Hot in Herre

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With help from Cris Seda Chabrier
Good gracious, this race is bodacious.
With temperatures predicted to hit 100 degrees on Primary Day, mayoral front-runner Andrew Cuomo is anxious to get his voters into polling sites — and demanding better preparation from city officials for the heat wave, POLITICO reports.
The Board of Election's heat plan is 'insufficient' and 'unacceptable,' with not every poll site being air conditioned, his campaign complained Thursday.
The BOE insists it's prepared with fans and water — and that no voter will have to wait in a long line, since there's more than enough bandwidth.
The former governor has reason to be concerned about Tuesday turnout: His anticipated victory relies upon robust support from older voters, who are more susceptible to dangerous heat conditions. And polling showed more of his supporters planned to vote on election day, while Zohran Mamdani nabs a greater share of early voters.
Mamdani supporters are hopeful the heat will hurt Cuomo. 'Praying to God it's a temperature only people under 45 can withstand,' leftist podcast host Stylianos Karoldis joked on X.
But who knows? Mamdani's campaign isn't ready to draw conclusions. And Cuomo is pushing supporters to vote early — still open today through Sunday — when it'll be toasty, but not yet miserable.
More than 212,000 already have in NYC.
Candidates kept it hot Thursday, as Cuomo homed in on Mamdani's refusal to condemn the phrase 'globalize the intifada' and Mamdani blasted the millions of dollars Michael Bloomberg has poured into a pro-Cuomo super PAC.
Both rivals name-checked the billionaire former mayor, who has contributed $8.3 million to the pro-Cuomo PAC in an effort to blunt Mamdani's momentum. Mamdani slammed the spending as an affront to democracy. Cuomo praised Bloomberg for taking a stand, POLITICO reports.
Mamdani and Brad Lander both voted Tuesday. But in a rare instance, the city comptroller publicly disagreed with the assemblymember he's cross-endorsed.
'I don't like the phrase 'globalize the intifada,'' Lander, who is Jewish, told reporters.'Some people, when they say it, they might mean 'fight for the rights of Palestinians,' but I'll tell you, all I can hear is 'open season on Jews.''
Mamdani said the words 'have different meanings for many different people.' He repeated his vow to combat antisemitism and said he opposes language that incites violence.
The Muslim candidate was targeted in a potential hate crime this week, the Daily News reported, when somebody left a voicemail to blow up his car.
That led Lander to line up behind Mamdani. First in Playbook, he's calling on pro-Cuomo super PAC Fix the City to stop airing 'the hateful, divisive ads that falsely smear Mamdani,' his campaign said, blaming a TV ad calling Mamdani 'risky' and a 'radical' for the threats on his opponent's life.
Adrienne Adams voted Thursday too, but the mayoral candidate declined to say who else she ranked,
Her secrecy stands in contrast to the recent — albeit late — cross endorsements candidates and top surrogates are making to blunt Cuomo's rise, POLITICO reports.
Adams' aides even prepared a statement asserting her support for the Working Families Party's slate — but internal disagreements blocked it from being released.
'I still believe in the secrecy of the ballot,' Adams said by way of explanation. 'I voted for me and my community.' — Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo, Joe Anuta, Cris Seda Chabrier, Jason Beeferman and Sally Goldenberg
HAPPY FRIDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
WHERE'S KATHY? In Erie County, leading a virtual briefing on extreme heat forecasts and delivers remarks at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens groundbreaking.
WHERE'S ERIC? Public schedule unavailable as of 10 p.m.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'I was en route to the Crane Club. Crime is down, nightlife is back, and the $30 billion industry is helping to rebuild the economy @AndrewCuomo tanked with his failed policies like bail reform. Eric Adams: Delivers. Never quits.' — Mayor Eric Adams, on X to top Cuomo adviser Melissa DeRosa, who asked what private club he'd been tweeting from at midnight, amid a war of words that could preview the general election.
ABOVE THE FOLD
REPORTERS ROUNDTABLE: The unexpected developments in the mayoral primary — not to mention the looming shadow of President Donald Trump's declared war on his hometown — have captivated the nation as much as it has the city itself.
To reckon with the crowded primary's still-evolving state of play, POLITICO's Michael Gartland, Nick Reisman, Sally Goldenberg and Jeff Coltin sat down Wednesday for a crackling conversation.
Gartland: The race is viewed primarily as a two-person contest at this point, but there are several other candidates. Lander has shown signs of life in the last few days. Is a last minute surge from him possible given what the polling shows at this point?
Reisman: If there are any swing voters on the Democratic side, it's the people who will vote for Brad Lander as their No. 1 but are not inclined to rank Mamdani.
Goldenberg: Cuomo has also shown strength in those areas. We did a story where he's even being ranked third in Park Slope — a very lefty section of New York City. But I do wonder about those early voting numbers and the weather next Tuesday.
Reisman: Lander seems to have eaten his Wheaties lately. He put in a strong second debate performance and his ICE arrest stepped on the Bernie Sanders headline Mamdani was hoping for on Tuesday.
