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Gov. Kathy Hochul embraced mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani Tuesday — calling him “eminently reasonable” and claiming they’ll find a way to cover the tab for his socialist dreams without raising taxes.
Hochul offered her comrade in the Big Apple mayor’s race a political lifeline during a news conference in Queens, telling reporters the pair would somehow scrounge up funds for the Democratic nominee’s top agenda items, such as universal childcare.
“I found him to be eminently rational and understands this is something that would take an act of the legislature and the governor to sign,” Hochul said when asked if she thought she could bring Mamdani around to backing off his tax-the-rich plan.
“And so he’s wants to work with me on this, and we don’t have the details flushed out,” she added.
The moderate Democrat invited Mamdani to her event in the Astoria district he reps as a state assemblyman — their first public appearance together since she officially endorsed him last month.
He stood with other officials behind Hochul on the dais at the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens as she announced a new, $5 million state grant toward the club’s whopping $300 million expansion set to start next year.
But Mamdani ducked out after sharing a hug and taking a selfie with Hochul.
While taking questions after, Hochul admitted the two still aren’t on the same page when it comes to Mamdani’s full slate of $10 billion in proposed freebies.
“As I’ve said, I’ve had major differences with the candidate Zohran Mamdani on many issues, but I think he touched a nerve,” Hochul said.
“I think there are conversations that’ll happen in earnest on many policies in post-election, and there’s time to do that as the coincides with the time that I’m finalizing my state address,” she added.
“I already invited him to talk about his priorities and my priorities and you how they’re aligned, how to get to yes on many of them.”
Mamdani’s campaign proposals include free buses, city-run grocery stores and a freeze on rent-stabilized apartments. The most expensive campaign vow so far is his universal childcare plan, which comes with an estimated price tag of somewhere between $5 to 6 billion.
To cover the cost, the proud socialist lawmaker has called for raising taxes on corporations and the uber-wealthy.
But Mamdani would need the buy-in from Albany pols and primarily Hochul, who has vowed “no new taxes” as she heads into her own election year in 2026.
Last week, Mamdani admitted that his proposal to hike taxes may not be in the cards and that he would need to come up with a Plan B.
“If this money is funded by the additional taxes or it’s funded by a better-than-expected (tax) assessment, or it’s funded by a pot of money that wasn’t previously spoken about, or savings that have come in, then the most important thing is that it’s funded,” he said.
It marked the first time he publicly acknowledged it would be far-fetched to raise $10 billion for the Big Apple alone while the state and city both face fiscal cliffs in the coming years, as well as a quickly shrinking pot of money from the feds under the Trump administration.
For months, as Hochul dragged her feet on announcing her endorsement of the Dem nominee, the gov repeatedly signaled her openness to work with him on his universal childcare idea — an issue that polls well throughout the state.
Hochul said Tuesday it was “essential” to take care of the state’s kids, though she did not provide an answer as to how she would pay for the proposal.
“Working parents are struggling so much,” she said, “and I know about this because I was almost a working parent, except I couldn’t find childcare, and that is still a fight that my children are facing today.”
English (US)