So long, Ritchie!
The highs, the lows, the CDPAP press conferences and letters… it will all be missed.
The Bronx Democrat revealed today his own seven-month chapter of teasing a primary challenge against fellow Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul is coming to a close.
'I'm unlikely to run for governor,' Torres said this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe. 'I'm going to keep my focus on Washington D.C.'
The admission of what looked to be true for some time is the end of a winding path taken by Torres, a moderate whose staunch advocacy for Israel has made him anathema to the lefties who launched Zohran Mamdani to the Democratic nomination for mayor.
And we'll miss Torres' Hochul-hating era.
It was just 226 days ago — on Nov. 18, 2024 — that Torres said New York state is riddled with 'misgovernance' at a breakfast with Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman and the Citizens' Budget Commission.
The comment quickly made Torres the most prominent critic of Hochul within the party — something he solidified with a weeklong schedule of Hochul hating. (He also spent his days blocking what seemed like everyone on X, including Hochul's staffers.)
When he first hinted at a gubernatorial run, Joe Biden was president, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado was days away from publishing a New York Times op-ed calling for 'the same politicians' to get lost, and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik looked to be headed to the U.N.
But in a matter of months, the heat from millennial moderates hoping to challenge Hochul — like Torres and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler — has cooled down. While still unpopular, the governor's poll numbers have steadily ticked up since her September nadir of 34 percent favorability.
A Tuesday Siena poll shows 42 percent of voters view Hochul favorably. The same poll found she would trounce Torres in a primary 49-10, with Delgado not far ahead at 12 points. During Torres' period of gubernatorial flirtations, he never surpassed 10 percent in polls of a potential primary.
With Torres gone, Hochul's main detractors are now on the periphery.
Trump-backed Stefanik's possible run for governor has taken the air out of speculation Lawler will run for governor. And Delgado, who faces an uphill battle in beating his boss, is running a primary campaign that actively tries to court Mamdani's supporters by vowing to tax the rich.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Torres said the Bronx Democrat wants to stay in Washington to fend off looming federal cuts to programs like Medicaid. Torres' district has the highest Medicaid enrollment in the nation.
'Congressman Torres is singularly focused on protecting his community from these ongoing attacks,' spokesperson Benny Stanislawski said. 'The Bronx needs a champion in Washington, and Congressman Torres is — and will continue to be — that champion.'
The seven months Torres spent needling Hochul were not all for naught. He did launch a statewide 'listening tour' as part of his exploration of a gubernatorial bid.
And his intrepid travels brought him to Buffalo and other far-flung places like 'Rockland County, Westchester County, Long Island' and 'all throughout the city,' his spokesperson tells us.
Torres may have to keep busy anyway. Long-shot mayoral candidate and former Assemblymember Michael Blake took a thinly-veiled shot at him on X today, raising questions of his own ambitions for Congress. And veteran Bronx pol and Trump fan Ruben Diaz Sr. might even throw his hat in the ring.
'A Democratic Primary between @RitchieTorres and @MrMikeBlake ?' Diaz posted today on X. 'The Bronx will become alive again! Very interesting! Maybe I should jump in too. Wao! The three of us !! A rematch Just for fun!' — Jason Beeferman
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
LABOR STRONG: Zohran Mamdani still has a general election fight ahead of him but his path is being smoothed by labor unions — including those endorsing him now after backing Andrew Cuomo in the primary.
Hotel workers, building workers and nurses rallied with the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor today in Midtown Manhattan in a show of force punctuated by enthusiastic chants of 'Labor! Power!'
'Zohran speaks the language of workers,' said Brendan Griffith of the New York City Central Labor Council.
New York State Nurses Association's Nancy Hagans defended Mamdani against personal attacks on him.
'Let me say labor is united with Zohran against any form of bigotry in our movement, whether it's antisemitism, racism or xenophobia,' she said. 'And we certainly won't tolerate Islamophobia against our future mayor.'
Also present in the clamor of members cheering Mamdani and seeking selfies with him were representatives of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and 32BJ SEIU, which had backed Cuomo until his embarrassing primary defeat.
They're looking forward now, endorsing Mamdani against incumbent mayor and independent candidate Eric Adams, who was their pick for City Hall in 2021.
'I am confident of not only winning a City Hall that puts working people first,' Mamdani told the group, 'but finally bringing an end to the chapter in our city led by our current mayor to raise rents on those same workers, to price those same New Yorkers out of this city — and to do all of those things while collaborating with the Trump administration.'
Adams, who has a good working relationship with Trump and avoids criticizing him as other Democrats do, has rejected that he is beholden to the White House. — Emily Ngo
FROM CITY HALL
ADAMS' TAKE: Adams notably didn't condemn Trump's attacks on Mamdani and suggested that even asking him about the president questioning the citizenship status of his opponent was a distraction.
'Everyone is going to try to pull me off of the record of providing for this city. They're going to have a mic in my face: 'Are you going to do this? Are you going to do this? Are you going to do this?' Let me tell you what I'm going to do: I'm going to deliver for New Yorkers,' he said at an unrelated press conference today.
Trump had praised Adams Tuesday, saying he was 'a very good person' that he'd 'helped' on his federal corruption case. Adams publicly thanked the president for pushing the narrative — which wasn't accepted by the judge in the case — that the mayor had been politically targeted for criticizing then-President Joe Biden on immigration policy.
Adams also got a boost from Al Sharpton this morning, when the civil rights leader called on Cuomo to step aside and let Adams and Mamdani 'have a battle over what is best for New York.'
Cuomo's campaign pushed back, saying that Trump supports Adams. The mayor called that 'almost an insult for anyone to state that anyone is going to control a person who has been independent for 40 years.' — Jeff Coltin
IN OTHER NEWS
— SPECIAL ELECTIONS INCOMING: A look at who could fill the seats that'll likely be vacated by state Sens. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Sean Ryan and Assemblymembers Mamdani and Harvey Epstein (City & State)
— KRISTI NOEM HINTS MAMDANI ARREST: 'The Department of Homeland Security has authorities that have never been utilized before …' the Department of Homeland Security Secretary said at a meeting. (NOTUS via THE CITY)
— MORE CONDUCTORS, MORE EXPENSIVE?: A bill backed by the The Transport Workers Union that's headed to Hochul's desk would require every subway train to be staffed with a conductor and an engineer — potentially limiting the MTA's ability to significantly cut costs. (Crain's New York Business)
Missed this morning's New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
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