This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 81 days to the election.
🧮 Kathy Hochul’s calculation
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New York’s top Democrat is still avoiding an endorsement. Gov. Kathy Hochul opposes some of Zohran Mamdani’s core promises, like raising income taxes on the wealthy.
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She has also criticized his approach to rhetoric about Israel, which she said fosters a hostile environment for Jewish New Yorkers. In an MSNBC interview last month, Hochul said she told Mamdani, “You have a lot of healing to do with the Jewish community. Many of your words have been hurtful and hateful to people in their interpretation.”
- But despite her concerns, current and former advisers to Hochul told The New York Times that she is considering endorsing Mamdani as his support grows.
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Hochul faces reelection next year, and endorsing Mamdani could give Hochul a boost among younger voters and those in New York City. Her likely opponent, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, became well known for grilling college presidents about antisemitism, causing some ultimately to step down.
☎️ Obama and Mamdani on the line
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Mamdani got a call from former President Barack Obama soon after he won the Democratic primary and they have spoken “a number of times,” the frontrunner said at an event in the Bronx on Thursday. The campaign stop was part of his anti-Trump tour of the city’s five boroughs.
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Obama advised Mamdani on governing and giving hope, according to insiders who spoke with The New York Times.
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David Axelrod, Obama’s Jewish senior adviser who ran his 2008 presidential campaign, also stopped by Mamdani’s headquarters last month. “What I found when I went over to that office was a familiar spirit that I hadn’t seen in a while of just determined, upbeat idealism,” he told The Times. He said the party had to reckon with Mamdani’s appeal to young people.
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Obama was a liberal-centrist president, while Mamdani rose as a progressive in the party’s growing left wing. But there are parallels: Before Mamdani, Obama was one of the last leaders to energize Democratic voters with charisma and the promise of change.
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An endorsement from Obama would give Mamdani a significant establishment boost, as he has yet to win public support from several prominent New York Democrats.
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Obama also enjoyed broad support from Jewish voters, with 78% voting for him in 2008 and some 70% in 2012 — though whether his approval would encourage Jewish voters to support Mamdani remains to be seen. (Obama won the Jewish vote without winning over the pro-Israel mainstream.)
📺 What to watch
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We have the dates for two televised election debates.
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On Monday, Sept. 15, watch PIX11’s 90-minute debate with all the mayoral candidates who will appear on the ballot.
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On Wednesday, Sept. 17, CBS New York’s “Leading Contenders” debate will feature top candidates Mamdani, Mayor Eric Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, attorney Jim Walden and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The debate will be moderated by Maurice DuBois and Marcia Kramer.
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