Politics

Adams’ fiscal legacy, his successor’s likely inheritance

Published

1 year ago

August 13, 2025

The New York State Financial Control Board raised concerns that Mayor Eric Adams' budget for fiscal year 2026 underestimated key expenses.

BORED MEETING: Mayor Eric Adams is leaving a financial predicament for his successor — who, as of now, is looking more and more like Zohran Mamdani.

A board of the state’s top fiscal authorities this morning slammed Adams’ $115.9 billion “Best Budget Ever” for rendering New York City unprepared for hard financial realities and looming federal clawbacks.

The New York State Financial Control Board, chaired by Gov. Kathy Hochul and tasked with overseeing the city’s fiscal planning, raised its concerns at a perilous moment for the city’s financial future. The Trump administration is looking to cut federal funding for expensive social services as the city is already facing its slowest jobs growth outside a recession in decades, per a New York Times report. But New York’s financial leaders, including State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and City Comptroller Brad Lander, warned the city’s financial woes predate Trump’s second term.

“Instead of planning for uncertainty, the Adams Administration has continued the opaque fiscal practice of underbudgeting of key services like shelter, special education, rental assistance, and overtime,” Lander wrote in his report. “Our estimates suggest that the June Financial Plan underestimates expenditures by $5.15 billion annually. That is not fiscal discipline — it is fiscal denial.”

The Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group that generally advocates for more conservative budgeting, also worried that Adams has left New York City ill prepared to backfill massive federal funding cuts.

“Rather than wisely save resources, control spending, and focus on efficiency, the city drove up spending by 7 percent, continued to underbudget programs, and added unaffordable spending during the budget process,” said Ana Champeny, CBC vice president for research.

Still, the FCB broadly approved of Adams’ budgeting and determined the city was in compliance with its standards — once again avoiding the stricter state oversight that was first implemented during the city’s fiscal crisis 50 years ago.

Adams acknowledged that sweeping funding cuts could produce a financial shortfall the city would struggle to bridge. Still, he appeared confident he’d be leading the legal fight against the White House, a battle that would likely outlast his first term.

“If dollars related to individual grants are clawed back, we’ll make a determination about how to proceed,” said Adams. “Along with other impacted cities and states, we will keep fighting in the courts for every dollar that has been awarded to the city.”

For Lander, who’s winding down his final months as the city’s money manager after losing in the mayoral primary, the opportunity to once again criticize Adams’ fiscal management comes as he’s viewed as a top contender to join the Mamdani administration, should the Democratic nominee maintain his lead in the polls.

The democratic socialist is not exactly running on fiscal restraint, and his plans for new spending are complicated by the $4.2 billion gap that’s been left for the next fiscal year, according to the city comptroller’s office.

Mamdani has said he would defend against likely federal cuts by raising revenue, primarily by increasing taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy. But Mamdani’s plans for building housing and rehabbing schools likely undercount their costs, and his tax plan is likely to face serious opposition in Albany, as POLITICO has reported. Mamdani’s campaign declined to comment.

In his response to the bevy of concerns raised by the board, Adams kept his remarks brief, thanking the members for their “informative” comments. — Amira McKee & Jeff Coltin

A guard told Rep. Dan Goldman he couldn’t enter a federal jail in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning.

LOCKED OUT: Rep. Dan Goldman said today the Trump administration is once again violating the law by blocking him from visiting a federal jail in Brooklyn where ICE is detaining immigrants.

“I have a very specific statutory right under the law,” he said. “It’s a blatant violation of the law. We are in court right now suing the Department of Homeland Security for that purpose.”

Goldman was referring to his right to conduct oversight visits wherever the Department of Homeland Security is housing immigrants.

The Democrat waited outside the front gate of the Metropolitan Detention Center for 45 minutes this morning. He requested a visit last Friday, he said, but a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told him Tuesday night they wouldn’t be able to accommodate him, without providing a specific reason. He came anyway to make a point and speak to the press.

