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The 2026 state legislative primary races to watch

City & State — Tue, 26 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

With hotly contested midterm elections at the congressional level and a testy Democratic state comptroller contest, there’s already plenty to talk about ahead of next month’s primary elections. But in the ongoing game of musical chairs that is New York politics, there’s also no shortage of competitive state legislative races this primary season. While that’s in part due to retirements and incumbents looking to move up the ladder, it’s also due to the upcoming enforcement of a cap on legislators’ outside income, leading some to prepare to leave public office in favor of hanging on to their side hustles.

There’s sure to be an unmistakable changing of the guard in Albany come January, but less certain is what that will look like. Many of these races are in New York City, but there are plenty throughout the state too. While some races pit establishment Democrats against the left, others pit the left against the far left. And affordability will continue to be a major theme across the board. Here are the 2026 state legislative primary races to watch.

– Sophie Krichevsky

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The 2026 Trailblazers in Higher Education

City & State — Tue, 26 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Higher education isn’t as straightforward as it used to be. These days, students and their families are weighing more carefully than ever the upfront costs against the long-term value of a college education. The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the transition to remote learning, bringing benefits as well as new challenges. And the advent of artificial intelligence has forced college and university leaders to react to a rapidly advancing technology, minimizing the risks while capitalizing on the rewards.

This uncertain new environment favors the bold – administrators deftly adapting curricula to new realities, visionaries rebuilding and reshaping campuses, and academics tackling the toughest issues of the day. City & State’s Trailblazers in Higher Education features a select group of individuals in this arena who are already a step ahead. The list features officials at schools large and small as well as public officials, advocates, organizers and others who are reimagining higher education in New York.

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Trump takes aim at Hochul and Jeffries at Lawler campaign event

Kate Lisa — Sun, 24 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400

Striving to appeal to voters in one of the most competitive House races in the country, President Donald Trump on Friday campaigned for Rep. Mike Lawler in Rockland County – taking aim at top House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul a day after the state Legislature passed sweeping reforms to restrict local officials from assisting federal immigration agents.

Trump took the stage at Rockland County Community College to stump for Lawler as he faces a tough reelection bid this November. “He’s a pain in the ass, you’re lucky to have him,” Trump said of Lawler to a screaming crowd of at least 1,500 people.

At least four protesters disrupted the president at different times throughout his nearly 90-minute speech and were escorted out by police. Trump’s visit marked the first time a sitting president had visited Rockland County for a public event since President Gerald Ford hit a campaign stop at the county courthouse in 1976, Lawler told the crowd before Trump arrived.

The Hudson Valley congressional representative defended Trump’s visit to reporters before the event. “Having the president of the United States come to your district is a wonderful opportunity for the community, no matter who the president is, just like when Joe Biden showed up three years ago, I was there,” Lawler said. “And when Donald Trump’s coming, I’m here.”

Lawler recounted intense negotiations between himself, Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson to lift the State And Local Tax, or SALT, deduction cap last year. Lawler threatened to torpedo Trump’s landmark tax and spending plan, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. And he said Trump replied, “Give Lawler all the salt he wants.” In the end, the cap was raised from $10,000 to $40,000 for single and joint filers.

Lawler’s tale showed how his strategy impressed the president, who has seemingly deepened his respect he has for the incumbent House Republican. Trump has endorsed Lawler for a third term and repeatedly posted about the race on his social media site Truth Social.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who’s running against Hochul with Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, also stumped for Lawler and sang his praises to potential voters.

Blakeman and Trump met in the Oval Office two weeks ago to discuss a range of topics, including New York elections and the state’s high utility costs. “Tell those New Yorkers we need to drill, baby, drill.” Blakeman recalled Trump telling him during the visit. Trump has asked Hochul to lift the state’s gas fracking ban, but she has so far refused.

On Friday, Trump railed against the immigration reforms included in this year’s state budget, which he said obstructs federal immigration enforcement.

“Bruce, hopefully you’ll get that unpassed very quickly,” the president said, later adding he’s going to work with Blakeman because he’s going to win. “Bruce, you’re going to be the next governor, I’m telling you right now,” he said. He later posed a warning to Hochul. “You better watch yourself, Kathy,” Trump said. “You’ve got a big race.”

Hochul later responded to the president’s threat on social media. “I won’t be intimidated by Trump – or any spineless MAGA coward like my opponent Bruce Blakeman,” her office posted on X. “While they’re busy screwing over New Yorkers, I’m fighting like hell to lower costs and protect New Yorkers from his attacks. Game on.”

Earlier in his speech, Trump said Jeffries inspired him to coin the word “Dumacrat,” a portmanteau of “Democrat” and “dumb.”“He’s a very low-IQ person,” Trump said of Jeffries, who has led national Democrats in a redistricting war against Republicans. “Very low IQ.”

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Opinion: Why does New York shackle women during labor?

Julia Salazar — Fri, 22 May 2026 17:38:57 -0400

This past weekend, a 33-year-old New Yorker who was nine months pregnant was forced to give birth in a court room in front of a judge and other spectators. She was handcuffed behind her back while in active delivery with no medical personnel in sight. She was there on low-level charges that were dismissed two days later. This is a damning example of how our criminal justice system treats pregnant people without basic dignity, respect and care.

It’s also a clear call to pass legislation that would ensure we treat all pregnant New Yorkers, including those in police custody or incarcerated, with the care they and their newborns deserve. That includes my Anti-Shackling bill and the CARE Act.

The Anti-Shackling bill would have prevented this woman from being handcuffed behind her back while nine months pregnant. If passed, it would prohibit the dangerous and degrading use of restraints on pregnant and postpartum individuals in law enforcement custody in all but the most extenuating circumstances. And it would ensure that no one in active labor, which is already a physically exhausting and vulnerable experience, is ever subjected to restraints.

What happened in that court room is outrageous, but it’s not an anomaly. Our state regularly dismisses the health and safety of pregnant people and their babies if they are in custody or behind bars.

Rebecca Figueroa, now an activist with New Hour, still remembers the trauma of giving birth while shackled in Suffolk County in 2006. Despite active labor and being surrounded by guards, she was handcuffed to the bed and restrained by a leg shackle. After delivery, Rebecca was restrained to the bed and struggled to breastfeed because of the foot shackle. “All I could do at that time was pray that my baby girl would be healthy,” she said. “But I was treated as a security threat and as less than human during one of the most vulnerable moments of my life.”

It’s not just the restraints that are the problem; it’s the egregious lack of prenatal and postpartum care. Nearly half of all pregnant incarcerated individuals in New York receive no prenatal care, and most of our prisons and jails are not equipped to deliver babies or to provide ongoing care to newborns and postpartum mothers. This lack of care increases the likelihood of postpartum complications, infant mortality, premature births and NICU placements.

In 2022, a woman held at Onondaga County’s local jail received no prenatal care, and was in labor for more than 30 hours by herself before the facility allowed her to see a physician. She was not transported to the hospital until after she gave birth, and her baby girl died hours later. The charges against her were later dropped. My bill – the Compassion and Reproductive Equity Act – would require state and local correctional facilities to provide quality prenatal, delivery and postpartum care, and could have prevented this unimaginable tragedy.

The CARE Act also addresses the routine and devastating separation of newborns from their mothers who are incarcerated. This cruel separation harms infant development and increases rates of recidivism.

Both of my bills deliver basic rights for pregnant New Yorkers.

More than 15 years ago, New York state began to acknowledge the inhumanity of shackling pregnant women and passed a law that provided some limits on their use. But that law includes overly broad exceptions and loopholes. For example, regardless of whether she presents any immediate risk, a woman in a jail or prison can be placed in restraints when trying to carry her infant to a medical appointment. The law also failed to provide any protections for people in law enforcement custody, like the woman who was recently forced to give birth in court.

What happened last weekend was horrific and highlights how pregnant New Yorkers and their babies are regularly disregarded in our state simply because they’re in custody. It is disappointing that we need legislation to outlaw such unfathomable treatment, but we do. The urgency to pass the Anti-Shackling bill and the CARE Act is clear.

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Raga cosponsors pro-Palestine bill his senate opponent helped write

Peter Sterne — Fri, 22 May 2026 17:34:50 -0400

The controversial “Not on Our Dime!” legislation originally introduced by then-Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani has attracted three new sponsors – including Assembly Member Steven Raga, who’s now running for state Senate against the activist who helped write the bill.

Raga appeared at a press conference in Long Island City Friday morning alongside a group of socialist elected officials backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America – state Sens. Jabari Brisport and Kristen Gonzalez, Assembly Members Diana Moreno and Claire Valdez and New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés – to promote the bill’s reintroduction. (Raga is a member of NYC-DSA but not endorsed by the group.)

The legislation is targeted at nonprofit organizations registered in New York that facilitate illegal settlements in the West Bank or are implicated in Israeli war crimes in Gaza. It would allow the state attorney general’s office to strip those organizations of their tax-exempt status and create a private right of action for people harmed by those organizations’ actions to sue for monetary damages. When Mamdani first introduced the bill three years ago, it garnered intense backlash from supporters of Israel; state legislative leaders said it would never be brought to a vote, and 25 state lawmakers signed a letter accusing Mamdani of demonizing Jewish organizations. Mamdani didn’t attend the press conference, but he contributed a supportive quote to a press release about the legislation, saying, “I am grateful that (the bill sponsors) are carrying this work forward. They are fighting to ensure public funds reflect the needs and values of everyday New Yorkers.”

Raga’s decision to cosponsor the legislation comes as he runs a contentious race to succeed retiring state Sen. Michael Gianaris in western Queens. His main opponent for the senate seat is Aber Kawas, a pro-Palestinian activist backed by NYC-DSA who helped conceive of the legislation and worked with Mamdani to introduce it years ago.

Kawas was also present at the Long Island City press conference, and both she and Raga were all smiles as they told City & State how their shared support for the bill transcended their primary battle.

“I think we're just running for an open seat, but I think there are some things, some important bills that can help not just alleviate pain here in New York, but across the world, and it's our job to make sure that we're pushing the way, signing on to them,” Raga said after the press conference.

Asked why he hadn’t supported the bill when it was first introduced three years ago, he joked that Moreno “is more convincing than Zohran” and then gave a not entirely convincing answer about wanting to wait until the language of the bill had been finalized. “I just wanted to make sure this was the last version of the bill,” he said.

For her part, Kawas is just happy to have another elected official cosponsoring the bill she helped create. “As organizers, what we ultimately want is for people to grow and sign on to the bills that we help propose and help introduce,” she said – before joking that maybe she just needs to run against more state lawmakers to get them to sign on to the bill.

The Not on Our Dime! Act now has the support of nine Assembly members: Moreno (who replaced Mamdani as the lead Assembly sponsor), Raga, Valdez, Sarahana Shrestha, Phara Souffrant Forrest, Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, retiring Assembly Member Nader Sayegh and Jessica González-Rojas, who is also running for state Senate. It’s currently backed by three state senators: Brisport (the lead Senate sponsor), Gonzalez and Julia Salazar. And it’s guaranteed to get at least one more senate sponsor next session; both Kawas and Raga told City & State they would back the bill in the senate if they’re elected.

