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Outside of California, no state matters more to the entertainment business than New York.
After all, the industry was arguably born in the region — Manhattan is where Thomas Edison held the first public screening of his Kinetoscope and Westchester County was an early hub of silent film and a movie star getaway. In the century since, New York has proven an irreplicably cinegenic backdrop. (Apologies to Sydney and Toronto, but there is simply no substitute.) It’s also a second home to countless celebrities who enjoy the luxury of changing seasons.
And of course it’s where so many film and television productions currently shoot — now even more than California.
So what kind of leadership will Hollywood East see after Tuesday’s elections? Here’s the breakdown.
Governor’s Race — Hochul PrevailsThis one wasn’t exactly a nail-biter, but Hollywood will surely rejoice that the Democratic incumbent, Kathy Hochul, handily fended off her Republican opponent, Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman, leading by 47 points with about a fifth of the votes tallied. NBC News has called the race. (The silver lining for Blakeman is that the loss will overshadow his previous claim to fame as “guy whose ex-wife married Paul McCartney.”)
Under Hochul’s governorship, New York has made bold efforts to grow its cinematic footprint. It appears to be working: the state drew $1.6 billion in production spend last quarter, bringing it within striking distance of California as the film industry’s preferred shooting location. It’s no surprise that Hochul earned the endorsement of three of the area’s major entertainment unions, namely Actors’ Equity, IATSE and AFM Local 802.
After decades of watching states like Louisiana, Georgia or New Mexico siphon off film investment and concomitant cultural prestige, New York passed a massive tax credit program worth $800 million a year through 2036 (plus $100 million dedicated to maximizing the benefits for indie productions). Meanwhile, new soundstages have cropped up all around the five boroughs to welcome the expected influx of productions.
“Governor Hochul understands that film and television production means jobs, small businesses and a thriving creative economy,” Adam Gordon, who co-founded Astoria’s Wildflower Studios with Robert De Niro, told THR. “She has been a real champion for this industry and we’re enthusiastic about what comes next.” Gordon adds that Wildflower, which was completed in 2024, is now 100% occupied. Among recent productions to have filmed there is this month’s Focker-in-Law.
Hochul further ingratiated herself to the industry by signing the nation’s first laws regulating artificial intelligence in media and advertising. To top it off, she reversed outdated, Footloose-ian restrictions on dancing in New York bars — with the support of Kevin Bacon.
Her supporters may want to cut a rug tonight.
N.Y. Districts 13 and 37 — New Kids on the BlocNew York Mayor — and cinematic scion — Zohran Mamdani may not have been on the ballot, but the rising progressive kingmaker can take partial credit for the resounding victories of insurgent, DSA-aligned congressional candidates he championed in their primary challenges against moderate Democratic incumbents, particularly Darializa Avila Chevalier (NY-13) and Claire Valdez (NY-37).
Chevalier, who rose to prominence as a leader of the Pro-Palestinian student movement at Columbia University following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, has embraced unabashedly radical policies, including abolishing prisons. (Her most inflammatory past statements could be found in her Twitter history, which she deleted ahead of her primary victory in the spring.) As heads to Washington, Chevalier is poised to supplant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the left’s congressional lightning rod, especially since AOC seems eager to cede lightning-rod duties as she moderates some of her positions ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
Chevalier and Valdez —who represents a large chunk of Queens — together with other newly enthroned representatives including Melat Kiros (CO-TK) and Adam Hamawy (NJ-TK), are set to form the core of a progressive coalition within the Democratic caucus, which some are calling “the Bloc,” a younger successor to “The Squad,” the AOC-led faction that rose to prominence during the 2018 Blue Wave, during Trump’s first term. The two campaigned with popular streamer Hasan Piker in the all-important primary, as he both supported the candidates and took some victory laps with their wins.
NY – 17 — She Fought the LawlerThe most dramatic development in the New York races today was the glitch — reportedly a programming error — that affected voting machines in northern Westchester and delayed the tabulation of ballots in one of the states most closely watched congressional contests.
“No matter the outcome, every vote should be counted, and that is what is going to happen, and it’s going to happen tonight, and we are going to make sure, one way or the other, we have an answer as to the results tonight,” the two-term Republican incumbent, Mike Lawler, told reporters, according to the New York Post. Quickly quashing voting-machine-related conspiracy theories might seem atypical of a party that, following the President’s lead, has sought to sow doubt ahead of the election. But Lawler is among the most moderate of GOP congressmen, representing a Hudson Valley district where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans.
His challenger is political newcomer Cait Conley, a retired Army officer who served six tours overseas, and who has likewise staked out moderate positions, realizing NY-17 lies well outside the Mamdani-verse. She has sought mainly to campaign on lowering the cost of living, and to tie her opponent to Trump’s unpopular tariffs and foreign wars.
Among the Hollywood figures to have weighed on this race are Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age; The White Lotus), who campaigned for Conley,and Edie Falco(The Sopranos; Nurse Jackie), who endorsed the Democrat — as did former Bill Clinton and Barack Obama aide (and Ari brother) Rahm Emmanuel.
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