With new ads, progressive super PAC looks to deploy Mamdani voters for Hochul

As progressives wade into the gubernatorial super PAC game, a new independent expenditure committee known as Left Hook released a series of ads Friday blasting Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s immigration policies – and imploring the left-wing coalitions that helped elect New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to turn out for the moderate Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

The ads are set to run on Meta platforms and streaming services through Election Day. Make the Road Action, the 501(c)(4) political arm of Make the Road New York, has so far raised $500,000 for the endeavour, most of which has gone toward this first ad buy, according to Amit Singh Bagga, a progressive Democratic strategist and former Hochul staffer working on the PAC, though he would not say how much the ads cost in total. Make the Road Action gave $325,000 of that Tuesday according to campaign finance records. 

The super PAC tapped Melted Solids to produce them, the company behind many of Mamdani’s hugely successful campaign ads during his run for mayor. One of the new ads features unscripted, man-on-the-street style interviews with voters. “I’m voting for Kathy Hochul because we need her on Zohran’s side,” said one person in the ad. “Let’s see what our mayor and the governor can do together,” said another. 

Another ad, featuring a brief voiceover from Make the Road Action co-Director Daniel Coates, who is affiliated with the IE, is a more traditional attack ad featuring Blakeman and President Donald Trump, highlighting Blakeman’s support of the president and of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also directly invokes the mayor through a brief interview clip of Mamdani criticizing Blakeman.

“Kathy Hochul is fighting back against Trump and the MAGA Republicans, so we can’t let this guy become governor,” Coates says in the ad. In a statement to City & State, he added, “This election is a referendum on how New York wants to deal with immigration enforcement, and we must make sure that voters understand what is at stake.”

Both ads ended with a graphic directing New Yorkers to vote for Hochul specifically on the progressive Working Families Party line. In the wake of Mamdani’s outstanding victory in the mayoral election last year, progressives and democratic socialist organizers came out of the June primaries with even more victories at both the state and federal levels. Nearly every candidate on the New York City Democratic Socialists of America slate won their race, and a record number of DSA members will be in the state Legislature next year. Left Hook is hoping to rally those voters not only for Hochul to win, but to pad her margin of victory.

Mamdani has been expected to stump for Hochul in some capacity, the first example coming on Thursday. He posted an on-brand, quirky social media video praising his partnership with Hochul and bashing Blakeman, paid for by the governor’s campaign. It’s not an ad that will run on television, streaming or social media, but Mamdani’s online reach alone is vast – and probably the target demographic, anyway.

Hochul did also recently appear in the Hudson Valley alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to discuss artificial intelligence and data center regulations, which has become a cornerstone of her campaign.

“Facing the (real) threat of Bruce Blakeman, now’s the time to shelve ideological sibling rivalries and join forces as una familia,” Bagga said in a statement. “If you voted for Dari(aliza Avila Chevalier) or Claire (Valdez); for Christian (Celeste Tate) or Eon (Huntely) and all that we are fighting for – be a part of delivering not just a victory, but a mandate.”