Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, who won his reelection bid in November to represent New York’s downstate 17th Congressional District, is now seeing a possible path forward to run for New York governor in 2026.

Gov. Kathy Hochul was all for congestion pricing until she paused it — and then she was for it again. Call it the Hochul Herky Jerky.

In June, the governor infamously hit the brakes on a plan to charge commuters a hefty toll to enter lower Manhattan, though she had previously championed it. Cynically, we all assumed the “pause” was about keeping angry voters from punishing downstate Democrats running for Congress.

The governor was reading the polls, in other words, and acted on them. She declared that the pricing “risks too many unintended consequences.”

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But Hochul did nothing to dampen cynicism by restoring congestion pricing soon after Election Day, just as many critics expected. It’s strange and depressing when politicians don’t even bother to hide the machinations that make Americans distrustful, but here we are.

The governor’s new version of the plan cuts the toll from $15 to $9 during the busiest hours and from $3.75 to $2.25 overnight. The fee, designed to boost New York City’s........

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