Mamdani to finally campaign with NY Gov. Kathy Hochul as she seeks re-election
Big Apple Mayor Zohran Mamdani will finally hit the campaign trail with Gov. Kathy Hochul — with less than two weeks before Election Day, the incumbent Democrat announced Thursday.
Mamdani — who got Hochul’s backing after his stunning victory in the Democratic mayoral primary last year — is set to greet voters with the governor in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon, her campaign confirmed.
It’ll be the first time the democratic socialist mayor has outright campaigned for Hochul as she seeks to fend off a Republican challenge from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman on November 3.
Mamdani and Hochul have appeared together a numerous press conferences in their official government capacities, and he’s also released ads bashing Blakeman and touting the gov’s re-election bid — specifically for her boosting his universal childcare plan.
“That’s why she’s the real deal for New Yorkers, and Bruce Blakeman? He’s a bad apple,” Mamdani quipped in one of his snazzily-produced videos last week.
In a new ad released Thursday with the popular lefty mayor, Hochul noted the roughly $2 billion she secured for New York City to expand 3-K seats and for a 2-K pilot program.
“As New York’s first mom — and grandmother — governor, childcare is personal to me. That’s why I’m proud to work alongside Zohran Mamdani to bring New York one step closer to universal childcare,” she said.
Hochul, a moderate Democrat, has been leaning on left-wing superstars like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and now Mamdani, to motivate their flank of the party to turn out on Election Day.

But public appearances with Mamdani’s base have not gone well for Hochul in the past.
Mamdani had to run onto the stage at a campaign event of his own last year when the governor faced “tax the rich” chants from his lefty base.
She was met with similar jeers several weeks later at a Democratic confab in Puerto Rico.