Coltin: I agree, Nick. With every poll coming out, we've been looking to see where the votes that initially went to Lander get redistributed in ranked-choice voting. And a lot of people backing Lander (and Adrienne Adams, and everyone else) still plan to rank Cuomo on their ballot over Mamdani.
Goldenberg: It's late for Lander to change the shape of the race though. He's polling a very distant third. Lander's best hope is a robust use of ranked-choice voting — something that the candidates and the left have resisted, confoundingly, throughout this race. They've shown no real RCV strategy — something that would probably help a Lander.
Read more as we discuss youth versus experience, why New Yorkers seem to discount Cuomo's well-documented misdeeds, the role of allegations of antisemitism.
CITY HALL: THE LATEST
MAMDANI'S PRESIDENTIAL PICK: Mamdani harshly criticized Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2024 election, but never used his platform as an assemblymember and mayoral candidate with a big social media following to promote Kamala Harris — a notable difference from his fellow contenders in the Democratic mayoral primary.
'I proudly voted for Kamala Harris on the Working Families Party line,' Mamdani said Tuesday, when asked why he didn't endorse the Democratic nominee. He insisted his focus was on races poised to be close in New York, as well as Proposition One, known as the equal rights amendment.
Months earlier, Mamdani actively promoted the Uncommitted Movement and the Leave it Blank campaign, which urged voters to cast an empty ballot in the Democratic primary to protest Joe Biden's support for Israel in the country's war with Hamas.
In the days leading up to the election, Mamdani protested Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, calling it 'fascist.'
Cuomo posted early on X on Election Day encouraging a vote for Harris and praised her months earlier while speaking at a Brooklyn church. Lander was also quick to endorse and fundraise for Harris when Biden dropped out and encouraged his supporters to vote for her. — Jeff Coltin and Amira McKee
CUOMO 'NOT FOR US': First in Playbook, mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie is aiming to hurt Cuomo's standing with Black voters, running an attack ad saying Cuomo was 'bad for us as governor. Wrong for us for mayor.'
Starting Thursday on Juneteenth, Myrie's campaign is spending more than $100,000 airing the ad on stations targeting a Black audience, including Hot 97, Power 105.1 and WBLS.
'Before you vote for mayor, take 60 seconds and think about what Andrew Cuomo actually did in 11 years as governor before he resigned in disgrace,' a voice actor says. Cuomo 'cut hundreds of millions from the MTA,' 'slashed funding for supportive housing' and 'forced the mentally ill on our streets and subways,' among other criticisms.
The ad doesn't even mention Myrie until the state senator's voice, at the very end, says it was paid for by his campaign. Myrie doesn't have a shot at victory, but has urged New Yorkers to not rank Cuomo.
The former governor is relying on support from Black voters to win. A Marist College poll conducted last week showed he's the first choice of nearly half of Black voters. — Jeff Coltin
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Manhattan borough president candidates Keith Powers and Calvin Sun are cross-endorsing each other in an effort to weaken Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
Powers, a City Council member, and Sun, an emergency room physician, said they see it as a step toward ensuring a 'pro-housing candidate.' Each will encourage supporters of the other to rank them second on their ballots in the city's ranked-choice voting primary.
'We cannot afford to have a Borough President unwilling to address the housing crisis that all New Yorkers agree must be urgently fixed,' Powers said in a statement. 'Calvin shares my ambitious approach to expanding housing.'
Powers, Sun and Hoylman-Sigal, a state senator, are the only three candidates on the Democratic ballot. The agreement by Powers and Sun echoes the ones made in the mayoral race by Mamdani and Lander and Mamdani and Michael Blake.
A spokesperson for Hoylman-Sigal, who's endorsed by state Attorney General Letitia James and three former Manhattan beeps including Gale Brewer, declined to comment. — Emily Ngo
BILL BITES BACK: Former Mayor Bill de Blasio laced into a befuddling New York Times opinion piece that lamented the mayoral field, cast second-place candidate Zohran Mamdani as unfit for the ballot and went on a gratuitous detour lacing into the former mayor.
'These guys don't know what the hell they're talking about,' de Blasio said during a recent interview with NY1's Errol Louis. 'I am so sick of the elitism and the out-of-touch reality of the Times. What city are they living in?'
The piece appeared to offer qualified praise of Cuomo and Lander and reserved harsh judgement for de Blasio, who allowed disorder to fester and the city's school system to sour, per the piece.
'Much worse than what they said about me is they are basically saying: 'Vote for the corrupt guy, Andrew Cuomo. Vote for the guy who we said was corrupt and should resign because he's more status quo. He's more reliable,'' de Blasio said while noting crime went down and test scores up during his two terms as mayor. 'Yes, he's more reliably corrupt.'
The former mayor accused Cuomo of starving the city of housing and homelessness resources during their acrimonious shared tenure and praised the candidacies of Mamdani, Lander and Adrienne Adams.
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi responded by bringing up de Blasio's campaign finance troubles, the early animosity between police officers and City Hall and a dramatic rise in homelessness.
