If this isn’t a wake up call for the Democratic Party, then what is? New York Gov. Kathy Hochul marched in Manhattan’s 82nd annual Columbus Day parade on Monday and got exactly the reception she deserves from New Yorkers: boos, thumbs-down, and a good old-fashioned public roasting on Fifth Avenue. They let Mamdani know by holding up signs, but Hochul got the in-person treatment she deserves for her failed policies.
Parade-goers didn’t hold back. Crowd members shouted, “Get out of New York, get out of there. You’re a disgrace.” One heckler accused her of hating Italians and Catholics, and another just cut to the chase and called her a “communist.” Not exactly a ticker-tape welcome.
Hochul marched alongside New York Attorney General Letitia James and various Catholic and Italian-American community leaders, apparently hoping the company would help her look like she belongs. It didn’t work. She did her best to play it cool, telling reporters before the parade, “We’ve got to celebrate Italian-Americans,” which is a perfectly nice thing to say right before a crowd of Italian-Americans tells you to leave town. She also gushed, “I am delighted to be here for my fifth or seventh time marching with my best friends. We are gonna celebrate the food, the culture, the music, the vitality of the Italian community, so we are going to celebrate Italian American Heritage Month through the month of October.” Fifth or seventh time. She’s not even sure. Very relatable stuff from your governor.
All of this is happening just weeks before her November 3 showdown with Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman, and Hochul Blakeman New York governor race it’s not exactly great timing for a public meltdown on live television.
A poll from Emerson College and PIX11, released October 8, shows Hochul leading Blakeman by 12 points among likely voters, 52% to 40%, with 8% undecided. That sounds comfortable until you dig into the numbers. Blakeman leads Hochul among independent voters by a whopping 55% to 34%, a 21-point gap that should have every Democrat in Albany stress-eating cannoli. The same poll found only 40% of New Yorkers approve of Hochul’s job performance, while 46% disapprove. The survey covered 900 likely voters from October 3 to 5, with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
So to recap: her approval is underwater, independents can’t stand her, and now she’s getting heckled at a parade she couldn’t even remember attending before. New York Democrats really know how to pick ’em.
Blakeman will need to keep hammering those independent voters between now and November 3. If the Columbus Day crowd is any indication, New Yorkers are plenty motivated. Turns out even a parade about celebrating heritage can turn into a referendum on bad governance, and Hochul just got her review.
How do you explain decades of failed Democrat leadership and they still win elections?
I don't think they're winning it legit, which is why Democrats don't like the SAVE ACT.
They would probably lose every time if that was voted in.
— Frank (@drastic215x) October 13, 2026
