Will Hochul and Mamdani keep the peace?
Conflicts between New York City Mayor John Lindsay, left, and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller turned toxic in the 1960s. Credit: Bettmann Archive
For a very long time, relations between New York City and New York State showed sharp cracks and deep crevices.
Laws enacted in Albany can preempt ordinances from City Hall, where so-called "home rule" is limited. Legendary personal feuds arise, more often than not, between governors and mayors of the same party.
Some tensions are built in. The state has the constitutional upper hand on authorizing taxes and mayoral authority over city schools, but the city and state operating budgets are comparable in size — $125 billion for the city and $166 billion for the state. In the political world, these two big governments can be rivals for clout and resources.
Plans to expand New York's pre-K and health programs, and the billions in taxes needed to fund them, might put Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on different pages in the coming new year.
In 2026, the battle between the major parties kept democratic socialist Mamdani and self-declared "radically moderate" Hochul in the same camp, with state elections and congressional seats at stake.
Now that this year of good behavior has passed, their ideological differences — shallow or deep — could break into the open.
The Capitol might be open to raising corporate taxes while City Hall looks to a "wealth tax" on top-income individuals. The deadline is Feb. 1 for Hochul to present her annual budget proposal. In prior years, Mamdani was on hand in Albany as an Assembly member from Astoria.
Can they work it out? Aides are reportedly discussing it. Both sides will do well to know the history of past city-state wars — one of them recent enough for each to recall.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio had cordial relations years ago, but after de Blasio was elected in 2013, and Cuomo was running for reelection, the new mayor kept pushing for a tax on the economic elite to pay for universal pre-K. Cuomo wanted the program created through the state budget — but without such a tax which might have cost Cuomo votes on Long Island and other suburbs.
They ended up bitter rivals with de Blasio accusing Cuomo of "personal pettiness," "game-playing" and seeking "revenge." The frost lasted for years.
That was far from novel for Gotham. Back in the 1960s, the conflicts between Mayor John Lindsay and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, both liberal Republicans, turned toxic. In the 1970s Gov. Hugh Carey and Mayor Abe Beame, both mainstream Democrats, went to war over the city's fiscal crisis.
Twice, Gov. Mario Cuomo and Mayor Ed Koch became bitter foes on the electoral battlefield — first when Koch beat Cuomo for City Hall in 1977, and later when Cuomo defeated Koch for governor in 1982.
One of the stranger episodes involving a governor and a mayor arose only last year when Hochul considered using her power to remove Eric Adams from office as he faced federal corruption charges.
GOP President Donald Trump, saying he needed Adams to cooperate in mass deportations, ordered officials to stop prosecuting him. Adams' reelection bid fizzled out, but not before he criticized Hochul over the migrant crisis.
The governor serves more than 20 million people, including about 8.6 million in the five boroughs. Whatever ideologies or political organizations are involved, these NYS-NYC feuds and divisions affect governance. When it comes to distributing tax money, political alliances can prove fleeting.
Something for Mamdani to keep in mind: Albany veterans know that when these feuds break out, the governor tends to have the upper hand.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
