NEW YORK (AP) — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday urged New Yorkers to vote Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City, giving the Democratic nominee one of his most significant endorsements to date in the contest to lead the nation’s biggest city.
Writing in the New York Times’ opinion section, Hochul said that while she and Mamdani diverged on some issues, they came together on the importance of addressing the affordability crisis in the city and across the state.
“But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family,” wrote Hochul, a Democrat. “I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support.”
The stunning success of Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist, in the race for New York City mayor has exposed divisions within the Democratic Party as it struggles to repair its brand more than half a year into Donald Trump’s presidency. Hochul’s endorsement is the latest sign that Democratic leaders who had been skeptical of Mamdani’s liberal views are beginning to consolidate around him.
Mamdani thanked Hochul for the boost, saying it’s a sign “our movement is growing stronger.”
If you are wonder why her and not the senators, Schumer and Gillibrand aren’t up for election for several years. Hochul is up for election next year.
The people that are really dumb are the congressional representatives of NYC such as Jeffries. He should be primaried.
Schumer and Gilibrand both need to go when their terms are up. They are not for the people, only corpo interests.
Schumer is going to step aside and leave things wide open for AOC to run for his seat, as long as she explicitly opts out of running for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Gavin is the Next One Up, after all…
Schumer and Gilibrand both need to go when their terms are up.
Wouldn’t hurt if they left sooner, tbh.
Yeah, at this point it’s honestly a better deal for whoever endorses Mamdani than it is for Mamdani.
Yep, just tagging along on his popularity but whatever (legally) gets him the win, I’m okay with that. She’s going to be up for reelection in 2026 and wants to be able to use that point to sell herself to progressives and leftists.
She also desperately wants Mandami to win the Mayoral election because if he is unemployed in 2026 he might go after her job
If a no-name State Senator from Astoria loses a mayoral race to Cuomo, he’s not going to turn around and ride a wave to the governor’s mansion. But if this rising star lands in Gracie Mansion and has to go around cleaning up all Eric Adams’s shit, there’s a good chance he gets some of it on him and Hochul can use that to occupy his time for the next four years.
I’m thrilled to see a real progressive headed for the biggest mayorship in the country. But I don’t see it as anything less than a poisoned chalice. The NYPD are not going to be kind to Zohran. The business wing of the party is going to put the screws to him every chance they get. The city bureaucracy will be a minefield. The press will be at this throat on day one.
And that’s before Trump announced he wants to carpet bomb Hell’s Kitchen just to prove a mayor can’t fight back.
Not only that she cannot be framed as going against the will of her party electorate which is HUGE for her.
Well yeah, provided a “donor” or two doesn’t cut them off for it.
True. They might lose that sweet sweet AIPAC money.
I hope this is a tipping point, and establishment Democrats recognize that the tide is shifting.
He’s too fucking popular. Same problem mainstream centrist Dems have with AOC and Bernie.
I’m not surprised to see the hard-right Zionist Ds sitting down and shutting up for the most part. Nobody wants to be labeled with the Big L coming for Team Cuomo. But at some point you need to fundraise and build canvasing support off the same folks rallying around Mamdani. Can’t do that from the sidelines.
And if Zohran starts advancing his own slate of primary challenges, that could be even more horrifying for the Hakeem Jeffries of the state.
Mamdani bitchessssszs!!! Wooo!
Nice to see a New York Democrat with a brain, I guess.
This isn’t having a brain. This is having the moral compass of a windsock, and seeing that you’re getting wrecked in opinion polls, and trying to do an about face. Hochul was never the best choice. She was always a party-establishment shoo-in. Her opinion is only changing now because the public pressure was so overwhelming.
I’m just saying she’s acting smarter than Jeffries and Schumer. Sheesh.
I’m not giving you shit - simply pointing out that this is just politicking, not a demonstration of any real moral character.
ceenote didn’t said it showed moral character, they said it showed intelligence (ie “a brain”, ie she read the room that it would be in her own political self-interest to take this stance). You’re in violent agreement with ceenote.
Its not intelligence it’s self-preservation. The intelligent stance would be something other than flip flopping and changing “your views” with the political winds. That’s just being disingenuous and demonstrating to your constituents that you’d just as easily throw them under the bus later if you thought it would benefit you personally. I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would give them kudos for engaging in this behavior.
Schumer has AIPAC in his corner (or, more accurately, he’s firmly in their pocket) and he isn’t up for election for a few years. So he doesn’t really have to care what public opinion is right now. Hochul is up for re-election next year and cant afford to have public opinion wreck her right now.
This is giving Hochul too much credit.
Have you already forgotten the congestion pricing debacle?
It’s good that she did this, but by no means should she be forgiven or continue to work in her position
Wasn’t congestion pricing a huge success that most everyone actually living there appreciates?
Yes but she delayed it for a while, then said she would scrap it, and she also made the prices lower.
She ratfucked it at the last second, delaying implementation and then when she brought it back post-election she lowered the prices, which dug a massive hole into the MTAs budget, which relied on that projected revenue for their future investments.
To be clear, I am all for congestion pricing. I live in one of the cities where it has been successfully implemented.
I said nothing about forgiving her, just that this indicates she’s not a complete moron, like certain congressional leaders based out of the same state appear to be.
Someone’s preparing to ride the Mamdani wave! Good.
Mamdani had to kiss the police boots but he gets a useless endorsement in its place.
What did he do?
Thanks. Unfortunately that’s how the system works so I don’t know if I can blame him too much. But it also demonstrates why politics can’t start and end with electoralism. We need to have a base of power that is outside of these types of pressures, which can match the pull of the institutions politicians are subjected to.
It is ironic since people would elect him even without caving to the system but he still decides to cave.
Getting elected isn’t the problem, it’s being hamstrung by preemptively antagonizing a police force that’s a major power bloc in your city. He won’t be able to walk in day 1 and purge corruption from a massive, violent, broken institution.
Pragmatism is not bootlicking lol.
