New York Gov. Kathy Hochul formally endorsed Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Sunday night, writing in an opinion piece that she is “confident that he has the courage, urgency and optimism New York City needs to lead it through the challenges of this moment.”
“In the past few months, I’ve had frank conversations with him. We’ve had our disagreements,” Hochul wrote in the New York Times. “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. I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support.”
Hochul said she and Mamdani had discussed policing, combating antisemitism, and New York’s economy, and that it was important to her that New York’s next mayor “would not be someone who would surrender one inch to Donald Trump.”
“Zohran Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda — with urgency, conviction, and the defiance that defines New York. And we must never allow Mr. Trump to control our city like the king he wants to be… Zohran and I don’t see eye to eye on everything, and I don’t expect us to,” Hochul wrote.
“I will always reserve the right to disagree honestly and to argue passionately. But I also believe that New York State and New York City are at their best when we stand together against those who attempt to tear us apart,” she said.
Hochul had praised Mamdani after he won the mayoral primary in June, but had previously hedged on formally endorsing him.
Hochul could have significant influence over Mamdani’s agenda, as some of his policy proposals would need buy-in from the governor and legislature for funding or raising taxes.
Mamdani’s main opponents in the mayoral race are incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who are both Democrats running as independents.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), in a speech on Saturday in Iowa, slammed Democratic lawmakers from New York for not endorsing Mamdani, saying their hesitance was “spineless politics.”
“Many Democratic members of the Senate and House representing New York have stayed on the sidelines. That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of. They need to get behind him and get behind him now,” Van Hollen said.
Other major New York Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have yet to endorse a candidate in the race.
The endorsement from the moderate Hochul comes as Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has distanced himself from some past positions that his opponents have said are extreme.
Mamdani told the New York Times on Thursday that he would apologize for having called the New York Police Department “racist” in a social media post in 2020.
In a statement responding to Hochul’s endorsement, Mamdani said that he is looking forward “to fighting alongside her to continue her track record of putting money back in New Yorkers’ pockets and building a safer and stronger New York City where no one is forced to leave just so they can afford to raise a family.”
“I’m grateful to the Governor for her support in unifying our party — as well as the work she’s done standing up to President Trump, securing free lunch meals for our kids, and expanding access to childcare,” he added. “There’s so much work left to do, and our movement is only growing stronger.”
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