BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In the days leading up to the New York primary elections, Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke out loudly against Supreme Court decisions rolling back federal abortion rights and overruling part of New York's concealed carry law.

Democratic analyst Jack O'Donnell believes her reaction helped pave the way for an overwhelming victory Tuesday night.

"I think Kathy Hochul did a really good job of meeting the moment, whether it was the Supreme Court ruling on guns or reproductive rights, but also the gun violence that we experienced here in Buffalo, Kathy Hochul really rose to the moment and responded to those," O'Donnell said.

State Sen. Sean Ryan, a Hochul ally who is returning to Albany this week to respond to the court's gun ruling at the direction of the governor, also believes the issues were important to Democratic voters.

"It's really motivating people and people are really asking the hard questions. Are you going to keep our society safe? And if the answer is yes, then people are going to come out and vote for you and that's why they voted for Kathy Hochul tonight," Ryan said.

The question now is whether gun and reproductive laws will continue to be central issues as Hochul faces Republican Lee Zeldin in the general election. O'Donnell said if the governor is able to control the messaging, they will be.

"She's got and she's going to continue to have a lot of money to run ads, to do the media appearances and really kind of drive what this campaign is about," O'Donnell said.

The analyst said Republicans meanwhile will want to pivot back to issues like public safety, inflation and gas prices where polling has favored their candidates. He said a lot can happen between now and November.

"We've seen that Republican enthusiasm is high. We've seen that in parts of New York. We've seen that around the country. We've seen that in off years. The question is does this motivate Democratic voters, especially younger voters to come out and vote?" O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell believes a key demographic will be moderate, college-educated suburban women.

"Everything we've seen anecdotally, conversations we've had, polling, they care about crime, they care about inflation," he said. "Traditionally, they've also cared a lot about a woman's right to choose."