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Here’s what’s in the FY 27 New York state budget

Rebecca C. Lewis and Kate Lisa — Fri, 22 May 2026 13:41:32 -0400

The confusing, frustrating budget cycle is approaching an end nearly two months after the April 1 deadline, more than two weeks after Hochul declared a budget victory, and nearly five pay periods since state lawmakers have received a paycheck. The final spending plan is expected to be $268.5 billion, according to the state Division of Budget.

Though many aspects of the budget had previously leaked in bits and pieces, there were still changes even after matters were reportedly settled. The printed legislation sheds some light on the details of policy issues that Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders have debated for months in secret.

Before this week, only one out of ten bills – debt service – had received approval, and that’s only because late passage of that measure would mean New York defaults on its loans. Lawmakers started debating and passing the nine remaining bills this week, with plans to wrap up next week. It’s fitting that the latest state budget in 16 years would also have an abnormally sluggish and lengthy voting schedule, split by the Memorial Day holiday.

Lawmakers voted to pass the Education, Labor and Family Assistance, and Public Protection and General Government bills this week, and expect to pass revenue and a likely “Big Ugly,” or omnibus legislation jam-packed with several of this cycle’s most controversial policy items sometime next week. Here’s what to know about what legislators have approved so far. This post was last updated on May 22.

Immigration protections

The protections lawmakers approved Thursday go a little further than what the governor had originally proposed in her Local Cops, Local Crimes Act in January, but still fell short of the New York for All Act lawmakers wanted.

Banning local agreements

Under the approved language, local law enforcement will be prohibited from signing contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as 287(g) agreements and other contracts with federal immigration officials. Those agreements formalize the working relationship between localities and immigration officials, including information sharing, honoring detainer requests, use of local jails and even deputizing local police to enforce civil immigration law.

Notably, the language also prohibits informal agreements that are functionally the same as a 287(g) agreement, just without the contract. However, it doesn’t completely ban all informal collaboration, which is something the New York for All Act would do, and which lawmakers had pushed Hochul to include.

Suing ICE agents

The budget creates a mechanism for New Yorkers to sue ICE and other federal agents over constitutional rights violations, retroactive to January 2025. It additionally empowers the state attorney general to receive and investigate those complaints.

Sensitive locations

Lawmakers approved legislation in the spending plan that designates a large number of places around the state as “sensitive locations” that ICE cannot enter without a signed judicial warrant. Those include healthcare facilities, houses of worship, public and private schools, childcare facilities, parks, playgrounds and polling places. Additionally, state and local employees – excluding law enforcement – will be prohibited from collaborating with ICE for any civil immigration enforcement.

Education

Total school aid will again hit all-time highs, with the final budget including about $39 billion in education funding. That includes a guaranteed 2% increase to Foundation Aid to every school across the state for a total of over $27 billion. That amounts to a $200 million increase compared to last year’s budget, with $143 million of that increase going to New York City. The final spending plan also has some tweaks to the Foundation Aid formula to provide additional aid for English language learners, students in foster care and homeless children.

Universal pre-K

The budget also has an updated funding formula for statewide universal pre-K based on enrollment, full-day or half-day programs and other factors. All districts must provide full-day pre-K access to eligible 4-year-olds by the 2028–29 school year.

Electric bus mandate delayed

The state mandate for schools to only buy or lease electric school buses was pushed back five years to 2032. The deadline for districts to solely operate and maintain zero-emissions buses and vehicles was extended to 2040. The change was opposed by environmental advocates, but is expected to save school districts money.

Mayoral control

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani got a two-year extension of mayoral control of schools in the Big Apple. It was less than the four years he requested, but still he has come a long way from the campaign, when he suggested that he would not seek a renewal. Mamdani never proposed how to run public schools in the absence of mayoral control despite his critical take on the practice.

Public safety

One of Hochul’s budget priorities that received little pushback, and therefore was out of the spotlight early, was her proposals to crack down on the printing of 3D guns and glock switches. Once the budget is signed, it will be a class D felony for a person to manufacture a major component of a firearm, machine-gun, ghost gun, unfinished frame or receiver, firearm silencer or assault weapon or any component parts without a license. It also created safety standards for firearm prevention technology for 3D printers.

The public protection bill passed Thursday also establishes a crime for the unlawful use of a drone and creates “the New York state blue list,” which requires state agencies to only buy drones and related equipment from vendors on its own registry.

Auto insurance

The general government bill included some, though not all, of the car insurance reforms Hochul wanted that emerged as key sticking points in the prolonged budget debate. Lawmakers approved some of the less thorny aspects of the broader changes on Thursday, including a provision to prevent insurance “red-lining” that Hochul had not originally included. The budget will prohibit insurers from using consumer data like zip code, education level and homeownership to set individual premiums. The approved bill also will end a provision that has allowed insurers to unilaterally raise rates by up to 5%, another measure added by legislators.

NYC zombie charter revision commissions

Mamdani asked the Legislature for a solution to address the city charter revision commission formed by his predecessor, Eric Adams, and legislative leaders delivered.

The budget includes a provision to allow mayors to nullify commissions convened by a previous administration after they leave office. It was a late addition in spending plan negotiations, with state lawmakers learning about the plan for the first time earlier this week, or seven weeks after the April 1 deadline.

Housing

J-51 renewal

The less-sexy cousin to 421-a/485-x, the J-51 tax abatement for building and apartment improvements or preservation in New York City received a 10-year renewal in the budget to extend it beyond its expiration date this year. Currently, eligible projects must be completed by June 30, but the budget extends that to 2036. It incentivizes building owners to make necessary improvements – including those to adhere to the city’s climate law – while ensuring at least some affordable housing is included.

The final spending plan largely adopted Hochul’s initial proposal for extending the program, and includes an option for a 10-year tax abatement period instead of the usual four-year period. Eligible buildings must be at least 50% affordable, similar to the previous version of the program, as negotiations ultimately did not pan out for a legislative proposal for higher levels of rent stabilized units.

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Here’s how NYC plans to keep more information away from ICE

Annie McDonough — Fri, 22 May 2026 06:00:00 -0400

A handful of New York City agencies will update and strengthen practices aimed at protecting immigrants from detention and deportation under the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement regime.

A new report from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office suggested that seven agencies including the New York City Police Department and the Administration for Children’s Services have room to improve how they uphold sanctuary city policies, which broadly prohibit collaboration with federal authorities on civil immigration enforcement.

While the mayor’s office said that sanctuary policies and existing practices at city agencies are largely working how they should, the audit aimed to take a fuller inventory amid the federal government’s recent crackdown.

Last year, two reports by the city Department of Investigation identified violations of sanctuary policy by both the Department of Correction and the NYPD. Both agencies are implementing recommendations provided by the DOI.

The report is the result of an executive order signed in February that required six agencies to audit their practices for interacting with federal immigration authorities amid what the report called “dramatic and evolving” shifts in how those authorities carry out enforcement. For the first half of 2025, for example, the Department of Homeless Services reported a “dramatic increase” in immigration enforcement at shelters. Among them were instances in which federal officers pushed past workers to gain access to a homeless shelter or falsely identified themselves as FDNY employees before admitting they were Department of Homeland Security officers. (Those incidents have decreased in recent months, the report notes.)

The agencies will now implement a suite of new recommendations adopted by Mamdani. The Department of Correction will end a practice of sending daily reports to ICE about the “national origin of noncitizens admitted into custody who have qualifying violent and serious convictions” – a practice the mayor’s office said came to light during the audit and that they said has been happening since at least 2015.

The Department of Social Services will revise protocols for how city property and lots are accessed. The Department of Probation will limit information about immigration status in presentencing investigation reports. The Administration for Children’s Services will audit court reports for “improper inclusion” of immigration status.

The new recommendations apply to the NYPD, ACS, the DOC, DSS, the DOP and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. New York City Health + Hospitals is also undertaking recommendations, including developing protocols for when immigration authorities bring a person in custody to one of their hospitals.

One recent incident not thoroughly discussed in the report is the standoff between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers and protesters outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn earlier this month, when ICE agents brought a man inside for treatment after his arrest. Local elected officials, including Council Member Sandy Nurse who was on the scene, said it looked like the NYPD (responding to 911 calls about the protest) was coordinating to block off protesters and allow ICE to exit the hospital with the man. The incident has prompted calls for more explicit rules around how NYPD interacts with ICE and strengthening of sanctuary policies.

The report mentioned that a review of the incident is ongoing – it occurred a few days before this audit was due. It also includes a recommendation for the NYPD that any 911 calls related to immigration or the presence of federal immigration authorities be elevated to department leadership and the Legal Bureau.

The report also instructs more frequent and detailed reporting of interactions with federal immigration authorities not explicitly outlined in existing policies. “Agencies should be overinclusive in their reporting to (the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs),” the report says.

The audit also had “several” agencies review contracts with technology companies that may have been “at-risk of data-sharing with federal immigration authorities.” Politico first reported NYPD contracts with the surveillance technology company Vigilant Solutions were under review.

The mayor’s office said that no contracts with technology companies have been terminated as a result of the audit but did not rule out the possibility that it could happen in the future.

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This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

City & State — Fri, 22 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

“There are no winners in a strike,” Rutgers University labor professor William Dwyer told The New York Times. And after a messy few days for Strong Island commuters, we have to agree – and keep the players in Long Island Rail Road’s work stoppage off either side of the ledger. The workers got a little more money, but at the cost of igniting class warfare online … And Hochul settled the strike … at the cost of getting praised by the Manhattan Institute.

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Pat Ryan’s Patriot PAC endorses nearly 100 candidates across NY

Rebecca C. Lewis — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

Rep. Pat Ryan is endorsing a slate of local candidates statewide through his Patriot PAC – but don’t read into his decision to get involved too much, according to Ryan. Despite his name being on many lips for statewide office, he’s hoping to help steer a new generation of “service-minded” Democrats for the love of the democracy game.

This slate includes a total of 85 candidates running for everything from town council to state Senate across 26 counties. That’s up from 17 total counties Ryan’s Patriot PAC endorsed in last year, after forming the PAC in September to support candidates from “public service backgrounds” such as military veterans and teachers. He called the efforts in 2025 “hugely successful” – three-quarters of the candidates Patriot PAC supported won their races – and said he hoped to build on the momentum this year.

“It's just been really rewarding to get to know these candidates, see them working hard and then support them in these races,” the Hudson Valley Democrat told City & State. “The goal is just to get more service-minded candidates who have... walked the walk on true community service, and almost definitionally haven't come up through the traditional political machinery.”

