With less than two weeks before the November midterm elections, election forecasters are still making prediction changes, many even more favorable to Republican candidates. On Friday morning, Cook Political Report shared a series of race changes, with two of the three changes favoring Republican candidates for governor as they run against incumbents in Michigan and New York.
Three new Gov race rating changes: #MIGOV: Likely D to Lean D#NYGOV: Solid D Likely D#CTGOV: Likely D to Solid D
— Cook Political Report (@CookPolitical) October 28, 2022
Read @JessicaTaylor's latest: https://t.co/hm7pwBXoEm
New York's gubernatorial race has shifted from "Solid Democratic" to "Likely Democratic." As blue as the state may be considered, there are still signs of hope that Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) could pull off a win against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY). This is especially the case if the red wave makes its way to New York and state races there, as it did in 1994, when the state's last Republican governor, George Pataki, was first elected. Zeldin's own previous electoral history may help him, too.
Zeldin trounced Hochul in a debate on Tuesday night, especially on the issue of crime. Not only did Zeldin come off strong on the issue, Hochul came off as tone-deaf and dismissive. At one point, she even said, "I don't know why that's so important to you," regarding Zeldin's commitment to holding criminals accountable.
.@leezeldin: "She still hasn’t talked about locking up anyone committing any crimes.”
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 26, 2022
Democrat Kathy Hochul: "I don’t know why that’s so important to you.” pic.twitter.com/Cz6VTMSQzk
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Cook Political Report is not the only one to update its ratings. Earlier this month, RealClearPolitics (RCP) moved the race to the "Toss Up" category.
In Michigan, Tudor Dixon, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). The race has moved from "Likely Democratic" to just "Lean Democratic."
Whitmer is known for her strong pro-abortion stance. She was also so overly reliant on emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic that the legislature voted to overturn the act that allowed her to abuse those powers after a voter initiative passed and was certified by the state's Supreme Court last year.
Also, during the pandemic, students were kept out of school for a disastrously long time, though Whitmer has grossly misled on that. Leah highlighted this and more in her coverage of the second debate between Dixon and Whitmer on Tuesday night.
Holy crap, @GovWhitmer really said kids in Michigan were only out of school for three months? Some kids in Michigan were out of school for YEARS. pic.twitter.com/fAR2oAROdC
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 26, 2022
RCP has this race as a "Toss Up" and even projects it as a "GOP Pick Up."
Friday's rating changes are not the only good news Cook Political Report has for Republicans. As Spencer covered earlier on Friday, the Arizona Senate race between Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Trump-endorsed Blake Masters has moved back to the "Toss Up" category.
On Tuesday, the forecaster also released a series of 10 House rating changes, six favoring Republican candidates.
NEW @CookPolitical: 10 House rating changes this week, including four Dem incumbents from Lean D to Toss Up and two - #AKAL Mary Peltola (D) and #KS03 Sharice Davids (D) - from Toss Up to Lean D. Full analysis: https://t.co/QxOmHybgEl pic.twitter.com/tFYim1sNT6
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 25, 2022
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