Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced on Sunday that she is endorsing socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race.
Hochul’s endorsement came in an op-ed for the New York Times in which she said that while the two “don’t see eye to eye on everything,” she now sees Mamdani as a “leader who is focused on making New York City affordable.”
“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought. Tonight I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani,” Hochul wrote.
Hochul also focused part of her essay on President Donald Trump, who has floated a National Guard deployment to the Big Apple as part of a crime crackdown. She described Mamdani as someone who would not “surrender one inch” to the president.
“New York needs leaders who will put aside differences, stand up and fight back against Mr. 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. Anyone who accepts his tainted influence, or benefits from it, is compromised from the start,” Hochul wrote.
The endorsement follows initial hesitation from the New York governor on Mamdani’s candidacy.
Last weekend, she dodged endorsing Mamdani in a Fox News appearance, saying the race is “up to the voters” to decide.
Her endorsement will likely be an even further boost for Mamdani, who is the clear front-runner in the race. He is facing off against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who mocked the endorsement shortly after it came out.
“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. Curtis will be mayor this year, Elise Stefanik will be governor next year, and the nonsense will finally end,” Sliwa spokesman Daniel Kurzyna said in a statement.
Despite the optimism, Mamdani’s closest challenger is Cuomo, whom he leads by a commanding 19.5 percentage points, 44% to 24.5%. Sliwa sits in third with 14.3%, while Adams is in dead last with 9.5%.
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The incumbent mayor recently dismissed reporting that he would drop out of the race, saying it was “hurting” his ability to campaign.
The New York City mayoral election will take place on Nov. 4.
