The battle for New York: Hochul and Blakeman head to general election

This week, New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado suspended his campaign for governor after struggling to lock in support from key progressive leaders. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman officially secured the party's backing and — after a bumpy process — unveiled his running mate. NY1 investigative reporter Courtney Gross, political reporter Bobby Cuza and political director Bob Hardt break down the state of the race for governor. Then, Mayor Zohran Mamdani headed to Albany for what's known as "Tin Cup Day," making the case for new tax hikes on wealthy New Yorkers and businesses. The mayor also struck a somewhat less pessimistic tone about the city's budget outlook, a shift from his earlier warnings of a $12 billion budget deficit. The "Off Topic" team weighs in on Mamdani's trip to the State Capitol and what it signals about the city's financial future.

You can listen to The battle for New York: Hochul and Blakeman head to general election online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The battle for New York: Hochul and Blakeman head to general election is an episode from Off Topic/On Politics by Misha Zilman.

This episode is 30:09 long.

This episode was published on Feb 13, 2026.

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