Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday accused lefty lawmakers such as Deputy State Senate Majority Leader Michael Gianaris of “character assassination” for opposing her nominee for chief judge before he even has a confirmation hearing.

“I fully expect after Hector LaSalle gets a full and open minded hearing — not the pre-judgment that is going on and the mischaracterizations and the character assassination that is going on,” Hochul told The Post following a Manhattan appearance.

“We’ll have the support we need.”

She also vowed to keep fighting the ignominy of becoming the first governor ever to have a top judicial pick rejected by the state Senate while noting how LaSalle’s experience stretches to thousands more rulings than those handful being weaponized by his critics.

“I will make sure – whatever means it takes — we’ll get this done,” she vowed despite fierce opposition to LaSalle from liberal Democrats.

LaSalle would be the first Latino to lead the state judiciary if he gets approved by the state Senate despite the opposition of powerful unions, lefty activists and at least a dozen Democratic members of the state Senate who have publicly said they oppose him.

Other state senators besides Gianaris who have blasted LaSalle’s record while saying they are a “no” on his nomination include: state Sens. Robert Jackson, Cordell Cleare, Julia Salazar, Jabari Brisport, Kristen Gonzalez, Jessica Ramos, Gustavo Rivera, Shelley Mayer, Michelle Hinchey, Rachel May and Samra Brouk.

The number of Democrats within their 42-member supermajority opposed to the pick mean Hochul will likely need GOP votes to get him approved by a bipartisan majority in the 63-member Senate.

She did not rule out such a scenario Friday considering lefty intransigence.

“I fully expect that the constitutional process will play out and that the best judge for the position will have a full hearing in the Senate and that will go to a full floor vote,” she said.

But the nomination could get stuck in the Judiciary Committee that Senate Democrats recently expanded to potentially accommodate more senators opposed to LaSalle.

State Senate Democrats spokesman Michael Murphy fired back at Hochul following her heated words Friday morning that came a day after Democratic Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she “shares the concerns” of colleagues opposed to LaSalle.

“We have always said we will follow our constitutional duties and will have a full and fair hearing,” Murphy said.

“Attacking the Senate is not helpful or necessary,” he added.

The escalating confrontation between the Democratic governor and her counterparts in the state Senate comes ahead of the state budget process that could give Hochul leverage in her confirmation fight.

Hochul has argued that an experienced hand leading the Court of Appeals could also help the state deal with improving public safety amid rising crime, which she said Friday remains at the top of her policy agenda alongside affordable housing.

“We’ve been working together on many other issues, but this [nomination] is the prerogative of the governor to determine their nominee. It’ll go through the process is fair, it is the right thing to do and is what has always historically happened and should happen in this case,” she said Friday.

If Hochul were to withdraw his nomination, she would have to pick a replacement from the six other chief judge candidates already screened by a state judiciary panel.

But if LaSalle goes down in a formal Senate vote, the hiring process could start anew with Hochul potentially having another chance to nominate another Latino who aligns with her vision for the court.

“The realities are that in my conference, the numbers are not there,” Stewart-Cousins told Gotham Gazette in an interview that aired Friday afternoon.

Colleagues past and present have praised LaSalle for his managerial skills and fair-minded approach to upholding the rule of law while his critics have pointed to a cases that purportedly show he is too conservative to lead the seven-member Court of Appeals.

His administrative acumen might even help thousands of New Yorkers avoid unnecessary prison time by streamlining the byzantine state courts system while clearing a backlog of jury trials caused by the pandemic, former judges say.

“If you want to keep crime down, if you want to keep make sure justice is served … You have to have someone who understands the institution, how it works, how the courts work, and who would understand that better than [LaSalle]?” former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said.

But opponents like Gianaris have pointed to a handful of cases involving LaSalle that supports say merely show him sticking to the letter of the law.

This includes a case where he votes to narrow a subpoena from the state Attorney General’s Office requesting information about people associated with anti-abortion pregnancy crisis centers as part of a probe into the unlicensed practice of medicine.

Another decision angered big labor by allowing corporation to sue union leaders for defamation in their individual capacities.

A third case concerned complicated issues of due process related to a criminal suspect whose vehicle was searched after a cop spotted him “fumbling with the keys, attempting to put them in the ignition” outside a crime seen, which LaSalle maintained was within the bounds of the law.

But Gianaris says many state senators are looking for the right-leaning court to go the other way following the resignation of Janet DiFiore last year under a cloud of scandal.

“The outgoing chief has been deemed by many to be the worst Court of Appeals administration in modern history and a number of us are anxious to see the court regain his stature and get back on trace,” Gianaris told WNYC Thursday.

“I don’t think this is a close call. Justice LaSalle represents the status quo on this Court of Appeals,” he added.