Rent attacks get personal
Andrew Cuomo's latest attempt to dislodge Zohran Mamdani from his commanding position in the race for mayor is focused on his rent-stabilized apartment.
The former governor is seeking to turn Mamdani's winning cause of affordability against him by questioning why someone with his privilege — a state assemblymember's salary ($142,000) and filmmaker and professor parents — should occupy a $2,300 rent-stabilized Queens apartment.
Cuomo, desperate for a foothold as an independent candidate after losing by 12 points to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, said Sunday he's announcing 'Zohran's law' to ensure that affordable housing is reserved for New Yorkers who require it.
'Rent-stabilized units when they're vacant should only be rented to people who need affordable housing, not people like Zohran Mamdami,' Cuomo told reporters Sunday at the National Dominican Day Parade in Manhattan, mispronouncing his rival's name. 'You don't need to be renting rent-stabilized units to wealthy people. Otherwise, what you're doing is you're abusing the system.'
As governor in 2019, Cuomo signed a suite of housing policies into law that included abolishing a provision that allowed landlords to remove a property's rent-stabilization status if the tenant earned more than $200,000 in two consecutive years — essentially accomplishing the opposite of what he now proposes.
No details about Cuomo's new pitch were immediately available, though The New York Post reported that qualifications would include a means test. Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said more information would be forthcoming this week.
Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec responded to Cuomo's latest attack by referencing the sexual harassment allegations that forced him to resign as governor exactly four years ago Sunday.
'If Mr. Cuomo really cared for working people in New York City, he'd commit today to reimburse the taxpayers the $60 million we are spending on his personal legal defense — which could pay for thousands of affordable housing units instead of probing the gynecological records of women he harassed,' Pekac said.
Cuomo has denied misconduct allegations.
The former governor reported full-time residency in a Manhattan apartment he shared with his daughter just in time to run for mayor. He said in a primary season debate that he pays $7,800 in rent each month.
He has been amping up his attacks against Mamdani — the heavy favorite to win the general election, bolstered by support from labor unions that were behind Cuomo in the primary — in a redemption bid.
Mamdani surrogate and City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa slammed Cuomo for making Sunday's parade about himself.
'While Zohran was at the Dominican Day parade to celebrate this community and share his vision to make their lives more affordable, Cuomo saw the parade as yet another opportunity to center himself,' De La Rosa said in a statement. 'This is yet another example of the choice in this election: people-centered leadership vs. self-centered and petty politics.'
Mamdani's proposal to freeze rent on rent-stabilized apartments is a pillar of his platform. If the freeze was instituted, he 'would actually be on the Upper East Side, in a new apartment,' he told The New York Editorial Board in February.
The Democratic nominee for mayor added in the interview that he moved into his apartment when he was earning $47,000 as a foreclosure prevention counselor and needed a home he could afford on his own. — Emily Ngo
HAPPY MONDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City, and Sullivan and Orange Counties. At 9:45 a.m., she's holding a roundtable discussion on implementing the new statewide cell phone ban in schools at Middletown High School.
WHERE'S ERIC? Schedule unavailable as of 10 p.m. Sunday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'What Lt. Gov. Delgado has been doing as it relates to service in government is nothing,' former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to POLITICO on the unusual spot that Gov. Kathy Hochul's hand-picked No. 2 finds himself as he challenges her in a Democratic primary.
ABOVE THE FOLD
REDISTRICTING REWIND: Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday brushed off questions about the ill-fated 2022 attempt by Democrats to gerrymander New York's House seats — an episode that's under scrutiny as she backs disbanding a quasi-independent redistricting commission.
The governor on Fox News Sunday insisted New York 'followed the rules' during the initial redistricting round three years ago when the map drafted by Democratic state lawmakers — famously a Long Island-Westchester district was proposed — was struck down in court. The map was ultimately drawn by a special master; a 2024 challenge to those lines led to modest changes last year.
Hochul, instead, wanted to keep the focus on Republican efforts in Texas to redistrict mid-decade — even as she supports aggressive steps in New York, like disbanding the voter-approved redistricting commission.
'I want to call out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who are now whining about the fact that we're doing something in New York,' she said Sunday. 'Where was the outrage when Donald Trump told Texas to just go find five seats for him. Come on. People aren't going to buy this.'
