New York state Rep. Ritchie Torres is considering a run for New York governor, raising his national profile amid a wave of criticism of his party's leadership.
Torres has been a vocal opponent of Blue Stronghold's progressive criminal justice policies and has criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul's way of running the Empire State, potentially hurting her in the 2026 primary. There is a frown on sexuality.
“Hochul has a history of coded stereotyping, falsely claiming that young black people in Bronxichi have never heard of the word 'computer.' “We know as much about species communities as we know nothing about effective governance,” he wrote in X last week.
He was also one of the first Democrats to come out and blame the progressive left for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' loss to President-elect Trump, saying at the time that “Donald Trump has no greater friends than the far left.'' No. It will drive historic numbers of Latinos, blacks, Asians, and Jews away from the Democratic Party.”
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Congressman Ritchie Torres speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the FTX bankruptcy on December 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Torres told Fox News Digital that he is considering a gubernatorial run and “intends to make a final decision by mid-2025.”
The congressman himself gave insight into his thinking when he recently went after New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who hired an employee accused of tearing down posters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas.
“If I were in command of New York City or the New York City government, I wouldn't have to apply for anti-Semitism. Removing hostage posters is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Torres said on social media. I wrote this.
In late November, he accused both Adams and Hochul of “complicity” in the stabbings that killed three New Yorkers.
That same month, he blamed New York's policies for hurting business.
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Torres has been a critical target of Gov. Cathy Hochul. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“There are regulations that make it impossible to do business, and they make it impossible to build,” Torres said at a meeting of the Citizens' Budget Committee, according to the New York Post.
Rep. Nick Langworthy (R.N.Y.), who served as New York State Republican Party chairman for more than a decade, said it was shocking that Torres would attack Hochul at a time when he was considering running for governor himself. He said it was not.
“Richie Torres has been vocal about many of the same criticisms Republicans are raising about Albany's dysfunction, so it's surprising that she would face a challenge from her own party. That's not the case,” Langworthy said.
But he dismissed Torres' criticism of progressives as a “position based on Hochul's failures and the undeniable successes of Trump's platform.”
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Rep. Nick Langworthy, former New York state Republican Party chairman, said Torres echoed the Republican criticism. (Getty Images)
Torres was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) until earlier this year, when he left the group over differences on Israel.
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When asked about Torres' criticism at a recent press conference, Hochul said he was “a little busy” doing his job.
“People who are in government jobs and can't focus on their job and are focused on an election that's almost two years away, I think voters have a problem with that,” she said. .
