Hochul eying NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Queens BP Donovan Richards for lieutenant governor
NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has her eyes on Albany if her longshot mayoral bid fails, The Post has learned.
Adams is on Gov. Hochul's short list for lieutenant governor — and is in the process of using taxpayer money to open a fourth Council office to help bolster her popularity, according to multiple Albany insiders and City Hall sources.
'The governor is looking for someone like Adrienne who could generate votes downstate and align her with political naysayers,' said one insider.
Hochul will face off in next year's Democratic primary against her estranged current No. 2, Antonio Delgado. Sources said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is also being considered as a running mate for the Buffalo-born governor.
5 NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is on Gov. Kathy Hochul's short list for lieutenant governor — and is in the process of using taxpayer money to open a fourth Council office to help bolster her popularity, according to multiple Albany insiders and City Hall sources
Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
Hochul is especially interested in boosting her popularity in Queens, and would be banking on either Adams or Richards to tap into the party's far-left and minority voting bases, which Delgado will also be courting, sources said.
Richards is currently her 'No. 1 choice' and Adams '1A' – but that could change especially since Hochul wants to keep state Attorney General Letitia James an ally, and James is Adams' biggest booster in the NYC mayoral race, the insider said.
5 Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (second from left) is also under consideration to become Hochul's running mate in 2026.
Gregory P. Mango
Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant, said a Hochul-Adams pairing makes perfect sense because 'having a black woman from southeast Queens' like Adams on the ticket 'would be helpful' for the governor's re-election bid.
He also said the speaker will likely soon need another option when her final term on the Council expires at year's end, because she's a huge underdog in the mayoral race heading into the June 24 primary.
The news of Hochul's interest in Adams potentially sheds light on why the speaker is planning to open yet another office despite being term-limited
5 The storefront exterior to NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams' new office in South Ozone Park has undergone a complete overhaul with nine security cameras and security lighting installed near the main entrance, which is locked by newly installed roll-down metal gates.
Leonardo Munoz
The new digs are at newly renovated storefront at 122-21 111th Ave in South Ozone Park, less than three miles from her other Queens district office at the Rochdale Village Shopping Center in Jamaica.
Adams has yet to announce its grand opening, but she posted a flyer on social media this week noting a mobile unit from the New York Legal Assistance Group would be parked outside the 111th Avenue address from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to provide free legal services.
The office was shuttered Thursday when a reporter visited, but residents who live nearby said they are well aware the speaker is moving in soon.
The storefront's exterior has undergone a complete overhaul with nine security cameras and security lighting installed near the main entrance, which was locked by newly installed roll-down metal gates.
5 Adams (right) in 2023 posing with Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous at her newly renovated City Hall office — which features 'toucan' orange-colored walls.
Speaker Adrienne Adams/ Instagram
It's unclear how much the renovations cost and what the rental payments are, but the building's landlord Suresh Rassbeharry told The Post he provided some of the upgrades per their lease agreement and Adams 'picked up the other costs' including the security features.
Adams is already under fire from critics over a Post report in April exposing how she green-lit hundreds of thousands of dollars in top-to-bottom renovations for her main digs in City Hall, a suite of offices across the street at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, and to move her Jamaica district office.
It is unclear what pile of taxpayer cash paid for the previous decorating — or for the new office.
5 Gov. Kathy Hochul is especially interested in boosting her popularity in Queens and would be banking on either Adams or Richards tapping into the party's far-left and minority voting bases, according to insiders.
Michael Brochstein/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
The City Council by law sets its own expense budget, which historically operates like a shell game. Pots of money are moved from one line item to another on a whim after the yearly spending plan is adopted — and many of these revisions are rarely accounted for or updated in public records, according to council members and other City Hall sources.
Hochul's campaign, Adams' campaign and Richards declined comment.
Councilman Robert Holden (R-Queens) said Adams' latest office splurge is head-scratching.
'The speaker will be out of office in less than six months and she will not be mayor, so it makes no sense for her to open another district office at taxpayer expense — unless she is planning her next move to keep cashing in — but either way, it makes no sense,' he said.