The governor argues she's only making this push as a result of Texas and other red state redistricting efforts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Pursuing a blue state response to Texas' efforts, however, is also politically helpful to Hochul ahead of a tough reelection next year.
New York Republicans contend that's a hypocritical position for Hochul to take only three years after the state Court of Appeals rejected the Democratic-led Legislature's map.
'They are complete and total hypocrites on this issue and should be called out in every single interview,' Rep. Mike Lawler wrote on X Sunday.
It's not clear what specific changes Hochul will seek to the state constitution in order to erase the redistricting changes that prohibited gerrymandering. The governor, though, expressed confidence a proposal will pass muster with voters, who previously rejected efforts to weaken the commission. The earliest any changes to the state constitution can be considered by voters is two years away.
'We can put it to the people, but I think the people of this state — after what they're seeing when there's one party domination in Washington and how our costs are going up, we're losing jobs and people are suffering,' she said. 'They're going to want us to use every tool in the arsenal to fight back, and that's what I intend to do.' — Nick Reisman
CITY HALL: THE LATEST
BILLIONAIRE DEM DEBATE: Billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender — pushed back Sunday on fellow Democrat Mamdani's criticism of the country's ultra-wealthy, particularly the mayoral contender's statement that he doesn't believe billionaires should exist.
'I don't think that we should have billionaires, because frankly it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,' Mamdani told NBC News' 'Meet the Press' shortly after winning the June primary.
Pritzker said Sunday on the same show that he believes it's less about someone's net worth than what they believe.
'How much money you have doesn't determine what your values are,' the governor said. 'And I'm a Democrat because I believe that everyone deserves health care. I'm a Democrat because I believe we've got to fund education and have a free public education available to every kid in this country. I'm a Democrat because I believe that we've got to stand up for our democracy and against the MAGA Republicans who are literally trying to take away people's rights.'
Mamdani wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations to help finance programs for working-class residents — a platform that has raised concerns among the city's business leaders. The Democratic nominee for mayor has specified that he wants to match New York's 'top corporate tax rate to that of the radical socialist utopia of New Jersey,' an attempt to show the proposal isn't outlandish. — Emily Ngo
More from the city:
— The last major hotel housing migrants in New York City, the Row NYC in Times Square, will stop operating as a shelter in the coming months. (New York Times)
— GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa wants Trump to stay out of the New York City race. (Fox 5 New York)
— Frank Seddio's campaign spending is under scrutiny. (Daily News)
NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY
MULTI-STATE UNMASKING: Democratic state Sen. Pat Fahy's push to unmask federal immigration enforcement officers is getting traction in blue state America.
The Albany-area Democrat's bill, which would prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from covering their faces, is being replicated in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts by lawmakers introducing similar legislation.
'This goes beyond immigration enforcement; it's intimidation and it echoes authoritarian regimes, not the United States of America,' Fahy said. 'While I have long supported comprehensive immigration reform at the national level, these pieces of legislation are necessary to restore transparency, accountability, and the rule of law before these tactics and the fear they create in our communities become normalized.'
The proposal underscores how Democratic state lawmakers are trying to find ways of undermining the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement policies. It will take time for the bill to make any progress in Albany, though, considering state lawmakers aren't expected back at the Capitol until January. — Nick Reisman
More from Albany:
— The state is facing a cumulative budget gap of more than $34 billion. (Spectrum News)
— A corrections officers union had warned the governor's office that prison guards were pushing for a strike before a month-long walkout. (Times Union)
— A powerplant permit will be a test for Hochul's climate strategy. (Spectrum News)
KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION
— Democrats try to separate their tactical use of redistricting from that of Republicans. (POLITICO)
— GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said she believes political gerrymandering is 'corrupt.' (ABC 7 New York)
— Former Rep. Chris Collins is out of prison and mounting a comeback bid in Florida. (Buffalo News)
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
— The state is hiking prison worker pay to fill a big staffing gap. (LoHud)
— Environmental and human factors play a role in the outbreak of Legionnaires' cases. (Gothamist)
— New York may have to pay an eight-figure settlement over the death of P'Nut the squirrel. (New York Post)
SOCIAL DATA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Former Assemblymember Steve Katz … former NYC Council Member Marjorie Velázquez
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