Democratic governor Kathy Hochul and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik are among the biggest political figures in New York state, and likely opponents in next year’s race for governor. Today, they are locked in a fight about China.
In a letter co-written with Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, Stefanik accused Hochul on Friday of allowing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to achieve “widespread political influence” over New York elections and policy on the governor’s watch. Since 2021, Stefanik said, the Empire State has become “a national epicenter for CCP election interference, political intimidation, and systemic violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and numerous other federal laws.”
For years, reports of Beijing’s meddling in American civic life were often dismissed as fringe or speculative. But a growing body of evidence reveals something more alarming: New York appears to have become a beachhead for CCP political influence operations in the United States. This letter—a formal escalation weeks before Hochul and Stefanik will begin their gubernatorial campaigns—argues that the scale of CCP activity in New York requires aggressive, coordinated action by state and federal authorities, and that Hochul has harmed the state by not taking the issue seriously enough.