Interestingly, one of Ryan’s endorsed candidates is state Sen. Jeremy Zellner, who embodies the “traditional political machinery” as the longtime chair of the Erie County Democratic Party who practically oversaw his own selection by the party to run in a special election earlier this year (Zellner recused himself from the nominating process). Asked about that particular endorsement, Ryan did not explain his specific reasoning for weighing in in that race. “I think the core idea is less about the political dynamics of an individual race and more about… the individual caliber of the candidate,” he said.

Patriot PAC is indeed supporting a range of candidates Democratic primaries – some incumbents, some insurgents and some running for open seats. Ryan backed Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, for example, who is seeking to unseat state Sen. Jessica Ramos. He also endorsed Assembly candidates Ryder Kessler and Eli Northrup, both running for open seats in Manhattan.

The PAC additionally endorsed a number of candidates running to flip Republican-held seats in the state Legislature, including state Senate candidate Lisa Kaul from Poughkeepsie and Assembly candidate Chloe Pierce in the Capital Region.

It’s an awful lot of races to get involved in, and hyper local to boot in many cases. They’re the kind of elections one might expect someone with statewide ambitions might choose to influence. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has similarly endorsed big slates in the past – though has yet to make many local endorsements yet this year. But Ryan said that’s not why he’s doing it.

“I just think we have to fucking win right now,” he said. “It is such an existential amount of harm being done, and risk that constituents are facing. Everybody has to do the maximum that they can in this moment to win.”

The goal for Ryan, he said, is to have the Democratic Party be a big tent, which includes more moderate candidates like himself, and progressives like Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom he endorsed after the 2025 primary.

“The way the governor (Kathy Hochul) and the mayor have operated together in broadening the coalition is a great example of that,” Ryan said. “I've tried to model that – Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and I have done a bunch together… We don't agree on every single thing, but we're focusing on the things we agree on, and people have really responded to that.”

Ryan said he hasn’t given thought about the prospect of running for governor or U.S. Senate, even if he admitted his desire for expanded influence on the direction of the Democratic Party. “For me personally, I want to have the maximum influence to win these races and get the party in a better place,” he said. “I don't think that's about a seat or a position.”

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As expected, budget immigration protections fall short of full New York for All proposal

Rebecca C. Lewis — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:33:46 -0400

Lawmakers are set to approve a series of new immigrant protections agreed to as part of the state budget that stops short of enacting the full New York for All Act that immigrant rights advocates have pushed for. Legislators say they will use the last two weeks of the scheduled legislative session to push for additional protections that get closer to the full bill that they say Gov. Kathy Hochul has resisted. But lawmakers have so far refrained from using the levers of power at their disposal to force the governor’s hand on an issue the sponsors have painted as of dire importance.

The Legislature printed the updated version of the Public Protection and General Government budget bill Wednesday night, the second of nine unfinished budget bills to reach the floor since the April 1 budget deadline passed. It includes the governor’s “Local Crimes, Local Cops” Act and several other provisions to limit local cooperation with federal immigration agents and prevent local jails from housing immigrants on behalf of the federal government. It also would ban immigration agents and other law enforcement from wearing masks, and permit New Yorkers to sue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for alleged civil rights violations.

At its core, the legislation bans what are known as formal 287(g) agreements that local law enforcement can enter into with ICE. They permit local police to work with ICE, ranging from sharing information and honoring detainer requests to deputizing officers to act as federal immigration agents and permit them to enforce civil immigration law. A number of local police and sheriffs’ departments have signed such agreements.

Compared to the governor’s original proposal from January, the final version also will prohibit informal agreements with ICE and Customs and Border Patrol that functionally act like a 287(g) information sharing agreement. During the Thursday Assembly debate on the issue, Assembly Member Catalina Cruz explained the bill treats informal agreements as patterns of cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE, rather than one-off instances of cooperation.

But to the chagrin of both immigrant rights advocates and lawmakers who have worked on immigration issues, the final budget language does not explicitly forbid all informal cooperation between federal officials and local law enforcement. “The legislative package falls short of offering comprehensive protections by continuing to permit informal law enforcement collusion with ICE and Border Patrol,” Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement. Though he also praised the bill’s advancements, he stood firm in calling on lawmakers to pass New York for All in its entirety.

Legislators tried to negotiate with the governor to include language in the budget that would ban all informal collusion with ICE and CPB by local law enforcement. But after rejecting Hochul’s initial proposal that would have permitted cooperation if police had probable cause for a crime, legislative leaders and the governor could not come to an acceptable agreement to deal with those informal communications.

“We did not have three willing partners willing to go that far,” state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, sponsor of the New York for All Act, told reporters Thursday morning. “And so we have more work to do to make sure that we have three willing partners so that this doesn't happen again.” He asserted that the budget legislation would not have prevented a situation like one that happened to Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a blind immigrant who was found dead after his transfer by local Western New York police to CPB.

A spokesperson for Hochul did not immediately return a request for comment, but her office has previously highlighted instances when the governor has tried to negotiate with legislative leaders on the issue, including removing language around law enforcement cooperation they disagreed with.

Gounardes and state Sen. Julia Salazar said they’ll push to get the full New York for All Act passed before they leave for the year. “I'm really proud that the Senate acted swiftly and early this session (and) convened a group of senators who wanted to focus on immigration policy,” Salazar said. Gounardes added that their chamber was “ready to pass the bill.”

But neither the state Senate nor the Assembly has passed the New York for All Act yet. That’s despite widespread support among Democrats, with Gounardes quipping “almost every Democrat” spoke at a rally for the legislation in April. “As much as we may have wanted to pass this, these are also complicated issues,” he said Thursday.

Both Gounardes and Salazar pointed to the fact that the governor still needs to sign legislation. “We do need all three parties in order for something to become law, and so I think that what we’re doing today is really important, and we have to continue to try to get all three parties to a place where we can go further in protecting all New Yorkers,” Salazar said.

But lawmakers do have options to force the governor’s hand. While the governor does need to sign bills that pass both chambers in order for them to become law, legislative leaders can bait the governor into either going on the record vetoing a measure, or to sign it to avoid bad press. Usually, they wait until Hochul “calls it up” before sending the legislation over for her signature or veto. The reason is that once it hits her desk, the governor has 10 days to decide how to act. Legislative leaders historically don’t send bills until she is ready as a courtesy.

Asked why lawmakers did not employ a more aggressive tactic on an issue they considered so important, Gounardes suggested things might have been different had the budget process not dragged on. “The budget calculations this year really, I think, warped a lot of what other legislative strategy we may have tried to employ on this issue and other issues,” he said.

But ultimately, Gounardes went back to placing the blame on Hochul. “We want to be in a place where we’re actually passing things that we know are going to help people, and that we can actually put those protections in place immediately,” he said. “And we don't have three partners that can do that on this particular issue right now.”

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Levine: AI is a ‘New York story’ – for better or worse

Annie McDonough — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Will the artificial intelligence revolution help or hurt New York’s economy? New York City Comptroller Mark Levine – and a team of economists – puts the odds at about 50/50.

What’s certain is that New York will feel the effects one way or the other. “Wall Street has done well in no small part because we are financing the AI boom. That begs the question, what happens if that bubble bursts?” he told reporters this week. “I don’t think people appreciate how much this is a New York story.”

A new report from Levine’s office released Thursday morning lays out five different possibilities for how the current AI boom could affect hiring, tax revenue and wages in the city in the next few years. The report’s findings are based on a February analysis by Moody’s Analytics that evaluated similar scenarios in a national context. Levine’s office adapted and updated it for the local economy.

The most likely scenario – estimated at 35% likelihood – would see moderate job, wage and tax revenue growth – producing what the report refers to as an “AI-Empowered Economy.” An even more optimistic scenario – estimated at 15% likelihood – foresees a “productivity boon” that raises corporate profits without widespread job displacement. (Levine said their report built off of Moody’s projections, which were calculated by taking an average of its seven authors’ estimates, as well as that of Claude, a large language model.)

But three other possible scenarios, together totaling 50% likelihood, predict that AI will have negative outcomes for employment and tax revenue. That could look like AI investment falling flat, producing fewer private sector jobs, lower adoption and less tax revenue, a 25% likely scenario, per the report. Another scenario, at 20% likelihood, foresees that AI adoption will happen even faster than anticipated, producing more widespread replacement of jobs and an increase in unemployment. The worst case scenario, and deemed the least probable at 5% likelihood, is an “AI shockwave” that envisions the most significant job displacement and resulting tax revenue losses.

Throughout each scenario, Levine said, concerns about income inequality are what keeps him up at night. “I’m worried (that) the gains of the years ahead will flow to the people who own stock and not to people who live off wages,” he said.

All scenarios, Levine argues, demonstrate a need for New York City to massively grow its budget reserves to prepare for outcomes that economists can only guess at. Levine has already pushed to fortify the city’s budget reserves, but argues his office’s findings in the new report are reason to double down. Specifically, he has called for the city’s Revenue Stabilization Fund, often called the rainy day fund, to be built to 16% of the city’s tax revenue, which this fiscal year would equate to $13.5 billion, or roughly $11.5 billion more than is currently in the rainy day fund. While this year’s budget process is well under way, Levine suggested the city could find deeper savings to build reserves by curtailing growing spending on the CityFHEPS rental voucher program and combining city schools with declining enrollment.

Levine has also called for rules to be established to govern when funds can be withdrawn from the rainy day fund – for example a recession. Among those triggers to allow withdraws should be AI disruption, he said.

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State Dems move to quickly advance upstate rent control bill

Kate Lisa — Wed, 20 May 2026 20:48:00 -0400

As the number of scheduled session days dwindles to the single digits, leaving little time for lawmakers to advance nonbudget bills before they leave Albany on June 4, several Democrats have made it clear they have their sights set on expanding rent stabilization outside New York City. And state legislative leaders are seriously considering taking it up.

“Yeah, we’re talking about it,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters Wednesday as lawmakers started to debate and pass budget bills.

Current law, or the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974, lets localities outside the five boroughs adopt rent stabilization, or place an annual limit on rent hikes, if they declare a state of housing emergency, or prove a housing vacancy rate of 5% or less through a vacancy study.. But state Senate Housing Committee Chair Brian Kavanagh sponsors a bill known as the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants, or REST Act, that would allow localities to use more public data and tools to declare a housing emergency, like rates of homelessness or eviction rates, rather than a costly study.

“New York is really an outlier in terms of focusing so heavily on that one metric,” Kavanagh told City & State, later adding, “The bill is pretty straightforward and we think it does the job.”

Upstate municipalities have sparsely utilized rent stabilization despite a statewide housing crisis. The city of Ithaca funded a vacancy study, but it has not been done; while Albany conducted a vacancy study in 2024 that came back above the 5% threshold, or ineligible for rent stabilization. In 2020, the mayor of Hudson vetoed a resolution authorizing a $15,000 study citing cost concerns. The city of Kingston has imposed local rent control, but continues to battle litigation from landlords. Similar policies were struck down in the cities of Poughkeepsie and Newburgh.

