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Gov. Kathy Hochul, who withheld an endorsement in the New York City Democratic primary, has yet to endorse the winner, Zohran Mamdani.
Grace Ashford has been covering Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani in Albany, N.Y., since 2021.
Aug. 14, 2025Updated 9:11 a.m. ET
Gov. Kathy Hochul might ordinarily relish the king-making power that she wields in New York as its most powerful Democrat.
But in the New York City mayor’s race, Ms. Hochul pointedly avoided making an endorsement in the Democratic primary and still has not backed its winner, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
“I’m having very interesting conversations right now,” Ms. Hochul deflected earlier this month when asked again whom she might support, adding, “There’s no urgency.”
The governor is not alone in her hesitancy. Prominent Democrats from New York — including the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer; Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries — have not made an endorsement in the race. Of the 10 House Democrats in New York City, only four have endorsed Mr. Mamdani.
Like House Democrats, Ms. Hochul is facing re-election next year, potentially against Representative Elise Stefanik, a top Republican supporter of President Trump. Some political observers think that an enthusiastic endorsement of Mr. Mamdani could hurt the governor in more conservative areas of the state.
“We still have many differences, I don’t know how you whitewash that away,” Ms. Hochul said in an interview on Fox News over the weekend.
