Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Gov. Hochul veto hands Zohran Mamdani a win for mayoral power
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Dec 14, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Andres Kudacki/Getty Images
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Dec 14, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has scored a victory over the City Council before he even takes office – and he has Gov. Kathy Hochul to thank.
Earlier this month, Hochul vetoed legislation that would have revoked the mayor of New York City's prerogative to bounce any City Council-proposed changes to the City Charter off the ballot. If Hochul had signed it into law, Mamdani would have faced new complications enacting his ambitious agenda.
The Albany measure emerged after Mayor Eric Adams blocked proposals by the Council to change what is essentially the city's constitution — proposals that have to be approved by voters.
Stephen Louis, counsel for the Center for New York City and State Law at New York Law School, saw Hochul’s veto as an example of one executive making sure power remains in the hands of another executive.
The veto raises the likelihood that a series of measures proposed by a City Council commission may never make it onto voters’ ballots. The updates stemmed from Council members’ alarm at the corruption scandals that engulfed Adams’ administration.
One measure would ask voters whether to create a process to remove a mayor who is found to have committed misconduct. Council members also wanted more power over high-level mayoral appointments.
“ There should be equal time and equal opportunity for ballot proposals from the co-governing branch of the city,” Speaker Adrienne Adams said. “There is no reason to withhold that authority. So, it's disheartening that the governor saw fit to veto.”
Mayor Adams bumped the Council’s questions off the ballot this year through his own charter commission, which released a series of questions meant to expedite housing development.
Those measures passed and with them came substantial new limits to the Council's authority over land-use decisions, one of its most important powers.
Political observers said it’s likely Mamdani will look to present voters with ballot questions tied to his agenda, just as Adams did.
“The governor's veto also makes it highly likely that Mayor Mamdani, who we believe backed the veto, will create his own charter commission and bump the City Council's charter proposals for the third time in three years,” John Kaehny, head of the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany, said.
Spokespeople for Hochul and Mamdani declined to comment on whether the two had communicated about the bill.
One policy that might prompt Mamdani to convene his own commission is his proposed Department of Community Safety, which would respond to certain mental health emergencies instead of the NYPD.
“The goal has always been to stand it up as a department, which requires a City Charter change,” said Alex Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and proponent of the change.
“In the meantime there are a few options for setting up something short of a Department immediately,” Vitale added.
Others have suggested a commission may not be necessary. Councilmember Julie Menin, who is expected to be the next Speaker, suggested at a recent New York Law School panel that the department could be created through executive order.
Hochul justified her veto by citing how the law would affect the state’s 61 other cities.
“This bill — eemingly prompted by concerns regarding New York City's charter revision process — could reshape the relationship between the branches of government in cities throughout the state,” Hochul wrote in her veto message.
Tagged
Politics
new york
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .