Governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday endorsed Zohran Mamdani's bid to become the next mayor of New York City.
Hochul said she was aligned with the Democratic mayoral nominee for his push to make the city more affordable.
"In the past few months, I’ve had frank conversations with him," Hochul wrote in an op-ed published in the New York Times. "We’ve had our disagreements. 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 shared her desire that the New York Police Department should have "every resource to keep ur streets and subways safe."
"I urged him to ensure that there is strong leadership at the helm of the N.Y.P.D. — and he agreed," she wrote.
Mamdani said he looks forward to working with the governor to put money back in New Yorkers' pockets.
"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 [Donald] Trump, securing free lunch meals for our kids and expanding access to childcare," Mamdani said in a statement. "There’s so much work left to do, and our movement is only growing stronger.”
Still silent on Mamdani are Congressmen Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
Notable Republicans were quick to attack Hochul, who is running for re-election in 2026.
“Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has endorsed the ‘Liddle’ Communist,’ Zohran Mamdani, running for Mayor of New York,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen? Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad!”
Daniel Kurzyna, campaign spokesperson for Curtis Sliwa, who is running for mayor as a Republican and Independent said: "The worst governor in America just endorsed the worst candidate for mayor. They deserve each other. New Yorkers see through the backroom politics and know Curtis Sliwa is fighting for them, not the insiders."
U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from upstate New York who is rumored to run against Hochul next year, was equally dismissive of the endorsement.
"At the exact moment when New Yorkers are looking for strong leadership from their governor with a majority opposing Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul embraces this raging Communist who will destroy New York making it less affordable and more dangerous - once again putting criminals and communists first, and New Yorkers last," she said in a statement. "Kathy Hochul is clearly too scared of her own abysmal polling among Democrat voters that she is desperately shoring up her Far Left Democrat flank, and choosing to destroy New York for hardworking families across our state."
