls and we'll keep paying to drive into Man A," one commuter villager said, filling up. In Flatbush, a Metro rider at Triangle Junction had the opposite read: "The toll money is the trains. That's what we voted for."

The stakes were always the CRZ toll. Blakeman ran as the drivers' candidate and Hochul defended congestion pricing as Metro funding. With her win, the toll into Man A stays, and NASE traders moved quickly after the call.

Blakeman had not conceded as of 9:13 PM. Long Island's 8,200 votes and New S's 4,600 still have to report, along with about 72,000 from the rest of the State off the city map, where Blakeman runs best. Those numbers will set the final margin. They won't change who governs New A. NA1 stays on the count ward by ward through the night.