Goldman as well as Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez were denied entry for an unannounced visit last week. DHS didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The visit today came a day after a federal judge ordered ICE to improve conditions for detained immigrants at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan — a site where Goldman and fellow members of Congress have also been blocked from visiting. With a nod to that, Goldman said congressional oversight is now more important than ever.

“What are they hiding?” said Goldman. “Now we know.” — Jeff Coltin

Gov. Kathy Hochul says she will

HOCHUL’S GOT HIS BACK: Hochul hasn’t endorsed Mamdani even though he’s her party’s mayoral nominee, but she still found a way to show a little love.

As President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on the state lawmaker, Hochul insists she will be in Mamdani’s corner if he leads City Hall.

“He’s worked very hard with affordability front and center, something I believe in, and focusing on solutions,” the governor told NY1’s Bern Hogan. “If he becomes the next mayor, I will stand up and defend him against Donald Trump. You’re not going to come in and walk over our elected officials. So I’ll make it work. Trust us, NYPD, they know what they’re doing.”

Trump today once again lit into Mamdani, calling the 33-year-old democratic socialist “a communist.” On Monday, the president announced he would deploy the National Guard in Washington to address crime — and hinted that other big cities like New York could get the same treatment.

“I wish him well,” said Trump. “I may have to deal with him. I mean, it’s not even conceivable that could happen. Maybe he won’t win, but he won the primaries quite a bit. Shockingly, he won the primaries.”

Hochul has maintained an unusually steady working relationship with the Republican president. They have met twice in the Oval Office to discuss energy policy and the controversial congestion pricing toll program in Manhattan. — Nick Reisman

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to convene a special session to pass legislation to limit local law enforcement’s ability to collaborate with ICE.

DELGADO CALLS OUT GOV: Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado took aim at Hochul today as he joined advocates at Foley Square to call for a special session in Albany to push back on the Trump administration.

“Don’t tell me that counties are acting as renegade counties, governor, when you have the ability to stop it, governor,” said Delgado. “Don’t tell me that we can’t close the loophole of making sure that ICE does not enter into agreements with the private prison industrial complex.”

In March, Hochul blasted “renegade” counties for signing agreements with ICE to detain undocumented immigrants.

Delgado appeared alongside state lawmakers, including state Sens. Julia Salazar and Jabari Brisport, at a rally organized by Citizen Action of New York, VOCAL NY and Make the Road New York. They called on Hochul to convene a special session to pass legislation to limit local law enforcement’s ability to collaborate with ICE and prohibit New York institutions from contracting with immigration detention centers.

The lieutenant governor, who’s running against Hochul in the Democratic primary, also took aim at the Democratic Party for not representing the working class.

“I’m so tired of my fellow Democrats talking about, ‘we’re worried about the rich leaving our state,’” he said. — Mona Zhang

— BROOKLYN DODGERS: New York isn’t collecting millions of dollars in penalties from a real estate firm that hasn’t built promised housing at Atlantic Yards because the company threatened to sue them if they tried. (Gothamist)

— PAY UP: Attorney General Letitia James sued the operator of Zelle, accusing the bank-owned payment platform of facilitating widespread fraud and failing to protect consumers. (POLITICO Pro)

— CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Newly released footage shows New York correctional officers beating a man in custody as the system has seen two high-profile deaths in the last year. (NBC News)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

Politics

Ted Cruz blasts JD Vance as ‘insecure,’ says he’s focused on helping GOP win midterms

Published

15 hours ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at JD Vance for suggesting he’s already focused on a 2028 presidential bid, calling the vice president “insecure” while insisting he’s focused on the 2026 midterms.

“In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they’re feeling insecure,” Cruz said in a phone interview Saturday. “So he’s welcome to make whatever comments he likes. I’m going to keep focusing on the midterms and helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days.”

Cruz’s comments came in response to an NBC News interview Thursday with Vance in which the vice president suggested Cruz was prematurely eyeing a White House run.

“It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Vance said. “At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans. That’s what I’m going to keep on doing.”

Vance is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, but Cruz has said he doesn’t believe Vance is the sure-fire nominee and suggested he might throw his own hat in the ring. “I’ll certainly be part of the discussion,” he told MS NOW in August.

