Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) this week expressed a willingness to work with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani but cast herself as the centrist buffer to his socialist vision for the country’s most populous city. 

While Hochul endorsed Mamdani weeks before the November election, their relationship has already gained scrutiny after the governor cast doubt on whether the mayor-elect’s plan for universal free bus fares was feasible. The dynamic has captured some of the tensions boiling over in the Democratic Party between establishment members and an increasingly powerful group of younger socialists.