As a backbench state assemblyman, Zohran Mamdani’s commutes to Albany, N.Y., often involved riding shotgun in a colleague’s car, listening to show tunes played loudly.
His drive Tuesday morning to the State Capitol to attend Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address was a bit different. Now he was in a police motorcade — toggling between briefing books and prep work with aides — to return to his former workplace for the first time since becoming mayor earlier this month.
He planned to take care of some procedural matters, like returning his state credential that had allowed him to enter the State Capitol complex. He greeted old colleagues and met with legislative leaders.
When he talked to reporters, he was sure to shout out the Herbie Burgers in the State Capitol complex and his favorite Middle Eastern restaurant in town. But he was careful not to upstage Ms. Hochul, as he sat in the third row to watch her speak.
The short visit on Tuesday underscored how much Mr. Mamdani’s mayoral victory has reshaped political power in New York and redirected it toward the left. Though Ms. Hochul had expanded access to child care in recent years, she was now talking about making the benefit universal — a proposal much closer to the central promise of Mr. Mamdani’s campaign.
Still, it was unclear how much the governor would align with Mr. Mamdani’s affordability proposals, which call for increasing taxes on the rich to help fund free buses and expanded child care.
Mr. Mamdani said he still wanted tax increases and called on “his partners in Albany to ensure that we cannot only fund the city’s day-to-day operations at a continued scale, but also that we can fund our affordability agenda.”
“I do believe that raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations continues to be a critical part of it,” he added.
Since so much of the city’s agenda runs through the state, mayors have been a regular presence in Albany. Mr. Mamdani will be no different, but he comes with the experience of being a legislator.
He visited the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and his former boss, Carl Heastie, the Assembly speaker. And Mr. Mamdani was mostly content to smile and take photos with anyone who asked. Many asked.
When he wandered onto the assembly floor, he hugged Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, who then requested a selfie.
She said that the photo, where she kissed Mr. Mamdani on the cheek, was for her granddaughter, a huge fan of the mayor. Patricia Fahy, a state senator who served in the Assembly with Mr. Mamdani, told him she had won her office election pool by picking him to come first in the primary — basing her selection on praise from her daughter in Madison, Wis., who is not engaged in politics.
“When I started hearing from a 26-year-old, I said, ‘He’s winning this primary,’” Ms. Fahy said. “So I told Mamdani I won a dollar on him. He loved it.” She asked for a selfie, too.
Ms. Simon recalled that people were also excited when Eric Adams, who served in the State Senate, became mayor of New York City. But he proved incapable of moving his agenda, Ms. Simon said.
“Adams knew nothing about the budget,” she said.
“Was Mamdani in the middle of the budget process?” she continued. “No, he was too junior, but he was not unaware of it, right? He was in the rooms. He was in the conferences. That will serve him well.”
The auditorium where Ms. Hochul spoke was bursting with elected officials from across the state. When his name was announced sports-arena style, Mr. Mamdani, who was wedged between the new mayors of Rochester and Syracuse in the third row, stood up and gratefully waved in response to the huge cheers from those in attendance.
Shortly before Syracuse University’s marching band played and the speech started, Carolyn Maloney, a former congresswoman, insisted on a photo with the newly inaugurated mayor.
The governor mentioned Mr. Mamdani in her speech, and many in the audience looked to him for any telltale reaction. He was the first to stand and applaud as Ms. Hochul dug into the details of making child care free for New Yorkers over the next several years. He sat impassively and did not clap when the governor spoke about a recent incident of harassment outside a synagogue and proposed banning demonstrations from occurring within 25 feet of houses of worship.
After Ms. Hochul’s speech ended, the mayor was mobbed by those around him for more handshakes and selfies, making his way slowly out the side door, before being whisked away by security.
He quickly dropped by a reception hosted by Letitia James, the New York attorney general and a close ally. By about 3:30 p.m. he was back in the car to New York City.
He had an event scheduled for 8 p.m. at LaGuardia Airport that he needed to make.
Kristi Berner contributed to this report.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
The post Mr. Mamdani Goes to Albany, a Backbencher No More appeared first on New York Times.
