New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has endorsed Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral election.

“I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani,” Hochul wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.

“In the past few months, I’ve had frank conversations with him. We’ve had our disagreements,” Hochul continued.

“But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family. I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support,” she added.

ABC News has more:

Hochul said she and Mamdani had discussed policing, combating antisemitism, and New York’s economy, and that it was important to her that New York’s next mayor “would not be someone who would surrender one inch to Donald Trump.”

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“Zohran Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda — with urgency, conviction, and the defiance that defines New York. And we must never allow Mr. Trump to control our city like the king he wants to be… Zohran and I don’t see eye to eye on everything, and I don’t expect us to,” Hochul wrote.

“I will always reserve the right to disagree honestly and to argue passionately. But I also believe that New York State and New York City are at their best when we stand together against those who attempt to tear us apart,” she said.

Hochul had praised Mamdani after he won the mayoral primary in June, but had previously hedged on formally endorsing him.

Hochul could have significant influence over Mamdani’s agenda, as some of his policy proposals would need buy-in from the governor and legislature for funding or raising taxes.

President Trump blasted Hochul for her endorsement.

“Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has Endorsed the ‘Liddle’ Communist,’ Zohran Mamdani, running for Mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen? Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad!” Trump wrote.

POLITICO noted:

Hochul, who is running for a second term as New York’s governor, endorsed the Queens state assemblymember on Sunday after months of pressure from progressive Democrats — and after Trump became publicly involved in the mayoral race.

Apparently eager to coalesce the anti-Mamdani vote behind former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the White House has offered Adams a job in the Trump administration and has considered nominating him to be U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia in exchange for his withdrawal from the mayoral race. But Adams has thus far refused to step aside while Cuomo trails Mamdani by double digits in recent polls.

In her endorsement in a New York Times op-ed, Hochul praised Mamdani’s affordability platform, though she indicated she does not agree with all of Mamdani’s goals.

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Despite his apparent push for Cuomo’s election, Trump last week said he expects Mamdani to win the race.

“I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he’s going to win,” Trump said on Fox and Friends. “And that’s a rebellion.”

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