Where Might Gov. Hochul Be Among Friends? At a Buffalo Bills Bar.

Down the hill from the State Capitol on Sunday, you would never know that Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York was struggling in the polls or facing a re-election fight next year.

As she screamed with joy after her beloved Buffalo Bills seemed to have recovered a fumble, it was clear that Ms. Hochul was among friends at McGeary’s Irish Pub, a stalwart hangout in downtown Albany that has long been a safe space for Bills fans.

She turned and saw a man who was decked out in Bills colors and sporting a jersey beneath a blue jacket, and a foam chicken wing atop his head. The governor, wearing her own Bills cap and shoes emblazoned with the team’s logo, did what any self-respecting Bills fan would do.

She slapped the fan’s chicken wing — a celebration that was a bit premature. The play was nullified by a penalty.

“This is an emotional roller coaster,” she said to no one in particular.

The play would be a harbinger of later disappointment, something Bills fans have grown accustomed to. It has been more than three decades since they last made it to the Super Bowl, and their last four appearances ended badly.

What might be more surprising to voters not from western New York is the unquestioned loyalty of Ms. Hochul, a Buffalo native who is probably the first governor of New York to be a rabid Bills fan. (Ms. Hochul is not the first governor from western New York, but the ones who preceded her also preceded the Bills’ existence by several decades.)