Fact Check

Claims about and by Governor Kathy Hochul, rated against documented evidence. Nonpartisan, sourced, no spin — every verdict links to the record behind it.

• Mostly False

  Bruce Blakeman, campaign stop in Greece, N.Y., Sept. 18, 2026 (WXXI) · SEP 18

  “Blakeman says he will cut utility rates in half by signing an "emergency order" lifting New York's fracking ban”

  New York's high-volume hydraulic fracturing ban is no longer an executive action a governor can undo alone. Cuomo's 2014 ban was administrative, but Part WW of Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2020 (the FY2021 budget) wrote it into Environmental Conservation Law §23-0501(3): no permits may be issued for wells using high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Repealing that requires the Legislature, and Hochul said on NY1 on Sept. 15 that fracking is "illegal under state law." The only executive route is Executive Law §29-a, which lets a governor temporarily suspend a statute during a declared state disaster emergency, in 30-day increments, only where suspension is necessary to cope with the disaster; using it to restart gas drilling would be novel and almost certainly litigated. The rate claim is separate and unsupported: no analysis was cited showing in-state fracking would halve utility bills, and WXXI notes NYISO attributes current rate pressure to gas prices, aging infrastructure and tightening supply. Rated mostly false: a governor cannot lift the codified ban by order, and the halving figure has no cited basis. Re-rate if the campaign specifies the legal mechanism or publishes a rate analysis.

• Mostly False

  Bruce Blakeman, Batavia campaign stop, Aug. 16, 2026 (reported by The Batavian, Aug. 19) · AUG 20

  “Blakeman: New York spends "an estimated $8 billion in taxpayer money" on services for people in the country illegally, "roughly $81,000 in benefits per person"”

  The state number is far smaller than $8 billion. The Comptroller's Asylum Seeker Spending Report, updated through June 30, 2026, says the SFY 2027 Enacted Budget Financial Plan plans $3.9 billion in state emergency asylum-seeker spending across five fiscal years (SFY 2023-SFY 2027), and that actual state spending totaled $2.68 billion through June 30, 2026. The FY 2027 Enacted Budget added no new appropriations. A figure near $8 billion appears only if you use New York City's cumulative expenditures ($1.47B FY23 + $3.75B FY24 + $3.02B FY25 + $1.27B FY26 = $9.51B) - city dollars, not state dollars, and spent over four fiscal years. The spending also covers people seeking asylum, a lawful process, not a category equivalent to "in the country illegally." The $81,000-per-person figure has no published basis in the Comptroller's data, which reports spending by agency and activity, not per capita.

• Mostly False

  Blakeman remarks reported by Mid Hudson News, Aug 13, 2026 · AUG 13

  “"All of the polls we have seen in the last two months have us virtually tied with Kathy Hochul." — Bruce Blakeman, Aug 13, 2026, disputing the Siena likely-voter poll”

  Two public polls cover the last two months. Siena (Aug 4-6, 811 LV, ±4.2): Hochul 49-39, a 10-point lead. Red Oak Strategic (Jul 7-12), commissioned by the pro-Blakeman Strong and Safe super PAC: Hochul 47-43. Neither shows a tie; even the partisan-commissioned poll has Blakeman down 4. Blakeman may be citing internal campaign polls, which have not been released and cannot be verified. The verifiable public record contradicts "virtually tied."