A few days after being called a “faithful capitalist” before a sitdown with the socialist Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul endorce him

Governor Kathy Hochul exhorted New Yorkers on Sunday to vote Zohran Mamdani for the mayor of New York, giving the Democratic candidate one of his most important approvals to date in the competition to direct the largest city in the country.
To write The New York Times“The opinion section, Hochul said that even if Mamdani diverged on certain issues, they met on the importance of dealing with the crisis of affordability in the city and through the state.
Four days earlier, Hochul had sat with Bloomberg TV and sang a very different air. Recognizing herself as “faithful capitalist”, she said that she would soon sit with Mamdani and clarify certain things. “The city of New York, as powerful and powerful as it is, is always a state subdivision, so any tax increase must first meet my office.” Mamdani, of course, campaigned on tax increases, including a new tax on millionaires and an increase in the tax rate of state companies.
“In our conversations,” wrote Hochul in the Times“I have heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up in their neighborhoods and where the opportunities are at hand for each family,” wrote Hochul, a democrat who served alongside the rival of the mayor of Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, after winning two elections as a lieutenant. In June, Mamdani shocked the observers by convincingly beating Cuomo in the democratic primary. “I heard a leader who focuses on the affordable New York meeting – a goal that I support with enthusiasm,” added Hochul.
The astonishing success of Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-proclaimed democratic socialist, in the race for the mayor of New York, revealed divisions within the Democratic Party as it struggles to repair its brand more half-year to the presidency of Donald Trump. Hochul’s approval is the last sign that Democratic leaders who had been skeptical of Mamdani’s liberal opinions begin to consolidate around him.
Mamdani thanked Hochul for the boost, saying that it was a sign “our movement is strengthened”.
“Governor Hochul has made an affordability the centerpiece of his work. I look forward to fighting alongside his history to put money from the pockets of New Yorkers and build a safer and stronger New York city where nobody is forced to go just so that they can afford a family,” Mamdani said in a statement on Sunday evening. “I am grateful to the governor of her support in the unification of our party – as well as the work she has accomplished to President Trump, obtaining free meals for our children and expanding access to child care.”
In recent weeks, the other race candidates – former governor Andrew Cuomo, outgoing mayor Eric Adams and the Republican Curtis Sliwa – have intensified their Mamdani criticism on his platform and declarations made before the city’s general elections in November. President Donald Trump himself thinks that Mamdani is likely to win, as he said during the weekend, when he criticized Sliwa as “not exactly the hours of great listening”, including his well-known penchant to adopt cats of rescue.
Hochul said that another reason she decided to support Mamdani was her wish to make sure that the New York Police Service had the resources he needs to ensure the safety of the city streets and metros.
“I urged him to ensure that there is a solid leadership at the head of the NYPD – and he accepted,” wrote Hochul.
Mamdani, who runs in the polls, was not approved by eminent democrats, including Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leaders of the American Senate and Chamber.
The president of the US House Republican leaders, Elise Stefanik, a New York MP, said that Hochul’s approval was a sign that the governor moves to the ballot.
“At the exact moment when New Yorkers are looking for a solid leadership of their governor with an opposite majority Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul embraces this unleashed communist who will destroy New York, which makes him less affordable and more dangerous-again putting criminals and the Communists, and the New Yorks last,” said Stefanik in a Sunday declaration.
Mamdani completely defeated Cuomo in democratic primary. Cuomo has since revived its campaign as an independent. Adams, a democrat, jumped the primary to present himself as independently in November. Sliwa ran without opposition in republican primary.
Hochul was the Lieutenant-Governor of Cuomo and replaced him after resigning in 2021 following a barrage of allegations of sexual harassment. He denied reprehensible acts during the campaign, arguing that scandal was motivated by politics.
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