New York Gov. Kathy Hochul finds herself in an unexpectedly close race with less than one week to go until Election Day so she stopped by MSNBC’s The 11th Hour on Friday to be asked by host Stephanie Ruhle if the reason for her struggles is “sexism by voters” and “we give you enough credit” on crime.
Hochul had just gone through what she considers to be the positive aspects of her record on the issue when Ruhle followed up by asking, “Do you think you get credit for that? Do you think that you face, whether it's conscious or unconscious, sexism by voters? Especially as it relates to crime and public safety?”
Going after the voters’ character is always a bold move, but Ruhle continued, flattering Hochul by contrasting her with previous governors, “Right? New Yorkers who, you know, are used to these alpha male, macho man, governors or political leaders here and you are not from New York City. You are a petite, capable woman from upstate.”
Finally, Ruhle asked another probing question, “Do you think we give you enough credit?”
For her part, Hochul declined to call the voters sexists, instead choosing to hyper her own credentials, “People know I'm tough as tough as hell. I'm from Buffalo. My father and grandfather were steel workers. Grew up in a big Irish Catholic rough-and-tumble family. There’s no one tougher than I am and I have been through hell and back in this job.”
Even as she claims cashless bail has no impact on crime, she urged people to consider her record, “if anyone thinks that I am soft on crime, look at what we've been doing. We've been aggressive about this. And so I'm breaking the mold, perhaps, people haven't seen a governor who looks like me. I want to make sure that this becomes the norm.”
If Hochul does end up losing, it will be because of those bail remarks and a general red wave than sexist voters who just don’t get it.
This segment was sponsored by Checkers.
Here is a transcript for the November 4 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
11/5/2022
11:27 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Do you think you get credit for that? Do you think that you face, whether it's conscious or unconscious, sexism by voters? Especially as it relates to crime and public safety? Right? New Yorkers who, you know, are used to these alpha male, macho man, governors or political leaders here and you are not from New York City. You are a petite, capable woman from upstate. Do you think we give you enough credit?
KATHY HOCHUL: People know I'm tough as tough as hell. I'm from Buffalo. My father and grandfather were steel workers. Grew up in a big Irish Catholic rough-and-tumble family. There’s no one tougher than I am and I have been through hell and back in this job.
And I love every minute of it, but there’s no one tougher than me and if anyone thinks that I am soft on crime, look at what we've been doing. We've been aggressive about this.
And so I'm breaking the mold, perhaps, people haven't seen a governor who looks like me. I want to make sure that this becomes the norm. We have the toughness, I'm a mother. I'm actually a grandmother. So this is personal to me when people have that fear. So I have my own toughness, but also that compassion and the empathy that perhaps of those don't have.
That's the combination that I bring to how passionate I am about solving this problem. Normally a governor doesn't get their hands all dirty in local policing issues, right? When did-- when have you seen that before?
But I've been leading with the leaders in not just New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, convening everybody. District attorneys, sheriffs, U.S. Attorney, what are you doing? Have you used this law? My husband was Barack Obama's United States Attorney. He was a top prosecutor, I understand how this works. So, people shouldn't underestimate how tough I am and my commitment to making sure our streets are safe.