In anticipation of similar legal battles, the REST Act was amended last month to no longer let upstate localities choose which buildings could be eligible for rent stabilization, and require buildings with four or more units to be included.

With that addition, it cleared both the Assembly Housing and Codes committees Wednesday – indicating momentum to be brought to the floor for a vote.

“It’s definitely showing movement,” Assembly Housing Committee Chair Linda Rosenthal told City & State.

Housing advocates joined Kavanagh, Rosenthal and several other lawmakers in the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon to rally for the bill’s passage in the next two weeks.

Democrats choosing to prioritize the measure in the end-of-session dash doesn’t come as a surprise after they made a point of holding a public hearing on upstate rent stabilization last fall. And it’s in keeping with the party’s political focus on affordability, both in Albany and on the campaign trail ahead of the June primaries. Housing Providers of New York State Executive Director Rich Lanzarone said that’s why Democrats are in a rush. “It’s politically sexy if you’re only thinking short-term,” he said.

But landlords and small property owners – including members of the coalition Homeowners For An Affordable New York – are ready to go to war over the proposal, and argue that rent stabilization has not worked in New York City and would only exacerbate the statewide housing crisis.

“New York cannot afford to turn the entire state into New York City’s housing disaster,” the organization said in a statement. “After more than 80 years of rent regulation, New York City still faces chronic housing shortages and deteriorating buildings—and the REST Act would export that failure statewide. It will mean less housing, less investment and higher costs for everyone.”

Lanzarone said upstate cities like Albany, Rochester, Utica and Syracuse desperately need reinvestment in housing to preserve existing units or to encourage new construction, and local rent control is the last thing struggling upstate localities can shoulder. The median gross rent in the city of Albany is $1,216, $1,046 in Buffalo and $1,469 in Kingston, according to a new report by the Community Service Society of New York.

Lanzarone said rents in those cities are already so low that buildings can’t support themselves. “It’s an income problem, not a rent problem,” he said. “If you’re thinking about the next election, this is great, because in a lot of these cities there’s more renters than landlords or property owners, so it buys votes. And by the time the buildings fall apart, those legislators are long gone.”

But Kavanagh, Rosenthal and other Democratic lawmakers argue landlords are just lying to pad their pockets.

“It’s not true,” Rosenthal said Wednesday. “No one’s forcing you to be a landlord, no one’s forcing you to reap millions. They want to jam us in the rest of the state. I say, mind your business, stay in the city, do your fight, which is what they do every year, but let the rest of the state thrive.”

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Blakeman says unions will back Republicans this year

Peter Sterne — Wed, 20 May 2026 17:52:32 -0400

Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman has a plan for the GOP to win back the governor’s mansion: organized labor.

“The Republican party is going to get unprecedented support from union workers because they share our values and not the values of Kathy Hochul and Mamdani the Commie,” the Nassau County executive said in his speech at the New York Republican State Committee’s annual gala Tuesday night at The Plaza in Manhattan.

Blakeman pointed to a number of recent strikes – including last year’s wildcat strike of corrections officers, the nurses’ strike earlier this year and the recent Long Island Rail Road strike – to suggest that unionized workers were unhappy with the governor.

“We just had a little strike here on Long Island, on the Long Island Rail Road. Think about it. The first strike by (those) railroad workers in 30 years,” he said. “Republicans (and) Democrats never had the problems Kathy Hochul had with labor. Corrections officers (were) fired because they brought to the attention of the governor the unsafe conditions, that prisoners are running our prisons. She fired them when they went on strike. I will hire them all back! Governor Hochul wanted out-of-state nurses to break the picket lines of our nurses.”

Despite Blakeman’s hopes, it’s unlikely that the very progressive New York State Nurses Association will endorse him just because they’re frustrated with Hochul. The more conservative corrections unions and LIRR unions very well could, but the idea that members of labor unions would line up behind a Republican candidate over the Democratic incumbent is almost certainly a fantasy.

So far, Blakeman has garnered little labor support besides police unions. Hochul has had a sometimes rocky relationship with organized labor, but she has largely made up with the traditionally Democratic constituency. She does not have unanimous labor support – “she is not a trade-union supporting Governor, she is the Bosses’ Governor,” outspoken Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen told the New York Post in February – but her campaign told City & State she’s already been endorsed for reelection by more than several unions, including heavy hitters like 32BJ SEIU, District Council 37, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the Civil Service Employees Association and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

A campaign spokesperson for Hochul referred City & State to a statement from Vinny Alu, business manager of Laborers Local 66. “Union members know they have a proven ally in Governor Hochul,” Alu said. “Her administration has prioritized developing, protecting, and expanding opportunities for working families across New York State. By contrast, Bruce Blakeman has yet to show that he would fight to maintain the wages, protections, and opportunities this union workforce has earned. He can pretend to stand with labor but New York’s workers are not buying it.”

Blakeman’s pro-labor posturing is somewhat at odds with his appeals to the anti-union Conservative Party – he shouted out Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar from the stage – and felt out of place with the rest of the gala, whose main theme seemed to be “New York should become Florida.”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Republicans have contrasted the increasingly conservative Florida with Democrat-controlled New York. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the guest of honor at the NYGOP gala, and the event featured plenty of cracks about New Yorkers escaping to “the Free State of Florida” to escape leftist policies.

“When I got the invitation, I was excited to come because, quite frankly, I've got a lot of people in my state that have a lot of roots here,” DeSantis said in his keynote speech. “How can I turn down an opportunity to address some of my future residents? … Honestly, I should go, in some respects, to the New York Democrat convention, just to thank them for their failures, and how that's driven business and opportunity in my state.”

DeSantis later suggested that Florida could serve as not just a foil to New York, but a model for the state’s Republican minority. He said that when he was first elected in 2018 with a slim 35,000-vote margin, Florida was a swing state – “every major race for the previous decade was decided by 1 percentage point or less” – and Democrats had a registration advantage of close to 300,000 voters. In the years since, Florida has turned bright red and registered Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats by 1.5 million.

Blakeman and state GOP Chair Ed Cox told the crowd they were confident they will be able to beat Hochul this year, after former Rep. Lee Zeldin came within 7 points of unseating her four years ago. At one point, DeSantis joked that he wished he could have given Zeldin some of the votes he received from ex-New Yorkers who had moved to Florida over the past decade, which could have given him a winning margin.

In addition to DeSantis and Blakeman, the event also featured speeches from Republican attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy, state comptroller candidate Joseph Hernandez and congressional candidate Mike LiPetri, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi on Long Island.

The crowd included numerous other Republican congressional and state legislative candidates – as well as ex-Gov. David Paterson, a longtime Democrat who has increasingly been cozying up to the right. Paterson left the event early, but a person seated at his table later told City & State that the former governor has been a frequent presence at GOP events in recent years.

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Mamdani’s Office of Community Safety wasn’t at his community safety announcement

Holly Pretsky — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:16:49 -0400

Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and other local leaders to celebrate record low crime levels in the Bronx, to tout violence prevention programs and to announce a surge of 200 more cops into the borough.

“I'm proud to stand here alongside leaders not only across the state, the city, the borough, the district, all of us united,” the mayor said Wednesday morning outside a South Bronx NYPD precinct.

Notably absent among those united leaders were Mamdani’s new Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Renita Francois and Commissioner of the Office of Community Safety Ayesha Delany-Brumsey. Both recent appointees to Mamdani’s administration are tasked with running the new office, a watered-down version of Mamdani’s campaign plan to launch a Department of Community Safety that would have overhauled the city’s approach to policing by emphasizing civilian response and prevention programs. In reality, the office now has just five full time staff and oversight of a few preexisting programs, including the Office to Prevent Gun Violence and the Office of Community Mental Health.

The paring down of the Department of Community Safety mirrors the general softening of rhetoric from Mamdani toward police over his short political career. Mamdani’s celebration of the increase in NYPD headcount in the Bronx Wednesday was a huge contrast from his highly critical 2020 statements about police as a candidate for Assembly, when he called to defund the police and argued they caused more harm than good. “Defeating these fascists will be the fight of our lives,” Mamdani posted on X in June 2020, over a video of NYPD officers throwing a Black Lives Matter protester into an unmarked van.

City Hall declined to explain why the Office of Community Safety wasn’t represented at the Bronx announcement. “The Mayor was glad to attend today’s press conference,” City Hall spokesperson Sam Raskin said in a text, adding that Mamdani would “continue working closely with the Office of Community Safety and participate with a number of events with its leaders.”

It was an NYPD-organized event, held outside a police precinct, to announce a change to policing – which may be an indication we shouldn’t expect any overlap between the police department and the Office of Community Safety. NYPD spokesperson Bradley Weekes wrote in an email that the announcement about the division of the Bronx into two borough patrols “is specific to the operational function of the New York City Police Department.” Weekes also referred City & State to two positive statements the police commissioner has made about the Office of Community Safety.

Still, the mayor namechecked the Office of Community Safety in a press release about the initiative. “I want to thank the men and women of the New York City Police Department and Commissioner Tisch for their partnership and continued hard work to keep New Yorkers safe,” he wrote. “Alongside an Office of Community Safety focused on preventing violence before it happens by connecting New Yorkers to the support they need, we are taking a whole-of-government approach to public safety.”

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Budget voting starts, but the state’s not at the finish line yet

Rebecca C. Lewis — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:10:55 -0400

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a “general agreement” on the state budget on May 7, the latest she has ever done so. Now, two weeks later, the state Legislature has finally printed one of the remaining nine budget bills, setting lawmakers up to at least begin actually voting. But the process is still slow-going as legislators grapple with what is already the tardiest spending plan in nearly two decades.

Both the state Senate and Assembly on Wednesday took up the Education, Labor and Family Assistance budget bill, better known as ELFA. The Assembly passed it by a vote of 110-34 largely along party lines. It offers final – and official – details on a number of education and labor issues that have come up during negotiations. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the Public Protection and General Government bill on Thursday, which will include long-awaited details on new protections for immigrants, before breaking for Memorial Day Weekend.

As the Assembly hunkered down for a lengthy debate on ELFA, Assembly Ways and Means Chair J. Gary Pretlow likened the situation to a baseball game. “We’re in a nine-inning game, and we are in the first inning,” he said on the chamber floor.

Out of the 10 pieces of legislation that make up the state budget, only one has passed so far – the debt service bill approved ahead of the April 1 deadline in order to prevent the state from defaulting on its loans. An updated and final version of ELFA was introduced Wednesday morning, just hours before lawmakers would begin voting. The other eight bills are still outstanding.

Speaking in Manhattan, Hochul struck a somewhat blasé tone, despite the budget’s extreme and growing lateness. “My budget is done, but they’re just still voting on it,” she said to reporters at an unrelated press conference. But despite her continued insistence the budget is buttoned up outside of voting, last-minute items are still making their way into the plan, and some controversial issues are still getting worked out.

