Gov. Kathy Hochul vows to protect New York freedoms, discusses path forward after 2024 election

NEW YORK (WABC) — Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed New Yorkers on the state’s path forward Wednesday afternoon after the 2024 presidential election was called for Donald Trump.

Alongside New York Attorney General Letitia James, Hochul delivered remarks from her city office in Manhattan and sought to reassure New Yorkers disappointed in the presidential results.

During the news conference, Hochul congratulated President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance on winning the election, while commending Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on their hard-fought campaign. She also congratulated State Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on her win, and other newly-elected and reelected Democratic members of Congress.

The governor said that New York will honor the results of the presidential election and work with anyone who wants to help in achieving its goals, but the state will not accept an agenda from Washington that strips away the rights that New Yorkers have.

“This is the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, the environmental justice movement, the LGBTQ rights movement and the American labor movement. With that as part of our history, our story, New York will remain a bastion for freedom and rule of law,” Hochul said.

The governor laid out plans to stand up to a possibly hostile Trump administration by creating a so-called “Empire State Freedom Initiative.”

“Reproductive rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights and environmental justice, our team will do whatever we have to do to identify any possible threats,” Hochul said.

She added that her administration would work in collaboration with AG James’ office and other government officials to keep New Yorkers informed about their efforts to protect their freedoms.

“We faced this challenge before, and we use the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again, because as the Attorney General of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law, and I will not shrink from that responsibility,” James said.

James said she and other AGs across the country have been studying Project 2025 and carefully preparing for this day.

“No matter what the next administration throws at us, we’re ready,” James said.

As for congestion pricing, supporters, including the MTA, banking on funding for the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway among other projects, say it’s now or never.

“The $15 was too much for everyday New Yorkers when affordability is top of mind for them, as we have recently seen,” Hochul said. “Again, that doesn’t mean I’m hostile to congestion pricing. To the contrary, I simply said this was a pause.”

It’s a pause that now may be permanent after Trump made his negative opinion of congestion pricing clear in May and called the policy “a failure.”

Nothing said Wednesday is likely to endear the governor to the president-elect, but neither she, nor James, who Trump has repeatedly blasted for her legal pursuits against him, is cowering.

“I’m not fearful of Donald trump, I’ve never been fearful of Donald Trump,” James said.

Hochul pointed out that a majority of New York voted in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, also known as Proposition 1. James said that will protect those rights from all but a federal ban.

The governor and AG’s remarks come after New York City Mayor Eric Adams held his own press conference on Wednesday also vowing to fight for the rights of New Yorkers.

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