Who ran ahead of the top of the ticket?
Each party's top down-ballot vote-getter compared with its Governor candidate, county by county. Blue = Democrat vs. Hochul, red = Republican vs. Blakeman, in points of two-party share.
Top Democrat and top Republican down-ballot, by county
Center line = the party's Governor share in the same area. "Top" = the party's down-ballot candidate with the most votes in a contested one-seat D-vs-R race.
Why down-ballot candidates run ahead of or behind the top of the ticket
Voters can split their ballots, and many do. Gaps between a Governor candidate and the same party's candidates further down the ballot are common in New York. General reasons include:
- Incumbency and name recognition. Long-serving officeholders are often better known than their challengers.
- Different opponents. Every race has its own matchup, and some challengers are stronger or weaker than others.
- Fusion and minor-party lines. Candidates can appear on more than one party line (for example Working Families or Conservative), and the line mix differs from race to race.
- Local issues and campaigns. District races can turn on local issues, spending and outreach that don't affect the Governor's race.
- Roll-off. Some voters skip races further down the ballot, so each race is decided by a slightly different set of voters.
This page only reports what the unofficial numbers show. It does not say why any individual candidate ran ahead or behind.
Where the data runs out
- All numbers are unofficial; no races are called.
- Nassau: countywide totals only; no election-district results yet.
- Westchester: partial count; emergency Election Day ballots were still being scanned.
- Uncontested races, multi-seat races (vote for more than one) and races without both a Democrat and a Republican are left out.
Method. "Points vs. the ticket" = a candidate's share of the two-party (D+R) vote minus their own party's Governor share (Hochul or Blakeman) in the same election districts, weighted by votes. Each candidate's votes are summed across every party line they ran on (Democratic includes Working Families where listed; Republican includes Conservative). In a two-candidate race the Democrat's gap and the Republican's gap are mirror images. "Top" Democrat and Republican = the party's down-ballot candidate with the most votes in this county among those races. Split-ticket EDs compare which party led the Governor race and which led the race shown; EDs with a tie in either are counted separately. Party lines are listed for each candidate in the ranked list; a few candidates also ran on the other major party's usual minor-party ally line (for example a Democrat also on the Conservative line), which can widen their gap.
Sources. Unofficial results from the Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester county Boards of Elections and the NYC Board of Elections, Nov 3–4, 2026. Photos: Wikimedia Commons. Analysis by whorunsny.org.