Case in point: News broke Wednesday morning that the budget would include a new provision that would prevent lame duck New York City mayors from calling charter revision commissions that would convene after their departure from office. Although it’s a hot topic in New York City right now thanks to a commission from former Mayor Eric Adams, some lawmakers only just found out the budget would touch on the issue.

Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon told City & State that Democrats in her chamber were first briefed on the matter on Tuesday. Despite the sudden curveball, she still said New York City members were generally on board. “Consider how (Adams) left. It was very much under a cloud,” Simon said. “I don’t want to continue that cloud.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Wednesday New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked that leaders add the measure in during the budget’s extended overtime. “Things come up all the time,” Heastie said when questioned about the late addition. The provision is expected to be included in Public Protection and General Government on Thursday, language for which still hasn’t been printed.

Even potential delays to implementing the New York City school class size law – a high-profile topic that deals directly with education one might reasonably expect to find in ELFA – didn’t appear in the lone new budget bill introduced since April 1. A source with knowledge of the issue said the matter is still being debated; it hadn’t come to a resolution before the bill drafting commission printed the final ELFA language.

Heastie didn’t discuss the class size law with reporters on Wednesday, but did indicate other items still need to be locked down. Asked about specifics on a new pied-à-terre tax in New York City, for example, Heastie said, “That’s next week, we haven’t closed the revenue yet.” On healthcare spending and the division of funds between nursing homes and hospitals, Heasite said, “I think it’s close, but I don’t think that’s final.”

Also related to healthcare, Heastie reiterated his skepticism that the state has the money for a remedy to help over 450,000 New Yorkers set to lose health insurance through the Essential Plan in July. But he said such a measure is “not at this point” in the state budget – suggesting that’s not out of the question.

The updated ELFA language introduced Wednesday does, however, confirm that all school districts will receive at least a 2% increase in Foundation Aid, above the minimum 1% increase Hochul originally proposed in her January spending plan. Schools voted on their budgets without final funding details yesterday.

The bill additionally confirmed prior reporting that lawmakers would extend mayoral control of New York City schools for another two years, as well as a five-year delay to a mandate for schools to roll out zero-emission buses.

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Eric Adams’ Charter Revision Commission to hold hearings

Sahalie Donaldson — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

The Charter Revision Commission convened by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams on his final day in office has scheduled a handful of public hearings across the city, setting the stage for the legally precarious group to consider a series of controversial potential changes to the City Charter over the next month.

Since its inception, the group has been interested in opening up the city’s primary elections – something a previous charter revision commission pursued, but ultimately dropped to prioritize several land use and affordable housing-related measures instead. While open primaries remain a priority for the 13-member panel, the group will also consider initiatives to “address anti-semitism, hate crimes, and protester interference with houses of worship,” additional housing and land use reforms aimed at spurring more affordable housing and prohibitions to bar elected officials from raising their own salaries while they are in office, according to Kayla Mamelak Altus, a commission member and Adams’ former press secretary. In addition to former first deputy mayor Randy Mastro offering the group pro bono legal services, the commission is composed of many of Adams’ allies.

Specifics about how the commission might address these initial topics are unclear. Mamelak Altus noted the four issues were recommended by staff as a starting point. “The public comes and tells the commission what needs to be considered in the City Charter for the ballot proposals,” she said. Details about the four public hearings, which were scheduled in every borough other than Manhattan, and starting topics are expected to be published in the city record Wednesday.

All have been hot topic issues in the early months of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tenure. Critics, including Adams himself, have accused the mayor of not doing enough to crack down on antisemitism, pointing at things like his revocation of an executive order that adopted a broad definition of antisemitism and another that barred city employees from boycotting Israel. Mamdani has also been critical of legislation directing police to come up with a plan to implement protest buffer zones outside of schools (which Mamdani vetoed) and houses of worship (which he let stand).

After the City Council began moving forward legislation that would have automatically increased pay for elected officials last year, Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced that they would form a commission to consider the possibility instead. (The mayor has said he would not take a pay raise.) And the non-partisan, open primary system that the commission and its supporters have been mulling from the start is something that Democratic socialists like Mamdani generally oppose, as it is thought to benefit candidates who are closer to the political center.

Much is still unknown about the commission’s future and its ability to get any proposals onto the ballot. There is little if any precedent of a charter commission established by a former mayor operating without approval from the new administration. And while there are ways for Mamdani to kneecap the group, it has managed to barrel forward regardless – at least so far. The 13-member panel voted in acting leadership at a meeting in late April after the person Adams initially appointed for the role of chair failed to file the necessary paperwork in time. Despite Mamdani not including any funding for the commission in his preliminary budget proposal, the group has explored the possibility of soliciting alternative revenue streams and is currently relying on donations and volunteers as Mastro continues to push the mayoral administration for support.

“Our administration and the Law Department are considering all options as it relates to the Charter Revision Commission,” said Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor.

All of the locations for the upcoming public hearings were donated. The first, scheduled for May 27, will take place at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. That’ll be followed by another hearing on June 2 at God’s Battalion of Prayer in Brooklyn and another on Staten Island at the Jewish Community Center on June 9. The last that’s currently scheduled will be held in Queens at the Glow Community Center on June 23. Mamelak Altus said the commission is still seeking a location to hold a meeting in Manhattan.

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Hochul brings the ‘Wrath of Kath’ to LCA Show

Sophie Krichevsky — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

The Legislative Correspondents’ Association Show typically takes place during a relatively quiet period in Albany. But not this year.

“Those of you who thought we’d have a budget by the LCA Show? You just lost big on Kalshi,” Gov. Kathy Hochul joked on stage. “That’s how we filled New York City’s budget gap.”

Hochul and the Capitol press corps traded barbs at the 124th annual benefit – a perfect comedy show for the kind of New York political nerds who laugh at singing “Mike Gianaris” to the tune of “Bootylicious” or “Oh, Edward Ra” to “O Canada.”

Jeff Coltin/City & State NY

City & State’s Kate Lisa played Hochul, nailing the governor’s Buffalo accent in her take on “Mamma Mia” with City & State’s Rebecca Lewis as Karen Persichilli Keogh and Aoife Forbes of “The Capitol Pressroom” as Director of State Operations Jackie Bray.

The governor enjoyed laughs throughout the evening, but she wasn’t particularly smiley after certain lines in the number, like “Kathy Hochul, here she goes again/ Our gov, accidental leader!/ No, I’m not that inspiring/ Government’s awfully tiring.”

Hochul brought her A-game to her rebuttal, though. Embracing her “wrath of Kath” persona (with an image emblazoned on T-shirts tossed to the crowd), she donned a leather jacket and entered the stage through a cloud of smoke.

Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

She kept it loose, and confidently poked fun at her political enemies, calling former Gov. Andrew Cuomo a “washed-up AM radio host,” writing off Rep. Elise Stefanik for getting “passed over by her boss for a promotion, twice” and joking that Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado is searching for a new job as a billboard lawyer (but only after Streetsblog’s Austin Jefferson rocked a robe and slippers as he sang “Delgado” to the tune of “Tomorrow” from “Annie”). Hochul even made nice with one of her chief adversaries, state Sen. James Skoufis: To make up for his transgressions, she suggested he’d been doing time in the furry costume as cellphone ban mascot Frankie Focus. Sure enough, Skoufis appeared on stage in full Frankie attire. Take that, Matt Damon.

Hochul got her own celebrity boost, though. Alec Baldwin played President Donald Trump in a prerecorded video skit, imploring Hochul to name it “Cen-Trump Park” or “the Trumpen Zee Bridge.”

Jeff Coltin/City & State

Bruce Blakeman, on the other hand, missed the show to attend the state Republican dinner at The Plaza in Manhattan Tuesday night. His recorded rebuttal wasn’t well received by the crowd – but maybe the only moment that didn’t leave the crowd utterly befuddled was when he awkwardly danced to “ICE, ICE, baby.”

Blakeman wasn’t the only absence. LCA President Dave Lombardo said that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani couldn’t make it. But that’s not new – he didn’t show up to Albany for session as an Assembly member either.

“Also unable to join tonight are Assembly Members David McDonough and Vivian Cook,” Lombardo joked about the elderly legislators who are retiring this year. “But don’t worry. They’re being honored across town at City & State’s first ever 90 Under 90 Awards.”

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NYC Council will not override Mamdani’s first veto

Holly Pretsky and Sahalie Donaldson — Tue, 19 May 2026 22:10:00 -0400

Editor’s note: This story was originally published Tuesday May 19 at 10 p.m. before it was clear whether the council would override Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s veto. It was updated Wednesday May 20 at 8:55 a.m. after the speaker’s office confirmed the council would not override.

Rather than attempt to override Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first veto, the New York City Council will reintroduce a new version of the controversial bill that would require the police department to create and publicize plans for security perimeters around educational facilities during protests.

Taking feedback from council members into account, the new version of Intro 175-B will more explicitly only apply to schools in a departure from the current, more broad language about educational facilities. The legislation will be introduced and heard in the coming weeks, according to the City Council speaker’s office. The plan to pass the new measure was first confirmed by the New York Post.

The original bill passed the council with 30 votes, four shy of a two-thirds majority needed to override the mayor’s veto. Efforts from Speaker Julie Menin’s office to persuade people to flip their no votes and override – or stick with their yes votes on the bill – carried well into Tuesday, according to multiple council members. One City Council source claimed Tuesday night that the speaker had enough votes to override, but might not do so given her narrow margin.

Multiple members, including one Democratic council member who previously voted against the bill, said they were hoping for a new version.

Overriding Mamdani’s veto would have set a precedent of council solidarity and independence for the years to come. It would also be a major showing of strength for Menin, who has positioned herself as a foil to the democratic socialist mayor. But the legislation has also underscored internal divisions within the council, spurring the majority of the progressive caucus to vote against it. A new version would likely be less divisive internally.

Menin sponsored a near identical version of the legislation that pertained to houses of worship, which easily passed with a veto-proof majority last month. Both bills have spurred criticism that they infringe on the rights of protesters, though the bulk of concerns have been directed at the educational facilities version due to its overly broad language. Opponents of the bill in question say that it’s aimed at suffocating pro-Palestinian protests similar to the ones that took over college campuses in recent years. Supporters frame it as an important safety measure particularly in light of rising antisemitism incidents and argued that it would increase transparency and foster dialogue between protesters and educational facility leaders.

“Some of these advocacy organizations are making what I think are very bad faith statements, statements that are not rooted in the text of the bill, but rooted in whatever experiences they have,” said Council Member Eric Dinowitz, the bill‘s sponsor. “It simply requires transparency and accountability and community engagement.”

The legislation wouldn’t do much. While an initial version would have required the police commissioner to submit a plan to create protest barriers of “up to 100 feet” around the entrances and exits of educational facilities within 15 days of passing, the version that actually passed the council was so watered down as to be almost meaningless. The current version requires the commissioner to submit to the mayor a plan within three months on “whether and when to use a security perimeter” and leaves it up to the commissioner to decide the extent of the barrier.

As Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a recent civic engagement group’s breakfast, "The laws recently passed by the City Council do not change the NYPD’s authority or ability to establish frozen zones, buffer zones, or security perimeters around sensitive locations. Whatever one’s views on those laws, the fundamental responsibility of the NYPD remains unchanged."

At an unrelated press conference Tuesday, Mamdani reiterated concerns he’s previously shared about the legislation.

“When organized labor and community organizations across the city raised concerns around the constitutionality of this legislation as well as the impact it would have on so much of what is at the core part of how organizing takes place especially given its incredibly broad definition of educational institutions … it’s important to hear those concerns,” Mamdani said. “That’s why I did veto the legislation."

Asked whether he was having individual conversations with council members to gauge whether they were still opposed, the mayor said he has “made his feelings very clear.”

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Hochul said what??? Blakeman AI video may have violated election law

Rebecca C. Lewis — Tue, 19 May 2026 17:30:00 -0400

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor, posted an artificial intelligence-generated campaign video that may run afoul of a 2024 law aimed at curbing deceptive political communication. His campaign denied the video violated election law, but added a disclaimer about AI after City & State inquired anyway.

On Friday, Blakeman posted a video meant to criticize Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over green energy mandates. The AI video was in the style of the raunchy adult cartoon South Park that included a fictionalized Hochul and Mamdani at an angry town hall. “Higher utility costs are actually a good thing because they encourage behavior change,” Mamdani says. “The transition may cause temporary hardship,” Hochul later chimed in.

The voices sound like the two elected officials. But they never said those words – the video recreated their voices through AI. And when Blakeman originally posted the video on social media, it didn’t include a disclaimer that it was created with AI or otherwise manipulated.

As part of the state budget in 2024, Hochul and lawmakers included a provision to update the state’s election law regarding deceptive media to include a provision about artificial intelligence. Under the law, “materially deceptive media” includes “any technological representation of speech or conduct” created or modified “by or with software, machine learning, artificial intelligence or any other computer-generated or technological means.” Such media requires a disclaimer that the audio, video and/or images have been manipulated.

The law includes exceptions, including for parody or satire. After City & State inquired about the video, Blakeman spokesperson Madison Spanodemos said that exception applied to the campaign’s video. “This video is satire and requires no legal disclaimer,” she said in a statement. "We’ve added one anyway because, unlike Kathy Hochul, we have absolutely nothing to hide.” The campaign updated the post on X to include the tag “Made with AI,” though the disclaimer still does not appear in the video itself as described in state law.

The election law provision is still fairly new and remains untested, so a judge would need to determine whether the video violated the statute. But election attorney Sarah Steiner told City & State one cannot simply add a label of parody to something controversial. She said that avid political observers may be able to recognize that Hochul and Mamdani never said what they did in the video, but the average viewer could reasonably believe it’s legitimate audio used in the animated video. “If you have to be that discerning to understand that it isn't real, forget whether we're calling it satire or not, that's misleading,” Steiner said. “It's just misleading.”

According to Peter Loge, director of the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at George Washington University, the question raised by the Blakeman video and its portrayal of the two New York executives has less to do with whether media was created or altered using AI and more to do with with the deceptive nature of such media. “The means of deception matters less than the deception itself,” he said in an email to City & State. “The ad doesn't have any proof the governor or mayor said those things, which should raise questions among voters.”

But Loge added that the attention given to AI muddies the waters. “If everyone thinks everything they don't like is AI generated, but that everything they like is true, then we can't have the honest conversations that democracy relies on,” he said.

The state Democratic Party criticized Blakeman in a statement to City & State. “It’s obvious why Bruce Blakeman’s campaign is centered around lying and faking: his Trump-first MAGA agenda is toxic, and he knows it,” said state Democratic Party spokesperson Addison Dick. “AI slop cartoons about your opponent, comparing Trump to your wife, hiring an armed MAGA militia in your backyard – give it a rest, Bruce. Please.”

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GOP candidates have their strategy for November: ‘Stop Zohran Mamdani.’

Megan McGibney — Tue, 19 May 2026 14:11:58 -0400

In front of a rally of over a hundred New Yorkers gathered on the Brighton Beach boardwalk in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon, several Republican candidates stood in front of a banner that echoed what they all had to say: Stop Mamdani.

“Zohran Mamdani represents everything that is going wrong in New York City,” said Assembly Member Michael Novakhov, who hosted the rally. “He represents the radical, antisemitic, anti-police, anti-American movement that has taken over today’s Democratic Party. And let's stop pretending otherwise. This is no longer the party of working people. This is a party controlled by radical activists, communist ideologists … agitators and people who make excuses for hatred and terrorism when Jews are the targets, that is the truth.”

The catalyst of Sunday’s rally was to get signatures on a petition to run on an independent ballot line: Stop Mamdani. Novakhov is preparing for a rematch with Democratic District Leader Joey Saban after narrowly defeating him last year. And he and the other candidates plan to run on the Stop Mamdani line along with their usual Republican and Conservative Party lines.

But the rally also served to stir up energy to fight Mamdani and his policies. And if Sunday was any indication, it’s a strategy the right is leaning into as it gears up for November.

“Right now we have a mayor who hates the police,” said state Sen. Steve Chan. “He hates you. He hates the Jews. We ran away from what this mayor is telling us that we should love. No, we don't love socialism. No, we don't love communism. This guy in office right now, he hates you, he hates the Italians, he hates the Chinese, he hates excellence, he hates the cops, he hates the military. Does this guy like anybody?”

Chan is facing a serious reelection challenge from Democratic District Leader Larry He. The Southern Brooklyn district backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over Mamdani 46% to 40% in the November mayoral election, while Republican Curtis Sliwa got just 13%. In 2024, Donald Trump won the same district by nearly 15 points.

Democrats are hoping to flip Chan’s seat on the way to winning back a supermajority in the state Senate. And Chan isn’t taking that kindly.

“Don’t you listen to any of them,” Chan said. “They’re full of shit.”

Across the water, on another beachfront boardwalk, a different set of Republicans were also turning up the heat. On Staten Island’s South Beach, GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman was joined by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and Assembly Members Mike Tannousis and Mike Reilly and talked about New Yorkers leaving for other states due to high costs. But even as Blakeman’s running against Hochul, it only took him a couple minutes to mention the mayor.

“We’re here in Staten Island because we are united in our effort to keep a check on Zohran Mamdani,” he said. He is bad for New York City. He is bad for Staten Island.”

In fact, Blakeman’s been campaigning just as much against Mamdani as he has against Hochul. The state Republican party sent a mailer this month showing the mayor and governor holding hands, pledging Blakeman would “protect you from the Hochul-Mamdani tax hikes.” In a May 15 X post, Blakeman shared another graphic of Hochul and Mamdani. That same day, Blakeman posted an AI-generated “South Park” spoof blaming Mamdani and Hochul for high utility bills.

Republican candidates elsewhere in the city are using the same strategy. Alina Bonsell, who’s running a longshot campaign for state Senate on the east side of Manhattan, is collecting signatures to run on the Block Mamdani ballot line.

Mamdani is new, but the strategy isn’t. Republicans unhappy with then-Mayor Bill de Blasio created a Stop de Blasio line in 2016.

Voters mostly avoided that line a decade ago. And Andrew Bard Epstein, a political consultant who advises Mamdani, said lashing out at this mayor won’t help Republicans. “Tens of millions of dollars were spent against the mayor last year using these same divisive, desperate talking points,” Epstein said. “They didn’t work then and they won’t work now. The mayor’s affordability agenda is broadly popular with voters across New York state, and so is he. Republicans will try to make him the bogeyman at their peril.”

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You CAN’T Miss “Heard Around Town”

Tom Allon — Tue, 19 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

If you’re reading this, I know you’re a fan of City & State and First Read.

Almost exactly 20 years ago, in June 2006, a new publication was born in New York City: “City Hall” newspaper published its first monthly issue and quickly became the darling of the whole political world in the five boroughs.

What’s happened in the intervening two decades is nothing short of a miracle: a multimedia company growing by leaps and bounds each year producing new products that are all must-reads and events that are must-attend.

City & State New York, the successor to City Hall, has not only turned into an award-winning weekly political magazine, but we’ve also added three daily e-newsletters: First Read (7 a.m.), First Read Tonight (6 p.m.), Albany Agenda (midday) and a weekly newsletter, NYN First Read, covering the important nonprofit sector in the city.

City & State has become a powerhouse throughout New York state, and has brought its successful model to Pennsylvania and a political news service in Florida. We produce over 60 events each year – from policy summits to Power List showcases to Thought Leader dinners as well as custom events for corporations and advocacy groups alike.

But because we never rest on our laurels, we’re launching another exciting news and insider information product on Tuesday: “Heard Around Town.”

If you like First Read each day, you’re going to LOVE “Heard Around Town.”

Sent to subscriber inboxes on Tuesdays and Fridays, it’ll have the juiciest scoops of the week, the stories behind the story, the latest gossip and whispers, as well as other vital data for elected officials, their staffs and the entire New York state political universe.

An individual subscription is available for $17/month, and we also offer group packages for teams of five or 10 to ensure your entire office stays informed. Heard Around Town will provide need to know insights at a small fraction of the cost of other political e-newsletters.

If you’ve followed City & State’s growth the past 20 years – or even just a portion of that time – you know that our award winning journalism team, headed up by the ubiquitous Editor-in-Chief Jeff Coltin, consistently serves up well-reported, well-sourced and well-written stories every single day. That’s why we recently won nine journalism and design awards at the New York Press Association annual awards event.

To commemorate 20 years of excellence in political journalism, we invite you to subscribe to “Heard Around Town” today. Your support ensures the continued growth of our award-winning reporting, allowing us to meet our audience's hunger for accurate and unbiased coverage.

I hope to see you on our subscriber list by Tuesday, May 19, so you can enjoy “Heard Around Town’s” debut issue.

Thanks as always for your loyalty and support!

Tom Allon
Founder and Publisher
City & State

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Endorsement wars: Rep. Nydia Velázquez takes on Mamdani and the DSA

Peter Sterne — Mon, 18 May 2026 17:32:55 -0400

If you want Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s endorsement, it doesn’t hurt to run against someone backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America. This year, the retiring lawmaker has endorsed a half-dozen rivals to candidates backed by either the group or Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Here’s the full list so far.

Antonio Reynoso (against Claire Valdez)

This intraleft congressional clash is the source of the bitterness between Velázquez, who wanted one of her political “children” like Antonio Reynoso to succeed her, and Mamdani, who instead backed NYC-DSA’s own Claire Valdez.

Rana Abdelhamid (against Diana Moreno)

In the special election for Mamdani’s former Assembly seat, the mayor, NYC-DSA, the WFP and even the Queens Democratic Party all lined up behind Diana Moreno, while Velázquez was one of few elected officials to back Rana Abdelhamid. Moreno easily won in February.

