Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s shock primary win had turned her into the “therapist in chief” — as she sought to quell furor over the socialist’s radical “tax the rich” plan.
The governor, who is yet to endorse Mamdani after his mayoral win set off a political earthquake within the Democratic party, signalled she planned to block his push to hikes taxes for Big Apple millionaires and large corporations, if he’s elected.
“I’ve spoken to hundreds of business leaders saying, ‘Listen, nothing is going to happen to this city without me being aware of it and involved in it’. So don’t talk about packing up and leaving and all these other overreactions,” Hochul told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday.
“I’ve become the therapist in chief it seems. So I’m saying to everybody, ‘We’re going be okay.’ Maybe it’s the mom in me. I know how to calm down situations and we’ll get through this.”
“Don’t panic everybody. Let the process play out, let the voters decide and then we’ll deal with it,” she added.
Mamdani has stoked widespread outcry with his promise to raise taxes for the city’s ultra-wealthy, as well as his slew of anti-Israel comments on the campaign trail — including his refusal to condemn the “globalize the intifada” rallying cry.
Hochul said she raised the two issues directly with Mamdani when they spoke recently.
In addition to reassuring the business community, the governor said Mamdani’s number one job was “healing” his relationship with Jewish New Yorkers.
“I said ‘You have a lot of healing to do with the Jewish community. Many of your words have been hurtful and hateful to people and their interpretation of it’,” she said.
“So job number one is to straighten that relationship out if you can and to get them to understand that if you become the mayor, we don’t know the outcome, but if you become a mayor that you’ll be a mayor for everyone and no one should have to about being in a city and feeling less safe because of who the mayor is and their religious beliefs.”
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