Why The Left Decided To Embrace, And Not Fight, Kathy Hochul

ALBANY, New York — It’s now Gov. Kathy Hochul’s political world, and a once-fractious left is learning not just how to live in it, but thrive.

The moderate Empire State Democrat this week picked up endorsements from the left’s premiere leaders, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — nods that all but crowd out her little known primary challenger, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.

Backing Hochul, an understated 67-year-old governor now on a glidepath to a second full term, underscores the political coming-of-age for the party’s ascendant democratic socialists — exemplified by a calculation that it’s easier to collaborate than adhere to a rigid political litmus test.

“Mamdani, AOC represent the left in power — which is a very different thing and a good thing,” said former Mayor Bill de Blasio. “It is a maturation. Folks from the left want to actually be leaders and have an impact and are not just there to make speeches or win a political purity contest, but are trying to get things done for people. This is an example of people working very hard to get to positions of authority and they’re keeping their values, but they’re also being really smart and responsible about building coalitions.”

The decision by Millennial-age left-flank leaders like Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez to work with a mainstream Democrat coincides with a national fight over the party’s political identity. Democrats across the country and in New York have ripped each other apart over Israel, and President Donald Trump’s White House victory in 2024 left the party without a clear national leader.

Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, once dismissed as longshot outsiders, have steadily accumulated political power — successes that have alarmed moderate Democrats accustomed to compromise and deal making within the halls of government.

Yet Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez have goals that can’t be even partially accomplished without winning over their party’s moderate leaders.

The new mayor, considered highly unlikely to lead City Hall a year ago, has an ambitious agenda like no-cost child care, free bus service and hiking taxes on rich people that need approval from the governor. Ocasio-Cortez, a House member going on eight years, has long been considered a potential U.S. Senate or presidential candidate who would need to win over moderate Democrats skeptical of her socialist history. Hochul, who enjoys a massive polling lead over her political opponents and is at the zenith of her influence as the state’s powerful governor, is best positioned to aid them.

There are pitfalls for leaving ideological purity aside, however.

Mamdani’s allies have grumbled about his decision to support the governor without her first agreeing to hike taxes in the state budget. And the mayor remains a lightning rod for many New Yorkers, especially Jewish voters concerned with his criticisms of Israel.

Delgado groused to reporters Friday that Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani represent "the inside of politics" when dismissing their endorsements of the governor.

An alliance between the moderate Hochul and left may still unravel easily in New York, a sharp-elbowed political environment where the depth of relationships and personality take on outsized importance.

Hochul has sought to overcome those natural tensions, citing her ability to work with anyone. She has also been on something of a hot streak.

Hochul won praise from Democrats in Albany for pursuing sanctuary-like guardrails on Trump’s expansive deportation campaign. Her lieutenant governor pick of former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has won near-universal praise despite a mini-rebellion by some Brooklyn Democrats. Hochul is crushing both Delgado and her likely Republican opponent Bruce Blakeman in public opinion polls.

And on Friday she was formally backed by the vast majority of Democrats at the state party convention — an event that served as a coronation for the governor who only four years ago came within 6 points of being unseated by Republican Lee Zeldin in this deep blue state.

Taken together, the New York governor is at the height of her political power — amassing an enviable campaign war chest, a mountain of endorsements and little dissent within the ranks of the party. Fighting her from the left stands to be a road to irrelevance.

“Kathy Hochul has been the comeback player of the year, easily,” said Trip Yang, a Democratic strategist who has worked with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a two-time Hochul primary challenger. “Her numbers are positive. She has completely squashed any competition in the Democratic Party.”

In the last year, potentially tough Hochul challengers in both parties — GOP Reps. Mike Lawler and Elise Stefanik as well as Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres — opted to forego running against her. Their decisions to call it quits or not bother at all highlight how Hochul, often derided as weak by her critics, has quietly become a force to be reckoned with in New York politics.

That power has been slowly built through her effort to construct bonds with the biggest stars on the stage.

Her relationship with Mamdani was forged last summer after his upset Democratic primary win over her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo. The two bonded over shared goals like expanding free child care in New York and they laid the groundwork for what became a hand-shake agreement last month to expand the service.

Hochul has publicly insisted her work with whomever the city’s mayor is would be different than the past. New York governors and mayors have often feuded, and the Cuomo-de Blasio war was legendary.

“It helps that Gov. Hochul is an open, friendly, decent person,” de Blasio said. “It makes it a lot easier for the left to work with someone who will attempt to have a positive productive relationship.”

Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, has edged her way into a party mainstream that had tried to keep her at the margins — fearful that the firebrand socialist would cost them down-ballot candidates in swing seats.

The 35-year-old Queens Democrat’s shocking 2018 primary victory over establishment favorite Joe Crowley stunned the party nearly a decade ago. But since then, her efforts to climb the ranks of the House Democratic pecking order and a well-received national convention speech in 2024 have helped her build a profile within the party that is desperate for leadership.

Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez’s effort to display a practical version of left-leaning politics is also helpful to politicians like Hochul, who need to win over skeptical voters from that flank of the party.

“The center left and left-leaning Democrats are in the driver’s seat of New York City and both the governor and the mayor understand they have to work together to advance their respective agenda,” said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. “It’s pragmatic politics more than anything.”

Yet there are limits to this alliance.

Mamdani still wants Hochul to increase taxes on the richest New Yorkers to help fund the proposals he campaigned on like free bus service — a stance he made sure to stress in his endorsement essay that ran in The Nation. The mayor’s left-leaning allies who are backing Delgado’s increasingly quixotic primary bid were disappointed by the Hochul endorsement, fearing that any leverage Mamdani could have gained during budget talks has been thrown away.

The New York City DSA in a statement said “taxing the rich cannot wait” and argued that Hochul’s moderate approach cost Democrats control of the House in 2022.

“Kathy Hochul is *by* billionaires, *for* billionaires. No politician will ever wield enough leverage to change that,” state Sen. Jabari Brisport, who was elected with socialist backing and supports Delgado, wrote on X. “Thankfully our movement is bigger than any one decision by any individual.”

Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.