The event seemed like a no-brainer for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to attend: a long-planned rally at the State Capitol this month to demand New York’s wealthiest residents pay more in taxes.
The message adheres to one of his central campaign promises; would raise much-needed revenue to help plug a looming $7 billion budget gap; and would keep him in the good graces of the democratic socialist base that worked to carry him into office.
But Mr. Mamdani has told the organizers of the Feb. 25 rally that he is unlikely to attend, explaining this week that he wants to maintain a strong relationship with Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to two people familiar with the talks. They were granted anonymity to discuss details from a private conversation.
Mr. Mamdani’s spokesman, Joe Calvello, declined to answer repeated questions about the mayor’s plans for the rally. He instead referred to Mr. Mamdani’s testimony during a budget hearing in Albany on Wednesday, in which he reiterated his desire for wealthy New Yorkers to pay more in taxes.
Ms. Hochul, a centrist Democrat, has made it clear she has no intention of raising income taxes. The mayor, who inherited a $118 billion budget that relies on the state for tens of billions of dollars, recently endorsed Ms. Hochul in her re-election bid this year, despite her opposition to one of his policy priorities.
For now, his allies seem to be giving him a pass.
Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, did not comment directly on Mr. Mamdani’s reluctance to attend the rally when asked about it. Instead, he addressed what appears to be the mayor’s motivation for probably skipping the event, which is expected to attract thousands of people from across the state.
“We recognize the mayor is building a governing majority and balancing competing interests, but that’s our goal too,” Mr. Gordillo said. “The question is whether we align on how to do it ultimately.”
Mr. Gordillo was not the only mayoral ally to emphasize that efforts to pressure the governor will extend long beyond the rally. A second person involved in the planning of the event said that organizers acknowledge that the budget fight will not be won in a day, and that prioritizing pragmatic considerations this early in Mr. Mamdani’s administration is wise.
Still, a rally on Mr. Mamdani’s central campaign promise without the mayor potentially dampens a marquee moment in the organizers’ efforts to sway Ms. Hochul to reconsider her refusal to raise taxes.
Divya Sundaram, deputy director of Our Time, a nonprofit group that recently formed to support the mayor’s agenda, said that the leftist movement could push for issues on its own. “We don’t take direction from City Hall,” she said. “We are going to Albany to demand that Governor Hochul tax the rich for a New York we can afford.”
“Look around,” Ms. Sundaram said. “The ultrarich are raking in record profits while everyday people are stretched to the breaking point. To make matters worse, Trump is cutting billionaires’ taxes and working New Yorkers’ health care and food assistance. It’s up to Governor Hochul whether she wants to stand up to that agenda or cooperate with it.”
Jen Goodman, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul, said the governor has been clear that she intends to “continue to work with Mayor Mamdani to find ways to support New York City and deliver on their shared affordability agenda.”
The mayor’s decision on whether to attend the rally illustrates the tricky balance he is trying to maintain between satisfying a political base hungry for wholesale change and strengthening his alliance with Ms. Hochul, a powerful governor who controls funding to the city.
Some of Mr. Mamdani’s closest aides in City Hall were also split over the event. Some worried that his absence would anger Democratic Socialists of America officials; others were more concerned about angering Ms. Hochul if he was to attend, according to several people familiar with those discussions.
The mayor’s desire to respond to each side has been evident. During his budget testimony in Albany, at the annual ritual known as “Tin Cup Day,” Mr. Mamdani asked for a two percentage-point increase in income taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million a year, a move that he said would raise $4 billion per year.
Yet during a campaign rally in Queens in October, Mr. Mamdani rushed to the governor’s defense when thousands of his supporters drowned out her remarks with chants of “tax the rich!”
More recently, he endorsed Ms. Hochul this month, even without a commitment from her to raise taxes.
“I knew there would be moments when we would be heartbroken,” said Olivia Gonzalez Killingsworth, a New York City D.S.A. steering committee member, referring to that endorsement.
Emma Goldberg is a Times reporter who writes about political subcultures and the way we live now.
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