Carl Wilson (against Lindsey Boylan)

In the special election to replace state Sen. Erik Bottcher in the New York City Council, Velázquez (and most other elected officials) backed Bottcher’s preferred successor Carl Wilson, while Mamdani and the WFP went hard for DSA member Lindsey Boylan, even as NYC-DSA stayed out of the race. Wilson prevailed by nearly 20 points last month.

Brian Romero (formerly against Aber Kawas)

In the race to succeed Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, who is running for state Senate in Queens, NYC-DSA endorsed Aber Kawas, while Velázquez and the WFP backed González-Rojas’ former chief of staff and preferred successor Brian Romero. Kawas finally jumped ship to a nearby state Senate race just before socialist standard-bearer, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsed Romero, all but sealing his victory.

Adriano Espaillat (against Darializa Avila Chevalier)

It’s probably no great surprise that Velázquez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is backing the caucus’s Chair Adriano Espaillat over challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier, who’s backed by NYC-DSA and the Justice Democrats.

Jasmin Sanchez (against Illapa Sairitupac)

NYC-DSA is backing Illapa Sairitupac to succeed Assembly Member Grace Lee in lower Manhattan, while Velázquez just endorsed former district leader Jasmin Sanchez.

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Actually, the LIRR strike may not be that bad for Hochul politically

Rebecca C. Lewis — Mon, 18 May 2026 14:47:40 -0400

An election-year public union strike is probably many governors’ worst nightmare. Faced with the first Long Island Rail Road strike in three decades, shutting down the nation’s largest commuter rail system, Gov. Kathy Hochul is surely no different in that regard. And she and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, her likely Republican opponent as she seeks reelection in November, are both playing the political blame game. But Hochul’s historically poor performance on Long Island combined with existing ire from transit unions means it’s a low bar for her to clear if she wants to come out of the commuting crisis on her feet.

Blakeman wasted no time over the weekend to attack Hochul over the strike, which began Saturday at midnight. “Both Republican and Democrat administrations had labor peace with our workers, and let me say this to you, when you look at Kathy Hochul's track record when it comes to labor relations, she is the worst governor in the history of New York State,” Blakeman said in Long Beach on Sunday.

In response, the Hochul campaign took equal aim at Blakeman. “While Governor Hochul is focused on affordability, protecting commuters, and getting trains running again, ‘100% MAGA’ Blakeman is doing what he always does: rooting for dysfunction and higher costs so he can score political points with Donald Trump,” Hochul spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. "Blakeman spent years jacking up property taxes and making Long Islanders’ lives more expensive – New Yorkers can’t afford his leadership, and neither can his own constituents.”

Although Hochul has indeed had a somewhat rocky relationship with a number of major unions in the past thanks to her original pick to lead the state Court of Appeals, she has largely mended those fences. That hasn’t included influential transit unions like Transport Workers United Local 100, which has been locked in lengthy and contentious contract negotiations with the governor. While the union isn’t one of the five representing the striking LIRR workers, it’s a bellwether transit union with an outspoken international president in John Samuelsen.

And Samuelsen hasn’t been shy about his – and his members’ – disdain for the governor. He has made clear that his union, which represents many subway and bus workers in New York City, would not back Hochul this year for reelection. “Gov. Hochul is a straight-up enemy of the TWU and a disaster for blue-collar New York,” he wrote in a letter to members reported by the New York Post in February. “The International TWU will not just go along to get along. We will not support her simply because she’s a ‘Democrat.’”

The strike also primarily impacts Long Island commuters, a voting base with whom Hochul has significant ground to make up. She lost Nassau County by over 10 percentage points and Suffolk County by 17 percentage points in 2022 when she ran against Republican Long Islander Lee Zeldin for governor. In Blakeman, Hochul has yet another challenger from the island. And Republicans continue to have a stronghold in both counties, even as Democrats flipped Nassau’s swing congressional districts in 2024.

But Larry Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, said the strike could turn out to either be a boon or a bust for Hochul depending on how long it lasts, and how it resolves. “If she is perceived as handling the situation weakly, indecisively, incompetently or (in) any way negatively, it can hurt her narrative as a tough leader … looking out for the pocketbook (LIRR) commuters and other New Yorkers,” Levy said in a text message to City & State. “If she is seen as handling things well, particularly a settlement that doesn’t look like she’s caving into demands of the unions … she will improve her political standing.” But he added it’s too soon to tell for now.

Hochul told reporters on Sunday that she doesn’t want to “divert this into a campaign event” – but that didn’t stop her from laying the blame for the strike squarely at the feet of President Donald Trump for cutting off mediation late last year. “Let me be clear: This strike would not have been possible if the Trump administration had not taken the highly unusual step last fall of releasing labor unions from mediation,” she said. “Unfortunately for our commuters, the direct consequence of this action is the strike we have today.”

The last time the LIRR went on strike, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo lost his bid for a fourth term to George Pataki – the last Republican to hold statewide office in New York. The history looms large today. “What’s clear is that both Hochul and Blakeman are trying to spin the situation to fit ongoing narratives,” Levy said. “Results of the outcome (of) this tit for tat will continue even after the settlement.”

But Democrats still seem optimistic that the strike doesn’t serve as a harbinger that 2026 will be a repeat of 1994. “I don’t know if that was what caused Mario Cuomo to lose the governorship,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told reporters in Albany on Monday. “Coincidence,” he added.

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Dems running to unseat Lawler have been ordered: Don't run on Trump

Kate Lisa — Mon, 18 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

With increasing pressure to take back the House of Representatives, Democrats angling to flip the 17th Congressional District in the Lower Hudson Valley say the right candidate to unseat GOP Rep. Mike Lawler cannot repeat the party’s great mistake of 2024: running on a purely anti-President Donald Trump platform.

“That’s the danger,” Jennifer Colamonico, chair of the Putnam County Democratic Committee, said of the Republican president. “We absolutely cannot run on (Trump).”

The district, which includes Putnam and Rockland counties and parts of Dutchess and Westchester counties, is a textbook competitive purple swing seat. Its voters were split nearly 50-50 between Trump and Kamala Harris in 2024 – a notable shift right for a district Joe Biden won by 10 points in 2020. The district has a mix of small towns and villages, bedroom communities for those who work in New York City and a significant Orthodox Jewish voting bloc vote that is prized in both the Democratic Party primary and the general election. Home to about 780,000 New Yorkers and roughly 223,000 registered Democratic voters, the district also has a remarkably high “uniformed” population. One out of every two households in the 17th District has a military veteran, service member, law enforcement officer or first responder, according to Lawler’s office.

All together, it’s a complex political landscape that doesn’t revolve around the president. That means a needed shift in strategy for some Democrats – who’ve spent a decade railing against Trump, with mixed results.

“Our candidates should not focus solely on why Trump is an awful leader for this country, but on what we will do when we take back the reins of power,” Westchester County Democratic Committee Chair Suzanne Berger said. “The fact that Trump is terrible gets into the conversation, but it should not be 100% of the conversation.”

Three Democratic candidates have emerged as leading contenders in the June 23 Democratic primary: Cait Conley, Beth Davidson and Effie Phillips-Staley. Two others will appear on the ballot, John Cappello and Mike Sacks. Local party leaders said the right person must have the skills to strike a delicate balance to lead a district with demographic complexities at a political crossroads.

After all, whoever wins the primary will become a prominent candidate nationally in the battle to flip Lawler’s seat – and they’ll instantly be elevated to pseudo-celebrity status among political watchers tracking the key battleground seats that could determine control of the House. Voter anxieties about the cost of living, foreign conflicts and the economy are expected to give Democrats a leg up in the midterms with a poorly polling Republican president. But Lawler is a master of the art of local politics who has won the district twice and remains one of the most difficult incumbent swing district Republicans for Democrats to unseat.

Rep. Mike Lawler with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at an Independence Day military family picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025. Eric Lee/Getty Images

And Lawler seems confident in his careful relationship with his party’s leader. He has burnished his bipartisan credentials by strategically voicing disagreements with the president, deviating from Trump on issues like the World Trade Center Health Program and the state and local tax deduction cap to gain the necessary political points to keep the swing seat. And while they’re moves most Republicans can’t make while remaining in Trump’s good graces, the president continues to embrace Lawler, endorsing him for reelection and posting twice about the race on his social media platform, Truth Social, in the past year.

But the member of Congress and his team are also confident Democrats won’t be able to help themselves and will continue to fail to keep the president's name out of their mouths.

“Beth Davidson can’t go five seconds without bringing up Donald Trump – neither can Conley or Effie,” Lawler campaign manager Ciro Riccardi said in a statement. “The real question they should be asked is how do they plan to represent a purple district when each of their respective campaigns are predicated completely and totally on opposing everything the sitting president says or does?”

Democratic leaders in the district are hoping the candidates resist. While some Democratic candidates in New York City talk constantly about impeaching Trump, some at the Democratic Rural Conference of New York State in Saratoga Springs this month discussed the consequences of moving to impeach Trump again if the party takes back the House, Colamonico said. The time and resources it would take to impeach the president would prevent Democrats from achieving anything to help struggling Americans.

“It’s not enough to just run against Donald Trump,” she said. “You have to tell people what you’re for and what you’ll do for them. We need to have an agenda.”

Beth Davidson is running on her experience as a Rockland County Legislator. Courtesy Beth Davidson for Congress

Defeating the “bully”

The primary contest for the chance to challenge Lawler this fall has quickly become a race between three women with distinct backgrounds that have shaped the core of their developing political identities: The legislator, the veteran and the progressive.

Davidson, a Rockland County legislator, is a tried-and-true traditional liberal who often boasts about her ability to win a seat in a county that supported Trump by a 12-point margin in 2024. “The kind of leader that Democrats, independents, and I think American voters are looking for are people who are standing up and fighting for them in real time, but also delivering, and that’s something I’ve been able to do as a way that no one else really has,” she said.

Davidson campaigns as a proven fighter, and, as a Jewish woman, she may have the best chance at countering Lawler’s strong support among Jewish voters. Lawler, who’s Catholic, has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel, and he’s made combating antisemitism one of his signature legislative issues – authoring and passing the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act in the House following Hamas’ attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

But persisting conflicts in the Middle East could give a candidate with national security and military experience an edge.

Conley is a U.S. Army veteran, graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a lesbian who served in the military under “don’t ask, don’t tell.” She is a former election security official who served on the National Security Council in the Biden administration and most recently worked at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. While senior adviser to the director at CISA, Conley led the agency’s election security mission to counter Trump’s false claims of cheating – especially the lie that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and accusations of voter fraud in Philadelphia in 2024.

Born and raised in the Hudson Valley – albeit, not in the 17th District proper – she only moved back from Virginia last year to run, but she’s quick to defend any criticism of her time living outside of New York.

“I would rather have been in Bedford than Baghdad, but I went where my country needed me to go, and I would do it again today, and I am very proud of my service,” Conley told City & State.

Conley is running on her experience as an Army veteran and national security professional. Courtesy Cait for New York

On the Israel-Hamas war, which has become a key issue in the primary, Conley supports a two-state solution, but said Israel is a critical national security ally as the only democracy in the Middle East, and that the U.S. has a responsibility to the people of Israel and the Jewish community. Similarly, Davidson has emphasized the need to support Israel while engaging with other countries in the Middle East to better preserve U.S. values internationally.

Phillips-Staley, who is in her fifth year as a trustee in the Westchester County village of Tarrytown, has differentiated herself by speaking out against Israel. She tells potential voters that the U.S. should not use tax dollars to support governments that commit human rights abuses and is the only candidate in the race to call Israel’s actions in a Gaza a genocide. “The majority of people in this district, in both in my experience talking to people, but also in polling, are sympathetic with the Palestinians and want the violence to stop now,” she said. “I think what is critical about my message that needs to be understood is that I believe that human rights are universal.”

That campaign strategy hasn’t sat well with some local Democratic leaders. “Some of the voices are very loud, but that’s not most people’s voting issue here,” Berger said of Democrats in Westchester County.

Phillips-Staley, who earned the Working Families Party’s endorsement, is considered the progressive underdog of the top three contenders. While each of the three women support limiting use of local police resources to assist federal immigration agents, Phillips-Staley, whose mother is an immigrant from El Salvador, is the only candidate who has directly called to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Phillips-Staley has earned particular attention from Lawler, whose campaign attempted to kick her off the Democratic Party and Working Families Party lines – unsuccessfully advancing lawsuits alleging her campaign engaged in petition fraud. It was a strategic move in this high-stakes primary, but Phillips-Staley maintained her ballot access after a judge rejected those legal challenges.

“I think he knew he never had a chance,” Phillips-Staley said of the suits pushed by Lawler’s campaign. “He got slapped back pretty hard.”

Lawler’s campaign manager said Phillips-Staley could still face a criminal probe for forged petition signatures, as the case has been referred to all four district attorneys in the 17th District, though it’s unlikely anything would come of it anytime soon.

“The fact that her campaign committed rampant voter fraud and Cait Conley and Beth Davidson are seemingly OK with it is a big deal,” Riccardi said. “We’re not going to apologize for shining a light on it.”

And it was a pretty bright light. Trump himself jumped into the fray in a social media post, calling Phillips-Staley “a FRAUDSTER” and demanding “justice should be sought, and the fraud should be investigated.”

Phillips-Staley is running on her progressive politics and advocacy for immigrants. Courtesy Effie for Congress

The lawsuit is a classic case of Lawler’s tactics, people familiar with his political jockeying told City & State. Lawler served in the Assembly before defeating former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022 while he was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But before that, Lawler was a political operative with an ethically questionable history, as reported by Politico New York, controlling advocacy groups that paid more than $720,000 to a consulting firm he co-founded. Several Democratic leaders in the Lower Hudson Valley said Lawler is not to be underestimated.

“He’s a bully. He likes to bully – he’s devious,” Colamonico said.

The lawsuit targeting Phillips-Staley wasn’t the first time Lawler’s campaign went on the offensive ahead of next month’s primary. Earlier this year, Lawler’s campaign was caught sending a clandestine blast of text messages to Democratic voters in attempts to sow division in the race, suggesting some apprehension about the vulnerability of his seat. The blast text from the campaign included a picture of Conley and one of her campaign surrogates with the words “DC INSIDER KICKING LOCAL CANDIDATES OFF BALLOT.”

"He’s a retail politician and shows up for the photo ops,” Colamonico said. “He’s not really delivering for the district. Some Republicans were not excited to carry his petitions. I had a Republican operative call me up and say he thinks Lawler’s toast.”

The candidate for the moment

The three leading candidates have all said that the country’s greatest threat is coming within its own borders, and vow that they’re the right Democrat to tip the scales and unseat a two-term representative. But they’ve toed a narrow line with potential supporters, asserting that they won’t back down from a fight without directly invoking the president – so as to avoid alienating voters who may have backed Trump.

New Yorkers in the swing district narrowly went for Harris in 2024, but area Democrats said that data point doesn’t hold much weight after the party relied on a false premise that campaigning on Trump would be sufficient. Jovan Richards, president of the New York State Young Democrats, said the youngest generation of New York voters are more focused on a candidate’s values compared to who they’re fighting against. “Young people are not in this fight because we say we hate Donald Trump,” Richards said. “Young people are in this fight for the values. ... If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

Davidson agreed the focus needs to be in the district.

“It’s more about local issues and how people are worried about their utility bills, worried about their drinking water and about their schools – worried about how their kids are going to be able to afford to stay in the area, and how their parents can retire and die with dignity,” Davidson said.

The county legislator is a strong supporter of fully restoring the SALT deduction and touts her record of passing local household gun safety laws. Davidson leads in individual campaign donations, but Conley has the most cash on hand at $1.5 million as of March 31, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings. Davidson has over $857,000. Either would face an uphill battle financially to defeat Lawler, whose campaign committee boasts $4.2 million cash on hand.

Next month’s primary will serve as an early test for suburban voters after recent lefty victories, like the election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

But the same hunger for change that helped Mamdani could boost political newcomers like Conley, who argues that her federal experience and intimate knowledge of congressional oversight outweighs any local legislative stint.

“Politicians have gotten us into this mess, and they’re not going to get us out of it,” Conley said. “People are just sick of political insiders on both sides.”

Conley, whose campaign centers on national and economic security, backs a public service loan program to give service members mortgage benefits. She said it’s time for the Democratic Party to stop offering empty promises and focusing on labels that divide.

“If we want a different kind of outcome, it’s time for a different kind of Democrat,” Conley said. “We need to be delivering and be part of that solution, and that is where I’m doing this: to help bring change to the Democratic Party and be part of the next generation that does things differently.”

But so far, there isn’t a consensus on what that solution looks like. There’s a notable geographic divide in the 17th District, with counties and local Democratic committees split on support for Conley and Davidson. The Rockland County Democrats endorsed Davidson, its own county lawmaker, while Putnam voted to endorse Conley. The Westchester Democratic Party declined to endorse a candidate in the race, with no candidate receiving the required majority.

While there’s been limited polling on the race, internal polls consistently show Davidson in the lead, Conley trailing her by several points, followed by Phillips-Staley in a distant third with less than 10% of the vote.

Even as the Westchester Democrats decided not to endorse, Berger said most of her members were split between Conley and Davidson, but agreed on one thing: “We need a candidate that can win in November.”

Conley and Davidson have the most resources and organized staff to run a successful campaign, Berger argued, and most Democrats think either candidate would perform well against Lawler on the debate stage.

A Siena University poll from late April showed two-thirds of registered voters in the state viewed Trump unfavorably. Trump’s deep unpopularity in the state makes it a natural strategy for Democrats to tie Lawler to the president, but voters in the upcoming primary will decide which type of Democrat has the greatest chance at success in this fragile climate: the polished local legislator, the decorated combat veteran who has fought Trump’s bogus election fraud claims or the progressive who’s more closely aligned with Mamdani’s politics.

Candidates are aligned that the party’s greatest foe cannot be its downfall in challenging Lawler. Davidson said it’s less about Trump, but having a representative in Congress who stands with the people of the 17th District over him.

“It’s the ballroom, it’s his name on the passport, it’s the endless grift and corruption and greed that is just so unbecoming to the presidency and that Mike Lawler can never seem to find the backbone to speak up against,” Davidson said.

Democratic hopefuls seem to have grasped the advice to focus on the policies they’ll fight for in Washington, D.C., but at the end of the day, even in their attempts to make the race about anything other than Trump, that goal has been undercut as they struggle to articulate their visions without acknowledging him and the party in power.“We have to also say (to voters), I understand that even before Donald Trump, you were frustrated about the system and it was broken,” Conley said, “and we have to recognize that and do better.”

Cover illustration by Tim Bower

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Opinion: The light that shines behind the prison walls

Vincent Schiraldi — Mon, 18 May 2026 05:00:00 -0400

New Yorkers believe that our state is at its best when we lead with courage, transparency and a commitment to the rule of law. As someone who has run carceral systems in three different jurisdictions, including New York City, I have personally felt the profound operational challenges that confront the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. In the inherently closed environments of a prison, the absence of a disinfecting light from outside the walls can result in neglect, and the signs of an impending crisis can be missed.

Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul demonstrated national leadership by making a $3 million investment in the Correctional Association of New York, or CANY. CANY was founded in 1844 by concerned citizens who wanted to improve conditions in prisons and was shortly after granted authority by the state Legislature to formally monitor state prisons. Hochul’s commitment was historic, both because it was grounded in reinforcing CANY’s long heritage and because it was a bold statement of intent that New York would not hide from its problems.

Regrettably, the proposed elimination of this investment in Hochul’s 2026-27 Executive Budget threatens to derail that progress. We must be clear – independent oversight is not a luxury; it is a cornerstone of good government. And, over the last year, CANY has proven that transparency works – not by sitting in an office and checking boxes, but by moving with urgency to transform this critical funding into a persistent and proactive program of correctional facility monitoring.

The proposed defunding of CANY comes at a decidedly inopportune moment when New York’s correctional system has been marked by profound instability following a series of deeply troubling events. The murders of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility and of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility underscore the urgent need for independent oversight to identify and address safety failures before they escalate. At the same time, the system has weathered an unprecedented wave of staff unrest, culminating in an unauthorized work stoppage that disrupted operations and compromised stability. The deployment of the National Guard to help maintain order at a cost of $100 million per month, next to which CANY’s budget is a pittance, further illustrates just how strained the system has become. These events are not abstractions. They are symptoms of longstanding, systemic failures fueled by spasms of reforms that have repeatedly fallen short of establishing real accountability.

New Yorkers are practical people. We spend billions of dollars on our correctional system every year. We want to ensure those tax dollars are utilized efficiently and effectively. Without the external scrutiny provided by CANY, the system will return to a state of opacity where inefficiency and neglect go unnoticed until it is too late, and too expensive, to fix. CANY has used the governor’s investment to build a systematic data collection engine that provides taxpayers and policymakers with unbiased, accurate and firsthand information direct from the floors of our prisons, with new key performance indicators to track trends before they become sinks of instability and, ultimately, tragedies.

When CANY shines a light on these facilities, which are among the most hidden public institutions in our society, it ensures effective prison management and public accountability. And it also humanizes the daily realities of our prisons for those incarcerated there and their hardworking staff, who deserve a safe and professional workplace.

Hochul should continue to invest in CANY to fulfill its statutory mandate at a scale commensurate with the system’s needs, because a New York that is accountable is a New York that is safe, fair and strong.

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