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The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Infighting jeopardizes hopes of Democratic comeback
Intraparty fighting is threatening to stall the Democratic Party's efforts to rebuild seven months after President Trump's sweeping general election victory. The party has also been roiled by revelations and questions about the last months of former President Biden's administration and whether he was in the midst of a cognitive decline. They also will have to contend with a number of high-profile primaries in the year ahead. And ousted Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg has been at the center of controversy, using his political group to challenge incumbent House Democrats. History suggests Democrats have a chance to win back the House in next year's midterm elections, since the president's party usually uses seats in such cycles. But the multiple fractures for Democrats are a real risk. Some Democrats acknowledge the bad vibes hanging over the party, even as they argued things are brighter than they appear. 'The narrative right now is we're a bunch of losers running around like chickens with our heads cut off and I don't think that's the case,' said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris. He suggested some of the party's problems are just typical after a lost presidential election. 'We are a party out of power without a standard-bearer and that isn't going to change until the presidential election,' he said. Democratic infighting spilled onto center stage earlier this week when recording a recent DNC call was leaked, revealing DNC Chair Ken Martin venting about his frustration with Hogg — who denies being the source behind the leak. The audio came out just before DNC officials were set to vote virtually on whether to redo the vice chair elections. Later in the week, DNC members voted to redo the vice chair elections of Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D). Hogg said after the vote that he would not seek the position again, saying he would focus on his group, Leaders We Deserve. 'It is going to remain my No. 1 mission to build the strongest party possible,' Hogg said. But in a subsequent series of social media posts following the committee's vote, Hogg alleged that Democratic Party leaders had been 'asleep at the wheel.' 'It became clear that Leaders We Deserve had to start primarying incumbents and directly challenging the culture of seniority politics that brought our party to this place to help get our party into fighting shape again,' Hogg said. Many Democrats have expressed public frustration with Hogg over the past few weeks, though Nellis said its importance is overstated. 'That is typical, classic, internal party fighting that happens everywhere and it gets outsized attention to its importance,' he said. 'Could our messaging be stronger? Yeah. Could we be more forceful in the way we're approaching these fights? Absolutely. But we are a unified party and we are fighting the worst of what Donald Trump is doing,' he continued. Democrats point to a slew of special election victories that have taken place within the first months of Trump's second administration as evidence the party is already hitting back and galvanizing against the administration. Last month, Douglas County, Neb., Treasurer John Ewing Jr. (D) ousted incumbent Omaha Republican Mayor Jean Stothert in a special election. That win followed a flipped Iowa state Senate seat in January and a win in an open Pennsylvania state Senate seat in March that Trump comfortably won in November. 'Some people in DC just want to win the argument, but I'm focused on winning elections. Since the start of the year, Democrats have an unprecedented track record of 30 wins and overperformances in races across the country, and up and down the ballot,' Martin said in a statement to The Hill. 'That's what I was elected to do, and we're doing it. Now, we are laser focused on winning in November 2025 and the midterms in 2026.' Still, with DNC tensions laid bare and finger-pointing over Biden's presidency persisting, Democrats have looked anything but unified from the outside. Democrats push back on the notion that they are the only party that is facing disunity at this moment, pointing to disagreements among Republicans on Trump's legislative agenda and the very public falling out between Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk. Amid his feud with Musk last week, Trump's approval rating in the Decision Desk HQ/The Hill average ticked down to 47.5 percent, 2 points less than his disapproval rating of 49.5 percent. 'Donald Trump has had the two worst weeks of his presidential term,' Nellis said, referring to recent economic data and Trump's feud with Musk. 'And immediately Donald Trump decides to execute an attempt to change the conversation to immigration and as always, he's taken it too far.' Trump's move to deploy troops to Los Angeles this week, coupled with Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) being forcibly removed from a press conference featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has served as a unifying moment for Democrats against Trump. 'If it's framed as immigration, Trump wins that argument. This is not about immigration, this is about government overreach,' Nellis said. Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said it was time for Democrats to take back the narrative on the issue. 'I think it's one of those issues where we're going to have to grab the microphone on and let the other side know that they don't control the issue,' he said. 'I do think that bread and butter pocketbook issues are still going to run the day.' The first major test of Democrats' unity will come in November in Virginia and New Jersey's off-year elections. While the two elections do not always act as an accurate barometer ahead of the midterms, statewide wins would give Democrats a needed boost in making their 2026 argument. 'Everything has to be about our electoral success, expanding the map, as well as growing and strengthening our coalition,' Seawright said. 'I think in this moment we'll be judged every step along the way before 2028.'
