In a rare appearance alongside mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani Tuesday, in the Queens Assembly district he represents, Gov. Kathy Hochul backed the Democratic nominee’s campaign pledge of rolling out universal child care.
“That is still a fight that my children are facing today, young families are facing today,” Hochul said. “I’ve had conversations with Assemblymember Mamdani about how we can get to universal childcare. I believe we can. I believe that,” she said.
The declaration occurred at the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens in Astoria and coincided with an announcement of $5 million in discretionary funds from the governor’s office to revamp the club, install Queens’ first planetarium and add 200 units of affordable housing.
“I want to thank Governor Hochul for the investment in this neighborhood, for the investment in the dream of serving the young people of this city,” Mamdani told the audience, before leaving the press event without taking questions.
Hochul was slow to endorse Mamdani even though he was the Democratic nominee for mayor in the state’s largest city, backing the candidate only two and half months after his startling June primary upset. The two marched side by side in the Labor Day Parade last month but haven’t appeared in recent memory at a public event where they both spoke, or at any point during his campaign for mayor.
But their political fates are likely intertwined. Hochul is headed into an election year and is already facing a challenge from former Lt. Gov. Anthony Delgado, who is courting the progressive base of the party. With most registered Democrats statewide living in the five boroughs, keeping Mamdani at least neutral in that potential face-off is important to her reelection effort.
Mamdani needs Hochul’s support as well, to fund and implement key parts of his legislative agenda, like funding universal child care and fulfilling his pledge to make buses, which are run by the state-controlled MTA, “fast and free.”
Mamdani has said he wants to pay for child care by increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, a move Hochul has resisted.
Asked about talks around funding universal child care, Hochul said they’re still working out the details, with discussions happening earnest after the general election in November should Mamdani win.
“I’ve found him to be eminently rational,” Hochul said. “He wants to work with me on this, and we don’t have the details flushed out.”
Mamdani’s 13-point victory over disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo in June rocked the Democratic establishment. Since then, many high-profile New York Democrats like Hochul, have fallen in line behind Mamdani, with some notable exceptions.
Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have yet to voice their support for Mamdani, indicating how polarizing of a figure he still is for mainstream Democrats.
At a campaign event of his own on Tuesday, Cuomo — with whom Hochul had served as lieutenant governor before he resigned in 2021 — slammed Hochul for appearing beside Mamdani.
“She doesn’t believe in legalizing prostitution. She doesn’t believe in defunding the police. She doesn’t believe in globalizing the intifada,” Cuomo said, critically exaggerating some of Mamdani’s positions.
Asked about Cuomo’s comments, Hochul didn’t refute the former governor’s assertions.
While Mamdani has supported defunding the police as an Assembly member, he told THE CITY that he would maintain the current size of the NYPD, which has shrunk significantly in recent years. While he has supported decriminalizing sex work, it is not part of his mayoral campaign, and Mamdani has said he has never supported legalizing it. He has also said he never supported “globalizing the intifada.” While he initially declined to condemn that phrase, he has since said he would discourage its use.
“Number one, this is his Assembly district,” Hochul said. “I’ve had major differences with the candidate Mamdani on many issues, but I believe he’s touched a nerve…. He’s created an energy around the will to just focus on what’ll make New York even more acceptable, and that is to make it more affordable. So I have found an ally.”
