On Sept. 14, Governor of New York Kathy Hochul endorsed Queens assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be the mayor of New York City. In my opinion, this is no more than a publicity stunt from the governor. Hochul needs to be re-elected next year if she wants to remain governor, and her approval ratings over the past year haven’t been stellar. With Mamdani leading in the NYC mayoral race polls by 20 points, it makes sense for her to endorse him now, take some heat from the rest of the party and keep her seat next year during the elections.
However, Hochul’s views don’t necessarily line up with Mamdani’s. Hochul is a centrist democrat, whereas Mamdani is a democratic socialist. His proposals include making all NYC buses free, raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030, opening city-owned grocery stores and providing universal no-cost childcare. Hochul expressed their shared priorities of affordability, safety and standing up to the Trump administration in her endorsement. But I still have my doubts about this partnership.
These two politicians operate very differently. Hochul has been a staunch supporter of Israel. She called the starvation of children in Gaza “unconscionable,” but has not pledged to do anything about it. Mamdani, on the other hand, vowed to order the New York Police Department (NYPD) to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel. This issue alone seems like enough to create a large rift between the two of them, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg…