Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said Sunday on Fox News the Democratic governor she recently launched a bid to unseat will be the key ally responsible for socialist Democratic New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s far-left agenda coming to fruition.
After months of hinting at a run, Stefanik officially launched her campaign Nov. 7 to unseat Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, making her announcement three days after Mamdani won his election to lead the country’s largest city. The congresswoman said Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani nearly three months after he won the Democratic mayoral primary, will continue to legitimize the socialist during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo.”
“We know that Kathy Hochul will bend the knee. She already did so in her endorsement. In the course of that primary she legitimized his candidacy. She did not condemn a single statement he made, whether it was his smears of NYPD [New York Police Department], whether his calls to abolish private property, or whether it’s his commitment to raising taxes,” Stefanik told Bartiromo.
Hochul endorsed Mamdani in a Sept. 14 New York Times op-ed, but the avowed socialist refused has thus far declined to back Hochul’s 2026 reelection bid. Hochul is facing a Democratic primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, who is running to her left.
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Mamdani, in a 2020 social media post, called the NYPD “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety.” He downplayed his past comments during an October mayoral debate and suggested he would not defund the department while in office.
“Mamdani has made so many promises. He’s promising free buses and freezing the rent and free everything. But at the end of the day, we recognize that he actually doesn’t have the power to do any of that. He needs Kathy Hochul to do this,” Bartiromo pointed out. “The MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] is run by the state; a board is deciding on rent.”
Bartiromo also asked Stefanik if she would “move to take out Mamdani” due to a never-before-used provision of both the New York State Constitution and the New York City Charter which gives Empire State governors the means to remove mayors in some cases.
“In terms of removing the mayor from office, of course that’s in the New York State Constitution, and I will follow the Constitution,” the Republican gubernatorial hopeful said before segueing to tax and energy policy.
“The mayor may be removed from office by the governor upon charges and after service upon him of a copy of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in his defense,” the city charter’s provision states.
Veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) on Nov. 5 Mamdani “doesn’t have the power at the MTA to … get free buses, necessarily, because he’s only got, I think, four votes on the board.”
Likewise, Mamdani “doesn’t have all the power he thinks he has on the rent stabilization, rent guidelines board, because [of] the previous appointments made,” Sheinkopf told the DCNF.
Stefanik is the only major Republican candidate at the time of publication challenging Hochul for her seat. Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman confirmed Nov. 6 to the DCNF he is considering a run.
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