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Padilla handcuffing raises the stakes for Democrats confronting administration
The handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) raises the stakes for future clashes between Democrats and the administration as acts of protest have been met with swift law enforcement action. Democrats have vowed to continue their pressure campaign on the administration over its immigration policies, but the incident involving Padilla and President Trump's forceful response to Democratic protestors raise questions over how such confrontations will intensify. The remarkable video shows Padilla being forced to the ground and then handcuffed after interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference, with the lawmaker identifying himself by name and title and saying he wished to ask a question. Trump administration officials said Secret Service agents responded as trained — removing an unknown figure as he pushed his way toward the front of a press conference. Democrats see it as the manhandling of a colleague and an escalation after the administration brought charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over her involvement in a scuffle that erupted when she and colleagues were attempting to visit a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. 'This is another incident of Trump and his administration abusing their power and stopping members and elected officials from doing their jobs. I mean, this is just going to keep escalating,' McIver said in response to a question from The Hill. 'This is why we must continue to do oversight. We must continue to do our jobs, and be vocal about what this administration is doing. And it's a threat to our democracy. It's very sad. It's a sad day in America to see everything that is happening, from the situation with me to now with the United States senator being basically tackled to the ground.' Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) raised a more chilling prospect. 'It is a further dissension into anarchy and authoritarianism, and it is time that Republicans in the House and the Senate not only stand up for our institution, but stand up for democracy and call on Donald Trump to stop this lawlessness, or someone is going to get killed,' he told The Hill. The condemnation from Democrats of Padilla's treatment was immediate, with California Democrats walking down the Capitol steps in unison for a press conference that swelled as more of their colleagues from other states arrived. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) said Padilla was 'assaulted.' Numerous lawmakers said he was 'manhandled.' And Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) raised concerns that Democrats could face violent consequences even as he stressed the need to push back on what he dubbed an effort by Trump 'to show that he is not controlled by our Constitution.' 'We're heading down a dark, dark path, something that in my imagination I never thought we would reach. But this is where we are, and if, if they can do that to a member of Congress from New Jersey, a senior senator who was shouting at the top of his lungs, 'I am Sen. Alex Padilla,'' Gomez said. 'If it can happen to Alex, it can happen to any of those senators on the other side, or any member of Congress, or anybody. So I want to just stress that we're not going to give up. We're not going to be intimidated. We're not going to be cowards. We're going to keep fighting for our communities. …When is it going to be enough? When somebody gets shot in the streets of Los Angeles? When a member gets shot?' he said before trailing off as he became overcome with emotion. But many also urged caution and stressed the need to respond peacefully. 'They are trying to stage as many violent and political provocations as possible. And so we're in a dangerous situation right now. So I urge everybody on our side to act with maximum restraint and in the best traditions of non-violence,' Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Hill before referencing Trump's Saturday parade. 'Because Donald Trump has a $100 million military extravaganza parade coming to Washington. They told people not to come to work on Friday. And he's threatening to send troops to other cities. So I regard the situation with immense gravity.' The potential for charges for Democrats engaging with law enforcement are no small matter. McIver, who was indicted by a grand jury this week after the administration accused her of using her forearms to attack law enforcement, could face up to 17 years if convicted. Democrats have called the prosecution a politically motivated case that twists her efforts to brace herself in the scuffle. And while Padilla is the only lawmaker who has been handcuffed, a staffer for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) was also handcuffed after Department of Homeland Security officers pushed their way into the office without a warrant while looking for those protesting arrests at immigration courthouses. At the same time, there are risks to law enforcement, though it's highly unlikely the Trump administration would pursue any charges. 'These thugs who manhandled the senator probably don't know it's a federal offense to attack a member of Congress, but that's not what it's about,' Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the Capitol steps. 'It shouldn't be anybody in our country [who is] treated this way. So we speak out for Senator Padilla. We're speaking out for everyone who has a right to speak.' Shortly after Padilla was removed, Noem addressed the matter, saying the lawmaker behaved inappropriately but said she would meet with him, which she did not long after the press conference ended. 'I think everyone would agree that wasn't appropriate,' she said. 'When I leave here I'll find him and visit and find out really what his concerns were. I think everybody in America would agree that that wasn't appropriate, that if you wanted to have a civil discussion, especially as a leader, a public official, that you would reach out and try to have a conversation,' she said. The Department of Homeland Security later incorrectly said Padilla failed to identify himself and said he was not wearing his Senate pin, though he was wearing a shirt with the Senate logo on it. Few Republicans have answered Democrats' calls to rebuke the response to Padilla. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called the incident 'horrible.' 'It's horrible. It is shocking at every level. It's not the America I know,' she said. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, 'it looks like he's being manhandled and physically removed, and it's hard to imagine a justification for that.' But Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) leveled criticism at Padilla for missing scheduled votes that day. 'I think he should have been here in Washington voting,' Barrasso told reporters. 'He has a responsibility to his constituents to show up at work,' he continued. 'Not to go try to make a spectacle of himself.' For his part, Padilla was also surprised by his treatment, saying in an interview with Pod Save America that it took 'maybe half a second for multiple agents to be on me.' He said he snapped when he heard Noem describe herself as in Los Angeles to 'liberate' the city from its governor and mayor, motivating him to interject. He encouraged people to 'continue to speak up.' 'We have First Amendment rights in this country. Speak up, protest peacefully. But continue to speak up because Donald Trump would want nothing more than for all of us to just cower away and say nothing, and let him continue to abuse his power,' he said. 'We cannot let this be the norm.' But in the aftermath of the incident, he said he's left wondering what happens when there aren't cameras rolling, and people who do not have powerful positions like the one he holds encounter DHS and ICE agents conducting the raids. 'If a senator asking a question scares them so much that they'll deploy agents to put a United States senator in handcuffs, imagine what they're doing to people out there, maybe subject to an immigration raid, who have a question…may be requesting their lawyer but not getting that opportunity,' he said. 'These are dangerous times for the United States of America.'
