Mayor Cuomo and Gov. Hochul? It would be weird.

There’s still plenty of time left for surprises in the New York City mayor’s race. But if current polling is to be believed, there’s a decent shot that New York City will be inaugurating a Mayor Andrew Cuomo in 2026. In that scenario, the former governor could be in for an uncomfortable power dynamic with Gov. Kathy Hochul – his one-time lieutenant.

As governor, Cuomo made little secret of his disdain for Mayor Bill de Blasio, and famously wielded the state’s mighty power over the former mayor in moves ranging from impressive to exasperating. For the first couple years he was in office, he butted heads with then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg too. As mayor of New York City, Cuomo – who is still used to being referred to by his honorific “governor” – would find himself in the much less powerful position. 

Surely, this will be fine, both Hochul and Cuomo have said publicly. 

“My nature is to work with whoever is sitting in office, whether it’s the president of the United States, other governors or mayors,” Hochul said in January, of a then-rumored mayoral run by Cuomo. “We worked together for many years,” Cuomo added in a recent NY1 interview. “So that relationship, I believe, will be productive.”

Building resentment

Both at make-or-break moments in their political careers, Cuomo and Hochul aren’t at each other’s throats yet. But few believe that Cuomo, if elected mayor, will sink comfortably into the role of second fiddle. Cuomo would be coming into office in early 2026, just as Hochul’s reelection campaign is intensifying, presenting Cuomo with leverage against the governor. And while he’d have fewer official levers of power as mayor, Cuomo is well positioned to use the enormous bully pulpit provided to the mayor of New York City. “The power imbalance is real, but he will leverage that better than probably any mayor we’ve seen,” said one source familiar with both Cuomo and Hochul. Multiple sources were granted anonymity to speak freely about two people who could soon control the state and city, and Cuomo in particular still seems to strike fear into the hearts of the chattering class.

Cuomo may find in Hochul a more battle-tested counterpart than he’s used to. Sources close to Hochul pointed to the governor’s pause and eventual un-pause of congestion pricing, as well as her more recent strong-arming with state legislators over the budget, as proof that she’s not one to shy away from a fight. (Whether these maneuvers will pay off with supporters and voters remains to be seen.)  

Still, as one former Hochul staffer put it, “She’s never going to default to publicly being a dick … That’s just not who she is.”

Resentments between Cuomo and Hochul’s camps have hardened over the years. (Neither campaign commented for this story.) Hochul was sidelined from the power center of Albany after being picked as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor in 2014. That’s not altogether rare for the largely ceremonial job of lieutenant governor, but Cuomo or his aides also twice tried to remove Hochul from the post and replace her with someone else – efforts Cuomo’s former top aide Melissa DeRosa described in brutal detail in her 2023 book.

Hochul’s own ascent to the governorship in 2021 was the result of Cuomo’s swift downfall after criticism of his handling of COVID-19 and a report by the state attorney general finding that he sexually harassed current and former employees. Hochul, on the brink of being newly empowered, wasn’t about to align herself with the disgraced ex-governor. Just before Cuomo resigned, Hochul referred to the incidents described in the report as “repulsive and unlawful behavior.”

After Cuomo resigned and as Hochul took over, winning the election that Cuomo hoped would give him his fourth term, loyal members of the Cuomo camp kept swatting at Hochul and her administration. In 2023, DeRosa suggested that Hochul had accomplished nothing, and Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi, who is now running communications for Cuomo’s mayoral campaign, became one of Hochul’s most enthusiastic – and petty – reply guys. 

There’s also the fact that Cuomo considered challenging Hochul for his old office in 2022, and there was speculation that he would challenge her again in 2026 if he didn’t run for mayor. 

Cuomo’s camp will likely be attuned to whether Hochul aligns with City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams – a late entry to the mayoral race who was encouraged by Cuomo-foe James. Hochul has largely stayed out of the race so far – she’s noted she’s not a New York City voter – but Speaker Adams disclosed that she received encouraging words from the governor in a phone call while she was deciding whether or not to run. Hochul later said that shouldn’t be read as an endorsement. 

Hochul’s camp could also have its eye on Cuomo’s posturing in the upcoming gubernatorial race. One potential primary challenger in 2026 is Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, an early backer of Cuomo’s mayoral campaign. 

Creature of the state

There’s one simple reason that a Mayor Cuomo would work with Hochul though: He’d have to. 

Politicos like to remark that New York City is a “creature of the state.” New York City’s ability to set its own speed limits and maintain control of its public schools come down to state authority, while the mayor of New York City makes an annual trek to Albany to advocate for his legislative priorities in the state budget. 

Cuomo is accustomed to being on the more powerful side of that arrangement. The Cuomo-de Blasio feud – which de Blasio allies more often characterize as one-sided bullying by Cuomo, and which Cuomo allies tie back to the fight over funding for universal pre-K – was blamed in a city report several years later for impeding collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic. In one recently reported example, Cuomo held up the distribution of vaccines at a city-operated site for several weeks, reportedly out of a desire to not let de Blasio claim credit for the site. Cuomo’s campaign called that “revisionist history,” saying delays came down to federal supply chain issues.

When Hochul took office in August 2021, and Mayor Eric Adams took office several months later, the two moderate Democrats offered a stark contrast, often working together on shared priorities and holding joint press conferences. Even through Adams’ indictment last fall, they maintained a relatively amicable public relationship. Hochul, facing pressure in some corners to remove Adams from office at the time, instead used her leverage to install more trusted leadership in City Hall, leading to the elevation of career civil servants among Adams’ deputy mayors. Earlier this year, when the Trump Department of Justice moved to drop Adams’ corruption charges – leading to the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan to allege a quid pro quo agreement between Adams and the Trump administration – that pressure on Hochul grew. She has not removed Adams, but has instead put the onus on state and city legislators to adopt a set of guardrails on mayoral power that they’ve yet to act on.

The more congenial relationship between Hochul and Adams isn’t one that many observers expect to flourish under Hochul and a potential Mayor Cuomo.

But though he isn’t one to cede credit for policy ideas, he sent out a press release last month urging state lawmakers to support Hochul’s push to make “masked harassment” a criminal violation – a reaction to recent pro-Palestine protests. “Passing Governor Hochul’s unmasking bill would be a welcome sign that New York intends to enforce the law and is protecting all of its citizens,” Cuomo’s statement read. 

To cooperate with the governor would take humility and patience – and the political smarts to know that an alliance with Hochul could help his agenda. In the latter, at least, Cuomo has shown he can excel.