Governor Hochul: “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. And over the next coming weeks, and indeed years, I'll do everything in my power to ensure that New York remains a bastion from efforts where those rights are being denied in other states.”
Hochul: “President-elect Trump needs to repeal his elimination of the state and local tax deduction. He also needs to support our ongoing efforts to support our transit, support the Gateway Tunnel, 2nd Avenue Subway and fund major critical infrastructure, — again, particularly the MTA — and also to back our critical economic development projects, such as those funded by the CHIPS and Science Act, which is intended to bring manufacturing back home from China and South Asia, and create thousands of jobs in our state, as is occurring with Micron. I will work with him or anybody, regardless of party, on these kind of efforts that I know will benefit the State of New York. However, if you try to harm New Yorkers or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way. New Yorkers are resilient — we fought the first time around and we'll fight again.”
First of all, I want to congratulate President-elect Trump on his victory at the polls and commend Vice-President Kamala Harris for her extraordinary run and my good friend and fellow Governor, Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz, for an incredible hard fought campaign that really lifted up so many issues that matter to Americans.
I also want to congratulate New York's newly elected and newly reelected Democratic members of Congress as well as those who prevailed in some of our down ballot races across the state, as well as the re-election of our Senator, my great friend, Kirsten Gillibrand. We'll need all of them fighting on our behalf in Washington now more than ever.
I mostly want to thank, really, the heart and soul of election days, the poll workers, the volunteers, the attorneys, everybody who shows up, and they really made this election go incredibly smoothly here in the state of New York, and I'm enormously proud of that given all the potential for a different outcome.
And it's thanks to them, that this miracle known as an American democracy has survived every threat for nearly 250 years. I'm joining you here today with my partner in government, Attorney General Tish James, who I'll be introducing in a couple of moments. I'm joining you here today because I want to reassure all New Yorkers.
And I know for many of you this is not the electoral result you had hoped for. But I will say this, we have weathered storms before. We've overcome pandemics. We've had to - in the aftermath of tremendous job losses - create thousands of jobs. After seeing huge spikes in crime, we had to reduce the crime rate dramatically.
And after losing so many jobs to overseas, we are now on the cusp of creating a new revolution, bringing more jobs back from places like China. All of this just in the last few years since I took office. That's why I have the confidence in my team. And all those we work closely with, that we will get through the uncertainty of a new administration in Washington.
Because I said, we've done this before. We've been to this. And I will be very clear, while we honor the results of this election, and we'll work with anyone who wants to be a partner in achieving the goals of our administration and our state, that does not mean we'll accept an agenda from Washington that strips away the rights that New Yorkers have long enjoyed.
I need to remind everyone, 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. And over the next coming weeks, and indeed years, I'll do everything in my power to ensure that New York remains a bastion from efforts where those rights are being denied in other states.
And I will say this, one very bright glimmer of hope in our state was that New Yorkers voted overwhelmingly in support of Proposition One. This amendment firmly establishes that reproductive freedom is an important value worth fighting for and worth protecting. And as a result of this amendment – and I want to give a lot of credit to the coalition and to many others and the elected officials and everybody who stood up to fight for these rights and overcoming an onslaught of negative misleading ads and millions of dollars spent against it.
These were the true champions who fought and persevered. I want to give credit to all of them. We'll find another occasion – not this particular day – to have a great celebration to honor that work and to remind everybody what this truly means, but it does mean that New Yorkers are now protected from federal actions where they try to limit contraception, or IVF or abortion medication here in the State of New York once that's enshrined in our Constitution. And overall, I'm here to let New Yorkers know we stand ready to respond to any threats to our democratic process or our public safety.
Now, what we're doing here is we have our New York State Intelligence Center continuing to monitor any potential threats for political violence against political figures and sensitive locations — they do this around the clock. The work is always ongoing and I want to report that at this time, there are no threats of violence to New Yorkers. Our Cyber Incident Response Team is always vigilant to support our partners in response to any cyber threats or incidents in the aftermath of this election.
And, the New York State Department of State continues to work with state police to ensure that the convening of the Electoral College, which is in our State Capitol on Dec. 17, will be safe, secure and as smooth as our election was yesterday. And again, I want to thank the countless individuals who were involved in ensuring this success.
And, we'll always protect the right of our residents' First Amendment rights, and some may feel moved to protest in the coming days, coming years — we'll respect that right, but we'll always expect New Yorkers to express themselves peacefully.
And, there's a couple of other actions I want to announce today. First, I created the Empire State Freedom Initiative, focused on key areas that are most likely to face threats from the Trump administration. Again, reproductive rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights and our environmental justice.
Our team will do whatever we have to do to identify any possible threats to these rights that we hold dear in the State of New York and protect New Yorkers. This will include legislation, rulemaking, appropriations, and partnerships with our congressional delegation and including the Biden administration at this time. And, I know we're not alone in this fight. That's why I'm so proud to stand alongside my strong partner in government, Attorney General Tish James.
And beginning today, senior officials and attorneys at all levels of government will work in close collaboration with the Attorney General's office and convene regularly to coordinate these efforts, and provide guidance where necessary and keep New Yorkers apprised of our efforts.
Now I'll say this, President-elect Trump needs to repeal his elimination of the state and local tax deduction. He also needs to support our ongoing efforts to support our transit, support the Gateway Tunnel, 2nd Avenue Subway and fund major critical infrastructure, — again, particularly the MTA — and also to back our critical economic development projects, such as those funded by the CHIPS and Science Act, which is intended to bring manufacturing back home from China and South Asia, and create thousands of jobs in our state, as is occurring with Micron.
And I will work with him or anybody, regardless of party, on these kind of efforts that I know will benefit the State of New York. However, if you try to harm New Yorkers or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way. New Yorkers are resilient — we fought the first time around and we'll fight again.
Now, I know many of you woke up today feeling drained and perhaps demoralized. Yet I know, we will find tremendous reserves of untapped energy within ourselves. I reflect on what football coach Vince Lombardi once said: “It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up.” So today, fellow New Yorkers, we got back up. And we'll do it every single day. We'll go to work, take our kids to school, look out for our friends, our neighbors, our communities, and demonstrate through our actions that we'll always stand up for an America that respects the rights and freedoms that were envisioned and protected since the birth of our nation.
Let me end with this: In New York's harbor, beneath the Statue of Liberty's outstretched torch, lies an inscription most of us are familiar with: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But fewer know the final words engraved on that plaque: “I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” Now perhaps you woke up today saying that that lamp doesn't shine quite as bright anymore. But I know New Yorkers. We will meet this moment and we'll lift that lamp even higher to guard its unwavering flame and ensure the warm light of opportunity continues to reach all who dare to believe in it. That is our New York. And New Yorkers will persevere over the next four years.
Thank you for coming today. It's important to express how strongly I feel, but also to say this: This is a great country, but our job is to make it even better. And we start here in a place like New York, that has always, always been that place to push progressive values forward, protect our citizens and fight for what's right. That's who we are as New Yorkers. Thank all of you, and may God bless our country and the great State of New York. Thank you very much.
