NEW YORK — Between 2018 and 2024, the Transport Workers Union and its Local 100 gave Kathy Hochul's campaigns more than $175,000, according to state records reviewed by the New York Post. This weekend the union announced it is spending $180,000 to warn voters about her.

That's not a breakup. That's a refund with a voiceover.

The TV spots started Friday, one day before early voting opened. The first line, word for word: "Governor Kathy Hochul is so radioactive, even Democratic candidates are running away from her."

Radioactive. From the people who run the subway. These are men and women who walk past mystery puddles at 3 a.m. for a living, and Hochul is the thing they won't touch.

The union's president, John Samuelsen, told the Post the first batch of ads cost $60,000. The union's super PAC is adding another $120,000 in statewide TV, plus "hundreds of thousands" of mailers to union families. State filings show the PAC, Transport Workers Union Voice, has spent more than $450,000 on TV since July.

Nine days before an election, a union is mailing her own base a warning label.

The ads don't even have to make anything up. Democrats did the work for free. Rep. Tom Suozzi bailed on a campaign event with the governor. Hudson Valley candidate Cait Conley got caught on video agreeing with her Republican opponent that Hochul has "got to go." Both moments were first reported by the Post.

So the union's attack ad is just a highlight reel of Hochul's own party. Cheapest opposition research in Albany history. The footage came pre-edited.

How did we get here? A train conductor.

Samuelsen turned on Hochul after she vetoed a bill requiring a conductor on every subway train along with the operator. In her veto message, she said the bill could cost "as much as $10 million annually" and cut into service and new trains and signals.

Ten million a year. In a state budget north of $250 billion. She found the one line item in New York she was willing to say no to, and it was the guy who keeps the doors from closing on your arm.

Meanwhile, about 40,000 city subway and bus workers have been working under an MTA contract that lapsed in May. The governor effectively runs the MTA through appointments. So the people she controls are mad at her, the people she endorsed are hiding from her, and the people who paid for her are now paying to get rid of her.

That's a full house. Every card is a joker.

Her campaign fired back Sunday. A spokesperson told the Post Hochul "comes from a union family" and is proud of the support of "more than thirty New York unions." Then it called Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman "100% MAGA," which is the political version of answering "your house is on fire" with "have you seen the neighbor's lawn?"

Blakeman, for his part, criticized the veto and stood with the union. He didn't have to do much. When the transit workers are running your opponent's ads, you just stand on the platform and wait for the train.

And you, New Yorker, are already on that platform. Same delays. Same fares. Same puddle.

Back in 2022, Local 100 endorsed her. Today the union is paying $180,000 to unendorse her. At this rate, Hochul is the only New York investment that loses value faster than a MetroCard.

This article is satire. The Demorat is a parody news site; real facts are drawn from the linked sources, and jokes, invented scenes, and fictional characters are not real.

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