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News 12 Staff

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After a shocking primary night loss to Zoran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo announced he's staying in the general election fight. News 12 senior political reporter Tara Rosenblum hit the campaign trail with the former governor. Describe for me the emotions that you felt that night when you saw the numbers coming in and of course the moment when you realized that primary night wasn't going to end the way you had hoped it would. Tara, frankly, I was shocked, you know, all campaign long we were way ahead in all the polls and then on election night it turns out that the people who actually came out to vote were much different than what they expected. Primary elections have a much smaller turnout. Much more activists in the Democratic Party, general election. You have more Democrats, more moderate Democrats, you have independents, you have Republicans and the general election is obviously what matters. How did the polls get it so wrong? What have you come up with? Yes. The polls assume the people who come out to vote will be similar to the people who have come out to vote in the past. What happened here was you had an explosion of young people who were socialists who had never voted before. And like 100,000 people came out to vote who they never expected, and they were overwhelmingly votes for the assembly. What was the single biggest strategic miscalculation you think the campaign made? We are such a large lead that the campaign, the campaign actually played. To safe. This city is at a tipping point, and the next mayor is going to make the determination if we go up or we go down. We're losing people. We're losing wealth. I was not aggressive enough in the campaign, not aggressive enough in making my case for my vision of what I believe needs to be done. Not enough of a discussion about how unrealistic my opponent's solutions were, in my opinion. What was the moment or specific conversation that really convinced you to stand and run as a third party candidate? Well, you know, I had, I had a lot of New Yorkers come up to me and say, uh, you, you owe it to the city. We can't become a socialist city. If you say you're going to dismantle the police, public safety is a major issue. Crime is a major issue. So people are afraid of what my opponent is talking about, but we can turn the city around and we can make this city the shining city it once was. I know that. I feel that in my heart. And I love this city too much not to try. You have also vowed though if you are not the leading candidate outside of Mom Dominic on September, that you'll bow out. So explain that to me practically how that would work because right, didn't we just get the most powerful reminder of how off the polls can be at the end of the day? It's very simple to determine. Who's the stronger candidate between myself and Mr. Adams. We're not talking about Mr. Sliwe. He's going to run as a Republican. Let him run as a Republican. It's really between myself and Mr. Adams because we would split the vote that would make Madani the winner. And we can't let that happen. You have called Mamdani's policies naive and worse risky for New York. Which of his policies do you think would hurt the city the most if enacted? The most dangerous is the basic socialist economic philosophy that is anti-business. A few years ago, I had Amazon coming to New York City. They were going to bring 25,000 new jobs, would have set up a national headquarters, and the socialists killed it and opposed it because they were anti-business. The other policy is he wants to dismantle the police. You dismantle the police. This is an extension of what they did when they defunded the police, as you're well aware, there are still a large number, a large number of Jewish voters in this city who are concerned with his policies as it relates to Israel. His refusal to condemn certain language that is out there. Some of his critics have called him anti-Semitic. Do you believe that Zohran Mamdani is anti-Semitic? You know that calls to look into someone's heart and soul, and I'll leave that to a higher authority. I can tell you that statements that he will not disavow like globalized intifada, which basically means kill Jewish people. Uh, that is highly disturbing. His praise of Hamas, who are terrorists, that is very disturbing. And not only is the Jewish community in New York the largest Jewish community anywhere outside of Israel, they're a vital part of New York City, and you can have your own global views, but you can't split the city and you have the Jewish community that is very concerned about growing anti-Semitism as they should be. And I want to be a healer, not a divider. You over the decades you have had extreme and frankly extraordinary successes and of course also setbacks. When we're looking at the big picture, your decision to stay in this race, what do you hope it says about your legacy at the end of the day? I believe in New York. I believe in public service. I know that I can make government work. We are at a critical moment, Tara. We have people leaving the city every day. That has to stop. We have to turn it around. And I know how to help do that, and I want to make sure I do everything I can, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. And still to come on Power and Politics, a call for the governor to block a recently passed bill in Albany, how it could end up costing some Long Island homeowners thousands of dollars.

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Welcome back to Power and Politics this week. Long Island congressman Nick Lalota backed a plea from GOP state senators calling on Governor Kathy Hochle to veto a controversial bill. If it becomes law, it would shift much of the cost of converting your home heating from oil to natural gas, all to you. Here's our taxing Long Island report. This is gonna be another downward pressure on homeowners. It's a common scenario on Long Island. A homeowner wants to convert from oil to natural gas and contacts National Grid to hopefully get the line extended from the main to their home, with the utility company paying the conversion costs. But a new bill just passed by the state legislature last month now puts the cost of that upgrade on you. Mike Florio is the CEO of the Long. Is Builders Institute. It's gonna be about $10,000 more per household. If the recently passed bill becomes law, it would nullify the so-called 100 ft rule and shift the financial burden for new gas hookups from utility companies to the homeowner requesting the change. All 8 Long Island state senators, 6 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted against the measure. State Senate Republicans just sent this letter to Governor. Hole urging her to kill it. Stop the bleeding, Governor. Please veto this bill. Union leaders say if the bill is passed, there will be multiple negative impacts. It puts more of the homeowner, you know, at burden, you know, financially, and that bill will certainly hurt union jobs. But environmental groups are praising the legislation. The director of New York government affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council says, quote, This is A meaningful step toward fairness and affordability, ending the practice of forcing all ratepayers to subsidize fossil fuel infrastructure for new customers. The change will save gas customers across the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually and help level the playing field for clean heating options. Brooklyn lawmaker Jo Ann Simon was the lead sponsor of the bill in the state assembly. The bill does not prevent new gas hookups. It simply means that everyone else won't be forced to pay $200 million a year to hook up new customers and line the pockets of utility shareholders, but Senator Mario Matera of St. James disagrees. All this is is to do is to ban natural gas, and Florio says the bottom line for builders and homeowners is the costs just keep adding up. Now we reached out to Governor Hochle's office to see if she plans to sign the bill. Into law, a spokesperson said simply, quote, the governor will review this legislation. National Grid says it is quote committed to building a safe, reliable energy system that achieves the state's decarbonization goals while ensuring that we can continue to meet New York's growing demand for energy. Stay tuned. It's all the time we have this week. We'll see you again right here next week for another edition of News 12's Power and Politics. I'm Rich Prae. Have a great rest of your day.

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MTA Board Member Sammy Chu and State Assemblyman Michael Durso join the show to discuss congestion pricing.

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