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Wasn't the president supposed to be deporting criminals?
This will strike the literal-minded as illogical, but I think Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores, a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, had a righteous point when he declared at a news conference with Southern California mayors that immigrants being rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in communities like his 'are Americans, whether they have a document or they don't.' 'The president keeps talking about a foreign invasion,' Flores told me Thursday. 'He keeps trying to paint us as the other. I say, 'No, you are dealing with Americans.'' California's estimated 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who have lived among us for years, for decades, who work and pay taxes here, who have sent their American-born children to schools here, have all the responsibilities of citizens minus many of the rights. Yes, technically, they have broken the law. (For that matter, so has President Trump, a felon, and he continues to violate the Constitution day after day, as his mounting court losses attest.) But our region's undocumented Mexican and Central American immigrants are inextricably embedded in our lives. They care for our children, build our homes, dig our ditches, trim our trees, clean our homes, hotels and businesses, wash our dishes, pick our crops, sew our clothes. Lots own small businesses, are paying mortgages, attend universities, rise in their professions. In 2013, I wrote about Sergio Garcia, the first undocumented immigrant admitted to the California Bar. Since then, he has become a U.S. citizen and owns a personal injury law firm. These Californians are far less likely to break the law than native-born Americans, and they do not deserve the reign of terror being inflicted on them by the Trump administration, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has pointlessly but theatrically called in the Marines. 'So we started off by hearing the administration wanted to go after violent felons gang members, drug dealers,' said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who organized the mayors' news conference last week, 'but when you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you're not trying to keep anyone safe. You're trying to cause fear and panic.' And please, let's not forget that when Congress came together and hammered out a bipartisan immigration reform bill under President Biden, Trump demanded Republicans kill it because he did not want a rational policy, he wanted to be able to keep hammering Democrats on the issue. But it seems there is more going on here than rounding up undocumented immigrants and terrorizing their families. We seem to have entered the 'punish California' phase of Trump 2.0. 'Trump has a hyperfocus on California, on how to hurt the economy and cause chaos, and he is really doubling down on that campaign,' Flores told me. He has a point. 'We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor placed on this country,' Noem told reporters Thursday at a news conference in the Westwood federal building, during which California Sen. Alex Padilla was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed face down for daring to ask her a question. 'We are not going away.' So now we're talking about regime change? (As former Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe put it on Bluesky, the use of military force aimed at displacing democratically elected leaders 'is the very definition of a coup.') Noem's noxious mix of willful ignorance and inflammatory rhetoric is almost too ludicrous to mock. It goes hand in hand with Trump's silly declaration that our city has been set aflame by rioters, that without the military patrolling our streets, Los Angeles 'would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years,' and that 'paid insurrectionists' have fueled the anti-ICE protests. What we are seeing play out in the news and in our neighborhoods is the willful infliction of fear, trauma and intimidation designed to spark a violent response, and the warping of reality to soften the ground for further Trump administration incursions into blue states, America's bulwark against his autocratic aspirations. For weeks, Trump has been scheming to deprive California — probably illegally — of federal funding for public schools and universities, citing resistance to his executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, on immigration, on environmental regulations, etc. And yet, because he is perhaps the world's most ignorant head of state, he seems to have suddenly realized that crippling the California economy might be bad politics for him. On Thursday, he suggested in his own jumbled way that perhaps deporting thousands of the state's farm and hospitality workers might cause pain to his friends, their employers. (Central Valley growers and agribusiness PACs, for example, overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2024.) 'Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years,' Trump said. 'They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great. And we're going to have to do something about that.' Like a lot of Californians, I feel helpless in the face of this assault on immigrants. I thought about a Guatemalan, a father of three young American-born children, who has a thriving business hauling junk. I met him a couple of years ago at my local Home Depot, and have hired him a few times to haul away household detritus. Once, after I couldn't get the city to help, he hauled off a small dune's worth of sand at the end of my street that had become the local dogs' pee pad. I called him this week — I have more stuff that I need to get rid of, and I was pretty sure he could use the work. Early Friday morning, he arrived on time with two workers. He said hadn't been able to work in two weeks but was hopeful he'd be able to return to Home Depot soon. 'How are your kids doing?' I asked. 'They worry,' he said. 'They ask, 'What will we do if you're deported?'' He tells them not to fret, that things will soon be back to normal. After he drove off, he texted: 'Thank you so much for helping me today. God bless you.' No, God bless him. For working hard. For being a good dad. And for still believing, against the odds, in the American dream. @ @rabcarian