On Saturday, Cruz told Blue Light News he is dedicated to helping Republicans maintain control of both chambers of Congress. He pointed to his travel this cycle to campaign with candidates in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina as well as in his home state of Texas as proof. He also said he has trips planned this month to campaign with Republicans in Alaska, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.

“Over the last 10 years, there’s no Republican in the country who has campaigned for more Senate candidates, more House candidates, more gubernatorial candidates than I have, and this year will be no exception,” he said.

Cruz rattled off a list of a dozen GOP candidates he’s helped bolster in past years, including former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, U.S. House candidate Karoline Leavitt — and the vice president.

“Indeed, ironically, I spent a full day on the road with JD Vance, campaigning with him when he was running for Senate in Ohio [in 2022],” Cruz said. “I was very glad he won that race. I was very glad to help him.”

A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond to Cruz’s latest comments.

Vance campaigned in Texas and Florida this week and will hold a rally in Alaska on Monday.

Politics

Republicans don’t have a clear boogeyman for this year’s midterms

Published

16 hours ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans have tried to find a new boogeyman this year as they rail against Democratic socialism and the “radical” left: Zohran Mamdani. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bernie Sanders.

Still more mentioned than all of them, at least in campaign ads: former President Joe Biden.

A Blue Light News review of hundreds of ads running in battleground House and Senate races in recent months shows Republicans largely haven’t seized on progressive icons in paid media. Instead, Biden is the Democrat most likely to be mentioned in GOP ads this cycle, coming up across dozens of races.

President Donald Trump has frequently sought to blame Biden for high prices and other challenges that his administration has faced. Even so, the former president has become a far less useful punching bag for Republicans since leaving office and remaining largely out of the spotlight: At this time in the 2024 cycle, Biden had been mentioned in more than 1,000 Republican House and Senate ads, according to AdImpact data.

The data illustrates how Republicans have been unable to land on a clear villain as they seek to convince voters that Democratic control of Congress would be worse than keeping the GOP in charge. Their warnings about old establishment figures like Biden and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi don’t land like they once did. But they also haven’t been able to seize on emerging democratic socialists like they had hoped to.

Democrats’ foil, meanwhile, has never been more obvious, with Trump’s approval rating in the mid-thirties amid continued high prices and the Iran war.

“No one will match the level of Pelosi for Republicans, in part because the Obamacare vote was such a touchstone moment. And the ‘we have to pass it to find out what’s in it,’” said Doug Heye, a longtime Republican operative who noted he still has “Fire Pelosi” swag from the Republicans’ successful 2010 midterm rout. The then-speaker was central to the GOP’s campaign message that year.

Part of the challenge for Republicans comes from Democrats’ lack of a clear leader. Pelosi stepped down from Democratic leadership at the start of 2023, and her successor, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) does not elicit the same animus from Republicans. In the 2022 cycle, her last term as Democratic leader, Pelosi was invoked in more than 80 GOP ads, Blue Light News’s analysis found. Now, she’s mentioned just a handful of times, while Jeffries hasn’t been mentioned in any battleground TV ads this year, according to the Blue Light News review of transcripts.

Biden was an easy target for the GOP in 2022 and 2024, when Republicans blamed him for high inflation and the cost of living. Now, poll after poll shows that voters are more likely to hold Trump — not Biden — responsible for the current state of the U.S. economy, even as Trump tries to redirect the blame.

Even Kamala Harris, the most recent Democratic standard-bearer as their 2024 nominee, is named less often in paid media this cycle than Biden. And among other potential future Democratic presidential candidates, only California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez appear as Republican foils — and not as often as Harris or Biden.

Ocasio-Cortez is often mentioned by Republicans in the same sentence as Sanders, especially when the GOP seeks to tie Democrats in battleground races to the party’s progressive wing. In Michigan’s hotly contested Senate race, former public health official Abdul El-Sayed was endorsed by both — something his opponent Mike Rogers and GOP outside groups have seized on.

