Hochul reafirms support for Biden’s presidential run, declares herself ‘champion’ of MTA

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday doubled down on her unwavering support for President Biden in the 2024 election, while she separately proclaimed she is one of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s “greatest champions.”

Hochul made the remarks in response to two separate questions following an unrelated press conference in Albany on July 12.

The governor maintained her full-throated support for Biden on Friday amid growing calls for him to step aside as the Democratic nominee. The calls are fueled by concerns that Biden will not be able to defeat former President Donald Trump in November, following his disastrous debate performance last month and questions about his mental state. 

Hochul’s remarks also come on the heels of Biden’s Thursday night news conference following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit, where he fielded roughly an hour’s worth of questions primarily dealing with his fitness for office. 

Hochul, who remains one of Biden’s staunchest Democratic allies and is a surrogate for his campaign, said there are no circumstances under which he would lose her support. She noted that the Biden she wants to see back in the White House is the version that appeared at the NATO Summit.

“That’s who I want dealing with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Chinese President Xi Jinping] and everybody else and dealing with the challenges that we have in the Middle East and with NATO, that is the person to preserve world order,” Hochul said. “At the domestic level, there is no recent president who can touch the accomplishments of Joe Biden. That is undisputed.”

While Biden insisted at the press conference that he was the best person to beat Trump in November, he did have a couple of high-profile gaffs. One was mistakenly referring to Trump as his second in command when he meant to invoke Vice President Kamala Harris.

When asked if she would leave the governorship to accept a cabinet position in Biden’s administration if he won another four-year term, Hochul responded, “Hell no.”

“There’s no job on planet Earth that I’d rather be doing than be the governor of the greatest state in the nation for as long as the people will have me,” she said.

In a separate portion of the news conference, Hochul again defended her abrupt decision last month to indefinitely pause congestion pricing. She reiterated that she made the decision to protect the working class from the cost.

The program, which was originally set to take effect at the end of June, would have charged most people driving into Manhattan below 60th Street a $15 toll. The MTA would have then used the roughly $1 billion in annual revenue the program was set to generate to secure $15 billion in federal bonds to address the public transit system’s vast capital needs.

Without congestion pricing, or a comparable revenue stream, the MTA has had to table essential upgrades to the city’s subways like new signaling systems and accessibility upgrades for those with disabilities.

Nonetheless, Hochul defiantly claimed Friday that she has been one of the MTA’s strongest supporters.

“I am one of the greatest champions of the MTA,” Hochul said. “No one can dispute that.”

The governor pointed to her move last year to bail out the beleaguered transit agency’s operating budget, which was facing a “fiscal cliff,” by raising the payroll mobility tax on large businesses in the five boroughs.

“People did not think that I would come up with a plan last year and invest the money and time I did to find a solution to the long-term funding for the operating costs,” she said.

However, transit advocates, furious over Hochul’s decision to pause the tolling program, were quick to scoff at her comments.

Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the group Riders Alliance, called Hochul’s move to halt congestion pricing a “betrayal” of public transit riders that “jeopardizes the future of our subway and bus service.” 

“Contrary to the governor’s absurd claim, she has cut more transit funding than anyone in New York history,” Pearlstein said in a statement. “By ‘pausing’ congestion pricing before it even started, the governor guaranteed that essential transit upgrades like new elevators and signals will arrive late and cost extra. Amid a heat wave, she has also cast grave doubt on public transit’s ability to survive intensifying climate change.”