Hochul and Mamdani play nice at Somos

As New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul moved across a political conference in Puerto Rico over the last few days, the unlikely pair did so largely in tandem. Yet that wasn’t enough to completely tamp down the inevitable political tension between the 34-year-old democratic socialist and the 67-year-old moderate Buffalonian.

Throughout the annual four-day Somos conference, Hochul and Mamdani appeared at the same events four different times. When Mamdani was added to an event hosted by District Council 37 and state Attorney General Letitia James, Hochul adjusted her schedule so she could stand beside the man who is currently the biggest celebrity in the Democratic Party. In turn, Mamdani took time to address the roughly 1,000 invited guests who attended Hochul’s closed-press reception the next day. Publicly, both appeared to be taking great effort to show they want to work together. 

“It's a new day in New York,” Hochul said, hyping up Mamdani while speaking at a labor union breakfast Saturday morning. “You know why? Because we're gonna have a new mayor, and I am so proud that this individual is gonna work with me shoulder-to-shoulder to deliver for New York City the way it's never seen in its lifetime.”

At the same event, Mamdani seemed to acknowledge the fear attached to the label “socialist” that has already been used as a cudgel against more moderate Democrats like Hochul for associating with him. “I will make clear that we are not looking to remake New York City in my image,” he said in one of his more pointed remarks. “We are looking to remake it in the image of struggling workers across the five boroughs.”

For all their differences – and there are many – Hochul and Mamdani need each other. The governor is up for election in 2026 and could benefit from the explosive energy Mamdani cultivated throughout his mayoral campaign, especially after Hochul’s lackluster 2022 race. That movement catapulted the young Assembly member to victory, expanding the electorate and toppling a political Goliath – twice. But many of the bold policy promises Mamdani ran on are difficult, if not impossible, for him to bring to fruition without buy-in from state leaders like Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

That gives Hochul leverage. But given Mamdani’s popularity, it also puts her in the hotseat to weigh in on agenda items that she may not normally support. Universal child care? Easy, since she’s committed to helping working parents. Making city buses free? That’s more complicated. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Hochul pumped the brakes on one of Mamdani’s signature policy planks. “I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,” Hochul said. “But can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course we can.” Leaders of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have also expressed doubts about the plan’s feasibility. 

Manhattan Borough President and Comptroller-elect Mark Levine lauded Hochul and Mamdani for finding a way to work together while still acknowledging their policy differences.

“It would have been easy for the two of them to say we don’t agree on some core issues and we’re going our separate ways. You know who that would have been bad for? The people in this city,” Levine said. “The governor has probably taken some political hits for it, she’s heading into a pretty intense officially declared race with Rep. Elise Stefanik and she knows it’s in the interest of the city that the state government and city government work together.”

Levine said both the governor and mayor-elect have been politically savvy in how they are navigating a delicate situation. “She hasn’t done it by turning against any of her core principals,” he said of Hochul. “And honestly, the mayor-elect deserves credit because he’s also giving her room to have some different views.”

But the public has its own views on their dynamic. Tensions rose Thursday night when Hochul took the stage before Mamdani’s first appearance at Somos. As she began to address the crowd, some attendees began chanting “tax the rich,” – the same chant, albeit on a smaller scale, that broke out at a pro-Mamdani rally headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Queens two weeks ago.  

“I hear you,” Hochul said as the call rose into the cool San Juan night. “But I’m the type of person, the more you push me, the more I’m not going to do what you want. So little lesson to all of our friends out there.” Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Hochul said that Buffalo natives “don’t put up with a lot of crap” when asked about her earlier remarks. “You look at the history of people who've run multimillion dollar ad campaigns to try and get me to change my position,” she said. “I don't change my position.”

New York Working Families Party co-director Jasmine Gripper said Hochul deserves credit for not trying to mimic the tension that defined Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio’s troubled relationship. She tried to work collaboratively with Mayor Eric Adams, even through his legal troubles, and is now signaling that she wants to work collaboratively with Mamdani as well.

“As someone who knows their election is up next year, she is trying to also communicate to voters that she is an ally in the fight for the affordability crisis and for child care,” Gripper said. “Now, whether that will remain true is up to the governor, right? Will she be a true ally and will she demonstrate her commitment in the executive budget?”

Speaking at Hochul’s private reception on Friday evening, Mamdani leaned heavily into the message of unity, even more explicitly than in his public speeches over the weekend. “Together in this room, on this stage, I feel something that has felt all too rare in our politics: a united front,” the mayor-elect said, according to a recording of his speech provided to City & State. He spoke of unity over division in order to combat authoritarianism under President Donald Trump. “The stars are shining … the light of a Democratic Party that is feeling rejuvenated,” Mamdani said to applause. 

But Mamdani said that rejuvenation, that political future, must be built on a shared vision for the Democratic Party that delivers for the working class – the message he ran on that his party has struggled to convey for years. “My hope is that together, we can also offer another model to emulate … that listens to working people and offers them tangible solutions that change their lives,” Mamdani said. The next day, Hochul spoke of “different philosophies” among Democrats to “accomplish the same goals.” But just minutes later, she expressed doubt about Mamdani’s free buses proposal, throwing cold water on one of those tangible solutions that resonated with voters and propelled Mamdani to victory.

Democratic strategist Amit Singh Bagga said he thinks Mamdani was communicating with multiple audiences at once, simultaneously saying a lot in just a few sentences.

“He was talking to New Yorkers writ large. He was talking to Democrats nationally. He was talking to Donald Trump. And he was speaking both to the left and to the Establishment,” Bagga said. “It’s his working-people-centered agenda that broke primary and general election records – and voters clearly expect the party, across factions, to not fuck around and to deliver on this agenda. Everybody’s survival depends on it.”