“El Sayed is endorsed by extreme liberals like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders,” one recent ad from the conservative super PAC Sentinel Action Fund says.

Some Republicans have sought to run against the progressives even when there are no such ties: One ad that ran earlier this year from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the state’s GOP comptroller promised to stand up to Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders and the “new radical left.” Neither Sanders nor Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed in either race.

Most often, the GOP has run ads seeking to tie Democratic candidates to socialism or communism — the concepts themselves — in dozens of House battleground races and nearly every major Senate race. Just this week, the Trump administration launched a national $20 million DHS-funded campaign-style ad spree that features Trump lambasting “communism, socialism, and Marxism.”

But when it comes to specific political figures — like Mamdani, New York City’s mayor — it gets complicated. Republicans once salivated at the prospect of Mamdani as a foil when he was first elected last year. But his first year in office has largely boosted his standing with voters, complicating efforts to turn his tenure into a negative for Democrats.

Trump’s surprising continued embrace of the New York City mayor — just last week, the president stood by Mamdani and said he hoped he would “be a great mayor” — has further complicated GOP efforts to paint him as a villain.

In a handful of swingy New York congressional districts, Republicans have still attempted to tie their opponents to Mamdani, while Democrats have pushed back on the connection. In New York’s 21st District, which Trump won by more than 20 points two years ago, Democratic dairy farmer Blake Gendebien ran an ad arguing that his Republican opponent wants voters to think he’s “running against Zohran Mamdani” but “that’s a load of bull.”

The GOP has characterized prominent Democrats as socialist for decades. As progressives won a series of contested primaries this year, some Democrats worried the rise of figures with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America would give Republicans easy ammunition for the general election.

But being called a “socialist” may not have the same shock value it once did.

“I don’t think just calling a candidate ‘socialist’ works that well for Republicans, particularly this late in the game,” said Matt Towery, a longtime GOP pollster. “If a candidate focuses on parts of the DSA’s platform and can authentically pin it on their opponent, that might work. But Republicans just assume people have a bad reaction to the term socialist, and the term doesn’t elicit the same reaction it used to.”

Politics

‘A slow-moving car crash:’ Republicans are wary of the $200 million-plus price tag to save Ken Paxton

Published

22 hours ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans know they have to spend big to save Ken Paxton. They’re increasingly worried MAGA Inc. won’t throw down in time.

In private conversations over recent weeks, senior Hill Republicans and GOP officials have nudged President Donald Trump’s team to start spending more on the Texas Senate race before it’s too late, according to three people with direct knowledge of those conversations, who were granted anonymity to discuss them.

Those fears escalated after audio leaked of Paxton privately trashing Trump’s midterm convention, with some worrying it could impact whether MAGA Inc. continues spending after a current wave of GOP ad bookings run out Oct. 12.

A Trump operative told Blue Light News that MAGA Inc. and its affiliates are expected to spend near $45 million on direct mail, TV, and digital advertising in Texas through Oct. 12, an increase from its previous $20 million to boost Paxton. But they said the team is still assessing how much more money to send in the final weeks, in consultation with Senate Republicans and their top super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund.

The Trump operative, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly, would not commit to any plans when asked by Blue Light News.

With national Democrats starting to finally spend for their Senate nominee, James Talarico, after months of holding off, and as polling of the race tightens, Republicans expect the cost of salvaging Paxton’s campaign will only skyrocket. And, they’ve started to panic.

“It’s a five-alarm fire, no doubt,” one GOP senator said. “Can we put it out? I hope so.”

“This is a slow-moving car crash that we’re witnessing right now,” a Republican strategist in the state said. “And there’s a 75% chance that the ultimate result here will be catastrophic from a GOP Senate majority standpoint.”

A fourth Republican, a national operative, spoke to the urgency factor: “While it’s money we shouldn’t have needed to spend, it needs to be spent now,” said a national GOP operative, describing the state as more winnable than North Carolina, Georgia and potentially Ohio.

Even with a massive war chest, Texas is turning into a huge money sink for the GOP that senators worry could hurt them in other tight races as they work to defend deep-red states and try to flip blue seats in Michigan and New Hampshire.

