New York has not elected a Republican senator or governor for two decades – but that may be about to change
For more than 20 years Democrats could rely on New York, a bastion of liberal support in their war with Republicans.
The state has not elected a Republican senator or governor for two decades.
But as the US midterms loom next week, their dominance is threatened.
As a sign they are in trouble, Democrats are drafting in the big guns this weekend
In the closing days of these elections the vice president, president and both Clintons are among the party’s stars campaigning here.
Polling numbers are moving against them.
Their candidate for governor Kathy Hochul could be in trouble.
She is neck and neck with her Republican challenger Lee Zeldin.
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But their problems go deeper.
New York is a bellwether state.
If a red wave of Republican support happens here, it is likely to be repeated nationally.
Upstate out in the suburbs there is a hankering for change.
Kathy Hochul
On the banks of the Hudson River the prosperous, sleepy town of Nyack is not a Republican stronghold, but people are not content with the last two years of Democrat government.
“I haven’t really seen the left really do anything,” waiter Maddux Cale told Sky News.
“I haven’t seen them step up when they said they were going to step up, and I haven’t seen them do anything that has actually been effective to help people.”
“Look at the inflation look at the price of fuel,” said Mike Rail, sitting outside a bar on Main St.
“I mean, it’s out of control so how do we not try something else for two years? Just two years.”
Post-pandemic problems may penalise the Democrats.
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How do midterm elections work?
Inflation, the cost of living and rising crime are motivating voters.
On the subway heading downtown, New Yorkers told Sky News they are deeply worried about their safety.
“Crime is definitely an issue – on the trains and in the suburbs as well,” one commuter said, declining to give his name.
“I have been in New York for over 40 years and this is the first time I have been afraid to come into Manhattan,” a female passenger said.
“But it’s not just Manhattan.
“I live on Long Island, which used to be safe that is not safe.
“I’m just scared.”
Lee Zeldin
She said she would still vote Democrat because she did not believe Republicans could do any better.
But enough voters are thinking of supporting Republicans to have Democrats alarmed.
You would expect a solidly liberal crowd at a drag bingo night.
But among the players in the Wolf and Warrior Brewery in White Plains New York, one former Democrat told Sky News he would be swinging his vote to Republicans.
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US braces for midterm elections
“I actually voted for Bill Clinton, so I liked Bill Clinton.
“I thought he was good for the economy and good for the markets, and then, after the last couple of years when you see what’s happening with everything now, I think you gotta go in a different direction.”
New York may be shifting politically and that spells trouble nationally.
If Republicans can do well here, they will across America too, with all that means for Joe Biden’s administration and party.
At least 51 people have died after heavy rain caused flash flooding, with water bursting from the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas.
The overflowing water began sweeping into Kerr County and other areas around 4am local time on Friday, killing at least 43 people in the county.
This includes at least 15 children and 28 adults, with five children and 12 adults pending identification, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference.
In nearby Kendall County, one person has died. At least four people were killed in Travis County, while at least two people died in Burnet County. Another person has died in the city of San Angelo in Tom Green County.
People comfort each other in Kerrville, Texas. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
Large piles of debris in Kerrville, Texas, following the flooding. Pic: Reuters//Marco Bello
An unknown number of people remain missing, including 27 girls from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River.
Rescuers have already saved hundreds of people and would work around the clock to find those still unaccounted for, Texas governor Greg Abbott said.
But as rescue teams are searching for the missing, Texas officials are facing scrutiny over their preparations and why residents and summer camps for children that are dotted along the river were not alerted sooner or told to evacuate.
AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service (NWS) sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation, urging people to move to higher ground and evacuate flood-prone areas.
Debris on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt. Pic: AP Photo/Julio Cortez
An overturned vehicle is caught in debris along the Guadalupe River. Pic: AP
The NWS later issued flash flood emergencies – a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.
“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather said in a statement that called Texas Hill County one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the US because of its terrain and many water crossings.
But one NWS forecast earlier in the week had called for up to six inches of rain, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.”It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
Officials said they had not expected such an intense downpour of rain, equivalent to months’ worth in a few short hours, insisting that no one saw the flood potential coming.
One river near Camp Mystic rose 22ft in two hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the NWS’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a level of 29.5ft.
A wall is missing on a building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
Bedding items are seen outside sleeping quarters at Camp Mystic. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
A Sheriff’s deputy pauses while searching for the missing in Hunt, Texas.Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
“People, businesses, and governments should take action based on Flash Flood Warnings that are issued, regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecast,” Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in a statement.
“We know we get rain. We know the river rises,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official. “But nobody saw this coming.”
Judge Kelly said the county considered a flood warning system along the Guadalupe River that would have functioned like a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, before he was elected, but that the idea never got off the ground because “the public reeled at the cost”.
A drone view of Comfort, Texas. Pic: Reuters
Officials comb through the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was asked during a news conference on Saturday whether the flash flood warnings came through quickly enough: “We know that everyone wants more warning time, and that is why we are working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected for far too long.”
Presidential cuts to climate and weather organisations have also been criticised in the wake of the floods after Donald Trump‘s administration ordered 800 job cuts at the science and climate organisation NOAA, the parent organisation of the NWS, which predicts and warns about extreme weather like the Texas floods.
A 30% cut to its budget is also in the pipeline, subject to approval by Congress.
Read more from Sky News:
Elon Musk says he’s created his own political party
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Professor Costa Samaras, who worked on energy policy at the White House under President Joe Biden, said NOAA had been in the middle of developing new flood maps for neighbourhoods and that cuts to NOAA were “devastating”.
“Accurate weather forecasts matter. FEMA and NOAA matter. Because little girls’ lives matter,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a national security and intelligence analyst at Sky’s US partner organisation NBC News.
Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.
It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.
On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.
On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
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Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk
The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.
Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.
From bromance to bust-up
The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).
But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.
Donald Trump gave Musk a warm send-off in the Oval Office in May. Pic: Reuters
In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.
After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.
Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.
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