Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul says that she “always [has] a mental state of running like an underdog” as she vows to defend her title in a race against Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin that some polls show has become tighter than expected, 1010 WINS reports.

In an interview with 1010 WINS anchor Larry Mullins, Hochul said the polls haven’t discouraged her “focus.”

“Even when polls [show] me ahead or polls show us changing … it doesn’t affect me,” Hochul said. “It really does not have an effect on me because I’m laser focused on my job, which I’ve worked very hard on. So I have a real record to run on and not just rhetoric, but now it’s campaign time, you have to talk to the voters about what you’ve done.”

The 64-year-old said that she’s now trying to define her accomplishments since taking over as governor from Andrew Cuomo last August.

“You can’t assume [voters have] been following all the work you’ve done on public safety and fighting crime over the last year or that they would necessarily know how hard you work, working to get more money back in their pockets and focusing on tabletop issues and affordability,” she added. “They don’t always necessarily know that. So this is the time when we have to take my record and put it out there for the voters to understand and really encourage them to get out there on Election Day.”

{Matzav.com}