'Mayor Bloomberg handed De Blasio a strong, healthy and functioning government that he neglected into the ground and New Yorkers know Andrew Cuomo has the management experience and the real record of results to fix what's broken after 12 long years and get the city back on the right track,' Azzopardi said. — Joe Anuta
More from the city:
— Mamdani has embraced his immigrant identity and has loudly proclaimed his Muslim faith, rather than downplaying it. (Gothamist)
— The Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter is set to close Tuesday – three years after it opened and quickly became a symbol of the city's migrant crisis in the heart of Manhattan. (New York Post)
— Former Gov. George Pataki thinks long-shot GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa could pull off an upset. (New York Post)
NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY
SUNLIGHT FOR DARK CASH: A Democratic state lawmaker wants expanded disclosure for state-level super PACs.
State Sen. Pat Fahy on Wednesday proposed new regulations for super PACs that would require them to put the name of their top three donors on mailers and TV ads.
'This is a matter of transparency and fairness,' Fahy said. 'Voters have a right to know who's trying to influence their decisions and elections in New York State. If powerful interests are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in dark money to sway an election, that should be front and center for all New York State voters.'
Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, will likely take on a greater role in New York campaigns as a statewide system of public financing takes effect. That system, modeled after New York City's decades-old program, will match low-dollar contributions with public money.
A super PAC, which cannot coordinate with a candidate, would play an outsized role in a system where caps on donations have been significantly lowered. — Nick Reisman
LOVETT TO HOCHUL: Former Daily News and New York Post scribe Ken Lovett is joining the Hochul administration.
Lovett, a former Eichor Strategies consultant, will serve as a senior communications advisor for energy and environment — a crucial issue area for Hochul ahead of her re-election bid. The governor has discussed energy projects with President Donald Trump, conversations that have included a controversial pipeline and wind energy efforts.
Lovett, a former senior advisor at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will serve as a direct advisor to Hochul and Communications Director Anthony Hogrebe.
'Nobody knows state government better than Ken Lovett, and we're thrilled to have his experience and expertise as we continue to bring Governor Hochul's message to New Yorkers.' — Nick Reisman
More from Albany:
— Gov. Kathy Hochul says she has little interest in Mamdani's tax-the-rich proposal. (New York Post)
— A moratorium on using sewage sludge on farmland did not get a vote in the state Assembly. (Spectrum News)
— Among the things that did get done in the final session days include renaming state agency buildings. (POLITICO Pro)
KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION
ANOTHER SCARY INCIDENT: Ohio House Republican Max Miller said he was 'run off the road' Thursday by a man with a Palestinian flag in the latest instance of violence against an elected official. House leaders, including the chamber's top Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, quickly condemned the incident in the strongest terms.
'The rise in political violence in this country is unacceptable,' Jeffries said in a statement with Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. 'This is a moment of crisis that requires Congress to act decisively in order to ensure the safety of every single Member who serves in the People's House.'
The threat to Miller comes after Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed and Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were critically injured.
Congressional lawmakers have been grappling with how to ensure their physical safety as being a politician in the public eye becomes increasingly dangerous. — Emily Ngo
More from Congress:
— Assemblymember Robert Smullen is interested in running for Rep. Elise Stefanik's seat. (Times Union)
— Rep. Mike Lawler breaks with Trump administration on the shutdown of a LGBTQ+ suicide hotline. (NOTUS)
— Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has a bill meant to combat food deserts. (Spectrum News)
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
— Hochul is under pressure to collect millions in Atlantic Yards penalties. (Gothamist)
— New York's highest court upheld Kingston's rent control policies. (City & State)
— The Catskills are … underrated?! (LoHud)
SOCIAL DATA
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Nicole (Ginis) Del Beccaro, a producer at Newsmax, and Thomas G. Del Beccaro, an author, historian and political commentator, on Monday welcomed Thomas Lucca Del Beccaro, who came in at 8 lbs. 12 oz and 19 1/2 inches. Pic
— Christopher Edgar, a consultant at Alpha Alternatives, and Mary Claire Brunelli, an English teacher at the Hotchkiss School, on June 12th welcomed Catherine Grace. Pic … Another pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson … POLITICO's Josh Gerstein … the NFL's Morgan Rubin … Godfre Bayalama of Zellnor Myrie's office .. Avi Duvdevani … former Assemblymember Joan Millman … DOP's Christelle Onwu … HPD's Dave Seliger … Ronette Cox … Steven Skyles-Mulligan … Adrienne Elrod … CNN's Janie Boschma … Victoria Grace … Olivia Ruth Messer … Tom Tripicco …
(WAS THURSDAY): State Sens. Jose M. Serrano and Jack Martins … Assemblymember Clyde Vanel … Gateway's Stephen Sigmund … ESD's Emily Mijatovic … Reuters' Jeff Mason … Anne Gearan … Treasury's Rebecca Karabus … Melissa Cooke … former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro (7-0) … Axios' Alex Isenstadt … Christina Ruffini … Marcus Brauchli
Missed Wednesday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.

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