by Becca London | RNN
Last August, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul attacked Republicans who supported Trump and her then-opponent Lee Zeldin, telling them they were “not New Yorkers,” and not-so-subtly suggesting that they “jump on a bus” and go to Florida instead.
Well I guess her mom never told her “be careful what you wish for, Kathy” as many of those NY taxpayers took her up on it, fleeing New York’s oppressive, anti-business climate and crime rates for the greener pastures of Florida and other states.
In fact, according to just-released data from the Census Bureau, New York had the highest population decline of any state in the union in 2022, while Florida had the highest rate of population growth.
After seeing those figures, Hochul is now singing a very different tune.
In her inaugural speech after being elected (Hochul took over for Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace), Hochul whined about this trend, saying, “We must and will make our state safe … we have to make our state more affordable … And we must reverse the trend of people leaving our state in search of lower costs and opportunities elsewhere.”
You just can’t make this up…
There have been many reasons for New Yorkers to flee the state, including some of the harshest coronavirus pandemic response measures in the country, many of them put in place by Hochul herself. Those Covid responses which severely damaged New York’s economy but did not slow the spread of the virus in the state).
People are also fleeing high corporate and personal tax rates, its regularly poor ratings in personal and business freedom, and the disastrous tenure of former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, which saw many New Yorkers flee the city in particular.
Of course, in begging people not to leave her crumbling state, Hochul’s speech did not promise to address or reverse any of these decisions, nor did it admit that Democrats may have erred in implementing any of these policies.
Even her own party comrade, New York City mayor Eric Adams, has blasted Hochul for failing to do anything to reverse New York’s disastrous bail reform law.
The state is a total mess, and with clueless Hochul now just starting a four year term of her own, it promises to get much worse.
