Governor Hochul is a Guest on CNN News Central

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on CNN News Central.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Kate Bolduan, CNN: Joining us right now to talk about a lot of it that's going on is the Democratic Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul. Governor Hochul, it's good to see you. Thank you for coming on. So, we know that Kamala Harris is soon going to be announcing her running mate. Do you have a favorite on that shortlist? Said another way, is there a running mate that you think would most help Harris win and most help Democrats down-ballot?

Governor Hochul: Here's the beautiful part of all this: there is such a wealth of opportunity here. We have great talent on the Democratic bench. I know all the Democratic Governors. We're close friends. We communicate all the time and so I love all of them. Senator Mark Kelly, I understand, is in the mix too, and what an American patriot he is as well. So, whoever she picks, I'm telling you, the Republican ticket is going to be shaking in their boots because we have the talent, but also smart, articulate people who are not weird. There's a big difference here. We have normal people. Wouldn't that be a nice contrast to the Trump-Vance ticket?

Kate Bolduan, CNN: Let's get to the weird in one second, but one thing that is noteworthy that cannot be missed in when we put up the screen of the short list, if you will, all of them, most of them, all of them are white men, most of them are Democratic Governors. You are a very prominent, very well known and respected Democratic Governor yourself. Does it bother you that they're all white men?

Governor Hochul: No, not at all. Not at all. Because I don't want to look at gender here. I really don't think it's fair because we have a lot of talented women Governors. I text them all the time. The men are very talented. So, that's the beauty of what we have here is that we have a lot of talent. So, I'm not going to take offense that she doesn't pick a woman or a person from some particular state at all.

Whoever she picks, it's going to be a dynamic duo. No doubt about it. And the energy that you see already out there for Vice President Harris, that'll be amplified when you have a new voice out there showing a positive vision for the future, but also taking the hits that they need to take on the other side. I mean, they can't get away with the crazy talk that they're saying right now, and another partner for her on the campaign trail is going to be powerful.

So, it's going to be fun to see who she picks. I want to use the word ‘fun’ again. When you see Kamala Harris on the trail, she looks so genuinely happy. There's this ebullience about her. People talk about the energy, the energy is powerful, but there's a joyfulness, and that has been missing in our American politics for a long time.

You look at Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Kind of take you down, right? They don't bring joy and happiness to the process, and she seems so confident. She's out there just telling stories. She's being herself. And people – as they get to know her day after day – she's going to be winning more and more people over to her side and ensuring that she's victorious in November. So, this is an amazing process.

Kate Bolduan, CNN: Let's talk about getting weird right now, because you – Politico noted in a headline, and I watched it yesterday when you were at an event – you jumped on the, as Politico puts it, you jumped on the “weird trend”, and I just heard you say it again. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, he said this about this trend amongst Democratic officials especially, “I cannot think of a sillier, more playground, more foolish, more counterproductive political taunt for Democrats to seize on than calling Trump and his supporters weird.” Why do you think this is effective? Do you think this round of name calling has reached its expiration date?

Governor Hochul: I didn't call his supporters weird; I think it's pretty clear that the two candidates are very weird by our standards. And so, everybody can have their opinion, but there is no shortage of words that are coming out of their mouths attacking Democrats. It's a more playful way of saying things. We don't have to say they're dark and they're dangerous and they're scary and head into that space. They're just weird. That's just a statement of fact. We have never seen anything of their likes in American history, especially J.D. Vance. Who talks about childless cat ladies?

Is there any other way to describe that other than weird? So, I'm just calling it out the way I see it. And I think my friend, Tim Walz of Minnesota, started it and Tim and I were good friends in Congress together. And so, if it’s good enough for Tim, I said, “You know what? He's right about that. They're weird.”

Kate Bolduan, CNN: Let me ask you about something else I saw. Elise Stefanik, a prominent Republican Congresswoman from New York, she said something at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee that caught my ear. Let me play this for you.

Elise Stefanik: We believe that President Donald J. Trump will be the first Republican in a generation who will win New York State.

Kate Bolduan, CNN: I see your reaction right there. That was days before Joe Biden dropped out. You say the chances of that are –

Governor Hochul: Zero, zero and zero. Donald Trump will not win New York State. Kamala Harris and her running mate will win New York State. And something else that's going to happen in New York State – we're going to take back the House of Representatives.

Kate Bolduan, CNN: This is important and this is something I know you're working on because I wanted to talk to you about this because when you look at the races – and you look at what has happened in New York in terms of congressional races since the midterm – in 2022, Democrats lost four New York House seats leading Republicans to seize that small majority in the House splitting the Congress.

It's not a battleground state as we have just noted when you talk about a presidential, but is New York the battleground in the fight over the balance of power? And whoever the next President is going to be, is going to have to be working with.

Governor Hochul: No, the presidential question is not –

Kate Bolduan, CNN: I'm saying just the balance of power in Congress. Because New York, there are a lot of races in question. 2022 was tough for Democrats in terms of House races. How critical is New York in terms of what's going to happen?

Governor Hochul: Very critical. New York and California. California has a few battleground races, we want to pick up it all again. Seats that have been won by Joe Biden before, are held by a Republican now. Those are what we consider the more likely pickups.

Now, I don't want to take anything for granted or leave it to chance. A year ago, I started raising money into the State Democratic party. Building the organization, opening up campaign headquarters – we now have 35 campaign offices in small rural communities, because the battleground for the House of Representatives goes from Long Island up to the rural parts of the Hudson Valley. And there's one district over in Syracuse where I went to school, and I know that area like the back of my hand, so I know it's at play here.

So, I've invested enormous amounts of my time and energy. We'll have over 100 people hired from the state party in addition to what DCCC does and others. We had 24,000 door knocks this weekend alone in those seats. That never happens. There's never been a Governor in New York State that took so seriously the title of leader of the state party.

Kate Bolduan, CNN: Will you project getting pickups or re-pickups this time?

Governor Hochul: Yes.

Kate Bolduan, CNN: How many?

Governor Hochul: Yes, I want all six. I want all six. I think three minimum and that'll be enough. But I feel very confident. We have strong candidates. Last time around, somehow – I won't get over a DCCC vetting process – but we had George Santos get elected.

Now we have a Democrat in that seat. So, that was a pickup already this year when Tom Suozzi was elected in a special election that we helped him with. So we already have one in the win column.

Kate Bolduan, CNN: You’re going to have a lot of work ahead of you. Governor, thank you for coming in. I really appreciate it.

Governor Hochul: Thank you very much. Good to see you again.