Gov. Kathy Hochul bizarrely tried Tuesday to distance herself from a plan to hobble President Trump’s agenda by delaying a special election — just one day after she herself paused the scheme.
Hochul stopped Democratic state lawmakers from ramming through a bill Monday as she looks to negotiate with Trump over his threats to scrap congestion pricing in Manhattan.
But on Tuesday she claimed she had nothing to do with the plan even as the state Senate Democratic leader said it was all Hochul.
“I don’t introduce bills. It’s not the role of the governor,” Hochul told reporters at a news conference.
The bill would have changed special election rules so that Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik’s seat would stay empty when she resigns to become Trump’s ambassador to the UN. The North Country district is reliably red and leaving it open would ensure that House Republicans have a razor-thin majority of only two seats until November.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) contradicted Hochul’s stance.
“It began with her and if she’s interested in holding it that’s fine,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters Tuesday.
Stewart-Cousins still painted her relationship with Hochul rosily and said that legislators and the governor are still “working together.” House Minority Leader and Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was also involved in the effort.
“It’s always nice to have a partner that’s working in the same direction,” Stewart Cousins said.
The bill would also apply to special elections to fill state legislative seats, such as the one now held by state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn). The south Brooklyn district would present a pickup opportunity for Republicans.
It’s not clear what the substance of Hochul’s discussions with Trump entail, but sources said the governor had asked to put the brakes on the bill as part of their back and forth. Hochul launched a $9 congestion toll in Midtown Manhattan to prop up the flailing Metropolitan Transportation Authority last month, but Trump has pledged to end it and threatened to pull federal transit funding to the Empire State and Big Apple.
Yet, Hochul even tried to deflect the blame on delaying the bill to Republicans fed up with the effort.
“They’re just so hyperbolic that you really have to just tune it out because this is all they do, and there’s no substance behind all that,” Hochul said.
Republicans cheered the temporary pause on the bill.
“It defies all logic to think the Governor had no knowledge or any involvement. But with a bill this bad, plausible deniability goes a long way – from Albany right to Hakeem Jefferies office,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay wrote in a statement.
“DING DONG, The Wicked Bill is Dead!” Assemblyman Ari Brown (R-Nassau) wrote on X with a picture of Hochul photoshopped onto the Wicked Witch from “The Wizard of Oz.”
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
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