Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul, an unlikely political pair, joined forces at a Brooklyn campaign rally Sunday to criticize President Trump and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman.
The two Democrats appeared at a get-out-the-vote event in Crown Heights, where Mamdani highlighted his partnership with Hochul and credited the governor with helping secure a $1.2 billion investment in universal child care.
The democratic socialist mayor warned that Blakeman would dismantle the program if elected governor.
“We are living in the most expensive city in the United States of America. We are trying to bring costs down for New Yorkers…and we have a Republican candidate who is to say if he’s to win he will cancel universal childcare,” Mamdani told attendees at Medgar Evers College’s Edison O. Jackson Auditorium.
“He is telling New Yorkers that if he was the governor they would have to pay more to raise a child in the city. I have no idea which consultant he sat down with and said, ‘That’s a winning message,’ but that’s the one he decided on,” Mamdani said.
“We want a city where you can hear kids. That’s a city we are fighting for. If this was a Bruce Blakeman rally, they’d be like, ‘Get this kid out of here. We don’t want childcare for him,’” he added, thanking the children who attended the event.
Hochul, a more moderate Democrat who has joined forces with the left-leaning mayor despite their ideological differences, was greeted by chants of “four more years.” She then attacked Blakeman, calling him “next level crazy.”
The governor also made clear that her campaign was focused on more than her Republican challenger, criticizing Trump over attacks on election integrity and rising gas prices.
CHECK THIS OUT: Inside Elizabeth Holmes’ Prison Life and Shortened Release Date
“He’s trying to undermine our elections right now so people don’t have the confidence that their vote is protected,” Hochul said.
Referring to Blakeman, she added: “He says, ‘I want to bring Trump-style leadership to Albany.’”
“The reason I am telling you all this is because people say, ‘Oh, you’re just running against Donald Trump.’ Yeah, I do that in my spare time,” Hochul said.
“What I am also doing is letting them know the contrast between what records of accomplishment look like and feel like, and real change for New York families for someone who loves to fight for New York families. And that is me,” she continued.
“We are not surrendering to a king. We never have and we never will.”
It remains unclear whether Mamdani’s Democratic Socialists of America allies will mobilize behind Hochul on Nov. 3, when she will face Blakeman, the current Nassau County executive, as she seeks a second four-year term.
Mamdani and Hochul have endorsed one another’s campaigns and appeared together at several press conferences. Mamdani also released a campaign ad supporting Hochul this month.
The pair first campaigned together in Brooklyn at McCarren Park on Friday.
Blakeman, meanwhile, has called Hochul Mamdani’s “puppet” and criticized her over New York’s sanctuary policy protecting migrants.
