New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik launched her campaign for New York Governor on Friday and made her official announcement early Saturday morning, slamming current Governor Kathy Hochul’s “failed leadership.”In a dramatic campaign video, Hochul highlights the failed policies of the “worst governor in America” and lays out her vision to “Make New York Affordable and Safe.”The clip also highlights Hochul’s support for Zohran Mamdani, who won the New York City mayoral election on Tuesday, saying she “cozied up to a defund the police, tax-hiking, antisemitic Communist,” capitalizing on New York State’s dwindling support for Stefanik over her support for Mamdani.“New York will not just survive but thrive,” the narrator states. “Elise Stefanik will clean up Kathy Hochul’s catastrophe and restore New York’s greatness.”WATCH:!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2vbt6g"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");Rumble("play", {"video":"v6z86ns","div":"rumble_v6z86ns"});Stefanik said in a statement on X:Kathy Hochul is the Worst Governor in America. Under her failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery bills. When New Yorkers were looking for leadership from our Governor, she bent the knee to the raging Defund the Police, Tax Hiking Communist causing catastrophe for New York families.I am running for Governor to make New York affordable and safe FOR ALL.Democrats, Republicans, and Independents will unify to save our state.It’s time to:FIRE HOCHUL.SAVE NEW YORK.Per the New York Post:Stefanik has been eagerly prepping a Hochul challenge, assembling an “all-star” team of New York-native strategists and staff in key regions — as polls have started showing her neck and neck against the Democratic incumbent in a hypothetical showdown.The high-profile upstate congresswoman — a fierce ally of President Trump — is seeking to become the first Republican leader of the Empire State in 20 years.New York GOP Chair Ed Cox was quick to hail Stefanik’s gubernatorial campaign, describing her as a “unifier and party builder with the brains, the guts and the resources” to win.“She has fought for our principles every day of her career and never backs down. She is the warrior we need to lead the fight against Democrats’ corrupt Albany machine,” he said in a statement.“Thanks to Kathy Hochul and Democrats, New York leads the nation in outmigration as the most taxed, least free, least affordable state in America. There will not be a Republican primary and a year from now, Elise will lead our team to victory over Kathy Hochul, end one-party Democrat rule, and make New York affordable again.”Hochul has long been seen as a formidable challenger to Hochul to flip the state of New York red and clean up Hochul’s mess. As The Gateway Pundit reported, Stefanik emerged just 5 points behind Hochul in a new poll and is closing the gap.According to a recent report, those polled say Hochul’s endorsement of radical socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani could push Stefanik over the top after Hochul turned off voters outside of NYC.NY Gov. Hochul’s Support for Radical Mamdani Costs Her: Elise Stefanik Just 5 Points Behind in NY Governor’s Race/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i