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Gov. Kathy Hochul insisted Saturday she’s no fan of the Democratic Socialists of America while fending off relentless criticism from Republican gubernatorial hopeful Elise Stefanik over her endorsement of card-carrying DSA member Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor.
“I don’t support them. I’ve made that clear,” Hochul told reporters at the annual SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico, hours after she attended an event with the mayor-elect, who was not present when she made the remarks about the DSA.
Stefanik in a video kicking off her gubernatorial campaign Friday accused Hochul of having “cozied up” to a “defund-the-police, tax-hiking, antisemitic Communist” in Mamdani. She’s also repeatedly branded Hochul the “worst governor in America.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul with NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mandani Thursday at the annual SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico. On Saturday, Hochul insisted she’s no fan of the Democratic Socialists of America — despite endorsing the DSA member for mayor. AP“I really don’t care what she says,” snipped Hochul,
Hochul – who was heckled off the stage two weeks ago to chants of “tax the rich” during a Mamdani campaign rally in Queens – also insisted she doesn’t plan to raise state income taxes to support any of Mamdani’s pie-in-the-sky campaign pledges like free bus service.
“If you look at the history of people who’ve run multi-million dollar ad campaigns to try and get me to change my position, I don’t change my position,” said Hochul, ignoring how she previously flip-flopped to support NYC’s congestion-tolling scheme and on other policy matters.
“What is doable is the question,” she said. “It’s kind of a collision course right now.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) announced Fridays she’s running for governor in 2026. REUTERS“Our ambitions are big, and I believe in them, and I want to accomplish them. We also have to figure out like, okay, ‘now I’m in the hole $3 billion already on Medicaid cuts — $750 million this year I had to make up on Medicaid cuts.’ So if Republicans would stop doing that, and I got back to my normal budgeting cycle, it looks a lot easier.”
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