Could blue states like New York turn out to be the seawall standing in the way of this year’s much-anticipated Blue Wave?

It’s not just a pipe dream.

The paradox is this: Nationally, polls show voters are dissatisfied with the ever-increasing cost of living, tired of President Donald Trump’s act and ready to punish the GOP.

But in places where unified Democratic control of state government has proven disastrous, there’s a lot less optimism about what Democrats would really do with still more power.

Is the grass really greener on the other side? Their lives are proof to the contrary.

At a Sunday afternoon rally in Yorktown Heights, Rep. Mike Lawler — the independent-minded Republican fending off a tough challenge from Democrat Cait Conley in NY-17 — was joined by his colleague Nicole Malliotakis, gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, newly-minted superstar Saritha Komatireddy and a number of local Republicans running for county and state office, all of whom made the case that New Yorkers should try something new.

Looming particularly large over Lawler’s race is the shadow of Sheridan Gorman, a young constituent of his who was murdered in March.

The man being charged with killing her is an illegal immigrant who had been inexplicably released back into the United States after having previously been arrested for shoplifting.

Sheridan’s parents, Jessica and Tom Gorman, have emerged as powerful advocates against sanctuary policies — and for Lawler, who has championed their crusade in the months since their daughter’s tragic death.

One rally attendee told The Post that he had turned out specifically to support the Gormans.

“It brings me to tears, I have daughters that age,” he said. “It brings me to tears!”

There’s sorrow, but just as much righteous anger.

“Kathy Hochul is a liar,” warned Jessica Gorman in Yorktown after calling Lawler, Blakeman and Komatireddy their “hope.”

Hochul “has never even pretended to care about victims.”

Lawler slammed Conley for lacking the compassion — and common sense — to break with her party’s deranged orthodoxy.

“My opponent, Cait Conley, couldn’t even be bothered to answer [the Gormans’] question when they asked her . . . ‘Do you support Kathy Hochul’s sanctuary state law?’”

“And she looked this way, and she looked that way, and she looked down, she looked up. She couldn’t look them in the eye and tell them the truth: She does support Kathy Hochul’s sanctuary state law.”

At the top of their ticket, Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James present major problems for Democrats.

The former is a wide-eyed dunce who would seem out of her depth as a middle-school hall monitor, much less as chief executive of the Empire State.

On her watch, energy costs have skyrocketed, economic growth has slowed and weary residents have fled; New York placed 50th in net population percentage change in fiscal year 2025.

If Hochul wins reelection, she’ll have only partisan allegiance to thank.

One recent Quinnipiac University survey suggested her image statewide is underwater, with 45% expressing a favorable and 46% expressing an unfavorable opinion of her.

Among independents, Blakeman actually leads Hochul, 51% to 44%.

James, meanwhile, has been an absentee chief law enforcement officer, more worried about wasting tax dollars on fruitless civil cases against the president than bringing criminals to justice or tackling a corrosive mental health crisis.

Both were utterly humiliated during lopsided debates with Blakeman and Komatireddy, respectively.

Komatireddy’s performance was so dominant that she’s pulled within six points of James, according to one bombshell mid-October poll; she’s now the subject of a New York Times feature that grudgingly acknowledges her impressive candidacy.

The lack of enthusiasm for the two top Democratic candidates could drag down turnout across the state.

The other thing working against Conley and in favor of Lawler is their respective approaches to campaigning.

Lawler is a product of a relatively inhospitable environment, and he’s a stronger candidate for it.

To be successful as a Republican in a New York City suburb is to take nothing for granted, to treat every vote as gettable and to never, ever give it a rest.

Take his schedule on Sunday for an example: The day began with an appearance at a Haitian church in Spring Valley.

Then two rallies, the one in Yorktown to fire up members of his base — many of whom appeared to know him personally — and another in Monsey to reach out to its Orthodox Jewish community.

But wait, there’s more.

His nightcap was yet another visit to a Haitian church, where one attendee identified himself as a big supporter of the congressman, thanks to his work on behalf of Haitians whose legal status in the country has been threatened by the Trump administration’s withdrawal of Temporary Protected Status.

“My fundamental issue is TPS . . . and he’s the one who’s been working on it, not just now, at the time of elections — he’s been working on it!” the supporter told The Post.

“There are a lot of other issues . . . and [Lawler] seems to be on top of all of them.”

For his part, Lawler began his remarks by observing, “This is not the first time I’ve been here, and this is not the last time I’m going to be here.”

A pastor, meanwhile, told The Post that while he’d be happy to host Conley for a similar event at the church, he hadn’t heard from her campaign.

Maybe she thinks that merely running as a Democrat in New York ought to be enough to get her over the finish line in 2026.

But maybe the carpetbagger ought to have picked a district a little less fatigued by the destructive far-left agenda she would rubber-stamp.