As turmoil engulfs City Hall, Gov. Kathy Hochul appears to have adopted a coolness toward her fellow Democrat Mayor Eric Adams.
Hochul argued the pair needs to keep working together despite federal probes of his administration, but they’ve made few public appearances together over the last several weeks. Experts said Hochul may soon need to choose a side or be burned ahead of her own reelection campaign in 2026.
“Mayor Eric Adams was elected to represent the same 8.3 million New Yorkers. We have to work together. People need us to pull together at this time and show that government is functioning,” Hochul said Wednesday during an event in Garrison, NY, denying that she’s avoiding an embattled Mayor Eric Adams. “I’m going to continue working with the mayor’s team and him, to make sure we achieve our objectives, which is to improve the City of New York during this difficult time. It’s our responsibility. I’m not walking away from it.”
“I would tell the governor to begin airing her concern for what’s going on in New York,” William O’Reilly, a Republican strategist, said. “You have an administration that looks riddled with corruption, I mean riddled from the top down. And if the governor doesn’t get out ahead of it, she’s going to end up being behind the story and she’s gonna become part of the story.”
In the past, Hochul and Adams have showcased comradery. But recently, with both receiving low approval ratings by voters, they’ve appeared together publicly just a few times — at an illegal cannabis crackdown, a Democratic campaign rally and marching separately at the Labor Day Parade.
Some experts say Hochul needs to worry about her own image first.
“She ultimately has to get above the fray,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said. “They gave her a speaking role at the Democratic Convention. I mean, that doesn’t necessarily carry over, but it’s sort of an indication that what she does is being watched in a broader arena within the Democratic Party.”
Hochul also has the power to remove Adams from office under the state constitution. A tool she flirted with in 2022, dealing with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Historian Terry Golway says it’s been done before.
“Three borough presidents and one sheriff of New York County, which is Manhattan, were removed by governors. So there’s certainly precedent for that happening. Of course, the most famous near-incident like that was with Jimmy Walker in 1932 — Walker’s administration was in shambles,” Golway said, a professor at the College of Staten Island.
Golway says Adams will have depleted leverage when lobbying Albany for city funding this budget cycle.
“If you were the governor of New York, and if you, you know, sort of survived a surprisingly close election, and now are looking at a reelection in two years, you might want to keep your distance,” Golway said. “At least in a public way — from somebody who might very well be under indictment and that photograph or that relationship could be used by the opposition in 2026 if Eric Adams’ name is not spoken anymore.”