New York politicians, including Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul, made their way to Puerto Rico Thursday for the annual Somos conference.<\/p>\n
Officially, lawmakers gather on the island each year to discuss issues important to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican communities.<\/p>\n
Unofficially, the conference provides a change of scenery and a relaxed atmosphere where political circles can network and plan their next steps for the year to come.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
New York politicians, including Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul, made their way to Puerto Rico Thursday for the annual Somos conference
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Lawmakers gather on the island each year to discuss issues important to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican communities<\/p>\n
The conference also provides a change of scenery and a relaxed atmosphere where political circles can network and plan their next steps for the year to come
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Many current and former members of Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 lame duck administration are waiting to see whether they\u2019ll still have a job after Dec. 31<\/p>\n
Powerbrokers spent their Thursday waiting for face time with Mamdani \u2014 the star of the hour. The conference is also the official kickoff of the City Council speaker\u2019s race and statewide contests, like Hochul\u2019s reelection bid.<\/p>\n
After arriving on a commercial flight Thursday afternoon, Mamdani reflected on his win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so happy to be here in Puerto Rico. And you know that question was asked of me of where I would go outside of the country, and I\u2019m happy to be here at Somos,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n
All eyes will be on him and his ability to deliver promises like a free bus program, universal child care and a tax hike.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo most straightforward ways to raise the revenue to fund our affordability agenda is by raising the personal income tax on New Yorkers who make $1 million or more by 2% and raising the state\u2019s top corporate tax to match that of New Jersey,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n
He also reacted to President Donald Trump, who said earlier that Mamdani should give him a call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be looking forward to having a conversation with President Trump, and it\u2019s a conversation that will be geared towards serving New Yorkers across the five boroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani then paid his respects to a key ally,\u00a0Attorney General Letitia James, and powerful labor union, DC37.<\/p>\n
He was also joined by Gov. Kathy Hochul on stage, although aligned with Mamdani on universal childcare, she remains opposed to raising income taxes \u2014 a scourge of the business community that backs her.<\/p>\n
Hochul found out late Thursday that Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is expected to announce that she\u2019s challenging her for governor on Friday, according to a source familiar with Stefani\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, many current and former members of Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 lame duck administration are waiting to see whether they\u2019ll still have a job after Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
That includes Department of Education Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who refused to speak to NY1 about whether Mamdani has asked her to stay.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also the start of a competitive battle for City Council speaker between Councilmembers Christopher Marte, Amanda Farias, Crystal Hudson and Julie Menin.<\/p>\n
Although Mamdani hasn\u2019t tipped his hand yet on a possible preference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to him a couple of days ago, and there\u2019s so many areas of commonality surrounding universal childcare, building affordable housing. I\u2019m really excited about the council having a proactive vision,\u201d Menin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited about the big broad coalition that I\u2019ve continued to build throughout my career, and in this race, it\u2019s no different than it\u2019s been in all the others,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n
Although many lawmakers say they support Mamdani\u2019s vision for moving New York City forward, they have concerns about federal funding cuts and threats from President Donald Trump, as well as what\u2019s on the docket for New York state and whether those funding cuts will become a reality.<\/p>\n
They have many questions, especially leading up to the start of the legislative session, which begins in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne: embrace the fact that this is going to be the person that\u2019s going to usher in some of the campaign promises that he made, and then two: how does he work with the new City Council?,\u201d Democratic Brooklyn Assemblyman Brian Cunningham said.<\/p>\n
Hochul, for her part, could possibly be a big ally for Mamdani \u2014 or a big thorn in his side, especially as she is facing her own reelection in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York politicians, including Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul, made their way to Puerto Rico Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[109,25,8889,9,24,11,10,49,51,50,12,108,87,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-31604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-app-local-state-politics","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-bernadette-hogan","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-new-york-state","16":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-state-news","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}