Trump himself nodded to some of the concerns at a rally just across the Texas border in Oklahoma Thursday night, saying those voters aren’t the ones he’s concerned about.

“We’re worried about Michigan. We’re worried about Texas,” he told the crowd. “We’re worried about a few states.”The president is scheduled to visit Texas again next week for a rally in San Antonio next Wednesday.

SLF poured another $60 million into Texas on Wednesday, bringing its total expenditure there to a record-breaking $131 million. With the MAGA Inc. money and additional GOP ad reservations, the race is already on track to top $200 million from outside Republican groups hoping to save Paxton. Paxton’s own campaign recently announced a $20 million ad buy — one of the largest single media investments in a Texas Senate race.

Some Republicans want MAGA Inc. to take over spending for Paxton in Texas in the final few weeks, so SLF can focus its resources elsewhere. MAGA Inc. could also funnel money into SLF’s recently established Texas PAC. But, according to two people with direct knowledge of that matter, that hasn’t happened.

“At some point I think the people spending that money are going to have to make hard choices and figure out where the money can have the biggest impact, and certainly Texas is the most expensive,” Sen. John Cornyn, who lost to Trump-backed Paxton in the primary, recently told POLITICO.

SLF Executive Director Alex Latcham indicated to Blue Light News the group will keep spending in Texas: “Senate Leadership Fund’s investment through Texas PAC affirms our commitment to maintaining the Republican majority and defeating Far-Left liberals like James Talarico.”

But Republicans’ money concerns have been complicated by Paxton himself. A growing number of GOP senators and top operatives have been stunned by what they described as unforced errors by the Texas Senate nominee. For example, he crossed one of the brightest red lines with Trump, telling a group of donors that “everybody’s numbers dropped” after the president’s GOP convention in Dallas last month, according to the audio leak reported by The New York Times.

“There seems to be very little strategy there,” said another Republican senator, granted anonymity to candidly discuss the race. “Sometimes, I think [Paxton] wants to lose.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump, while on his way to Texas to tour a motor facility on Thursday, told reporters he hadn’t talked to Paxton about his convention comments. Later, he told a crowd in Texas that “Ken Paxton was at my side more than anybody, and I have to always remember that because he can be a pain in the ass sometimes. I’ll be honest.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters this week that he hadn’t seen the audio of Paxton trashing Trump’s convention. He acknowledged the stakes in his home state were high — and that the influx of cash is key.

“The reason that it is a serious race and a close race right now is that for several months the Democrats were massively outspending us,” he said, “and I am glad now that we are seeing money invested in communicating with the voters.”

The White House has attempted to reassure concerned senators, with chief of staff Susie Wiles telling Senate Republicans this week that there will be enough money available for competitive races in the final stretch, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting.

GOP operatives in both Michigan and New Hampshire said they feel that some of the cash being shoveled toward Texas should be going to their states instead. Most polls show Republicans running narrowly behind or neck and neck in both states, even though they hold a spending advantage on the airwaves there.

“We’re focusing so much on ‘we’ve got to put this money into Texas.’ Why? We’ve never had a problem in Texas. Let’s focus on taking back a seat we haven’t had in years,” said an ally of former Sen. John E. Sununu, who’s in a tight race against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. “There are real chances in Michigan and New Hampshire,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamics.

Sununu’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Latcham, who heads SLF, said that “Texas PAC is a dedicated effort that will not take resources from our other ongoing investments across the Senate map.”

Recent polling still shows the Texas Senate race with a razor-thin margin. Most public polling over the past two months shows Talarico with an edge, though Paxton’s campaign released an internal poll Tuesday that shows Paxton leading by three points among likely voters, 48% to 45%.

“I don’t think the needle has moved in the last month,” said one Texas Republican elected official, granted anonymity to speak frankly. “Unless it’s the worst polling that’s ever been done in political history, all this spend hasn’t changed anything, and I think people have made their mind up.”

Lisa Kashinsky, Samuel Benson, Alex Gangitano and Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.