{"id":12109,"date":"2025-08-06T21:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T21:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/hochul-turns-on-the-sarcasm-for-mike-lawler\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T21:17:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T21:17:00","slug":"hochul-turns-on-the-sarcasm-for-mike-lawler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/hochul-turns-on-the-sarcasm-for-mike-lawler\/","title":{"rendered":"Hochul turns on the sarcasm for Mike Lawler"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With help from Amira McKee<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Gov.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8 \ud83d\udea8 <\/b>\u2014 \u201cTrump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race<\/a>,\u201d by NYT\u2019s Nicholas Fandos, Jeremy W. Peters, Maggie Haberman and Katherine Rosman: \u201cPresident Trump may have moved out of New York City, but he has privately discussed whether to intercede in its fractious race for mayor to try to stop Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, according to eight people briefed on the discussions.\u201d (More below<\/b>)<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bCRY ME A RIVER:<\/b> Even as Gov. Kathy Hochul doubles down on her Democratic gerrymandering plan, she said she\u2019s feeling overcome with despondency for New York Republicans who could lose their seats when she tries to redraw New York\u2019s maps to boost her party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really sad,\u201d Hochul said today, when asked if she had a message for any GOP reps who might see their seat erased if she pushes through a full-fledged gerrymander.<\/p>\n

Hochul and California Gov. Gavin Newsom sprinted to the front lines of the mucky redistricting war and have vowed to redraw their own maps to add more Democratic seats ever since President Donald Trump called on Texas to abruptly redraw its Congressional maps to add 5 more GOP seats.<\/p>\n

Luckily, Hochul noted, there\u2019s a way out.<\/p>\n

His name is Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, and, she said, he has the political power and sway in Washington to end partisan gerrymandering with his forthcoming federal bill that would ban the practice nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has so much enormous power in Washington,\u201d Hochul said of Lawler.<\/p>\n

Sike! She was kidding. She doesn\u2019t feel sad. She doesn\u2019t think Lawler has any juice in D.C. and she definitely doesn\u2019t seem to be slowing down her push to gerrymander the hell out of New York in what she says is a response to Texas\u2019 efforts.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin indicated he\u2019s encouraging other Democratic governors<\/a> to consider redrawing their maps too. And the red state of Missouri, which has two GOP House seats, could be Republicans\u2019 next gerrymandering target<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the redistricting war looks to be going nuclear, Hochul is daring Republicans like Lawler to loudly call for an end to their party\u2019s redistricting effort in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell them to call the president of their own party and say, \u2018Stand down in the war with New York and California and other Democratic states,\u2019\u201d Hochul said. \u201cIf you want to stop what you\u2019re doing in Texas, I’ll stand down. You started it. You end it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a guy who\u2019s now saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to introduce a bill to get it changed,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThe same guy who promised a full restoration of the state and local tax deduction comes back far short from that and spins it as a win that everybody’s buying. He has no power. He won’t get it done. And I’m not sympathetic because he was silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawler\u2019s office noted that the increases in state and local tax deductions he fought with Trump for during the creation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provides relief for most of his district, with only the top 10 percent of taxpayers not getting a tax cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cKathy Hochul is not just the worst Governor in America, she\u2019s also the dumbest,\u201d Lawler said in a statement. \u201cAfter years of calling for the SALT cap to be fixed, she\u2019s now attacking the solution because Democrats weren\u2019t the ones to get it done, my New York GOP colleagues and I were. No one believes a word she says. Her own colleagues in the State Legislature mock her at every turn. What a pathetic excuse for a leader of New York State.\u201d \u2014 Jason Beeferman<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

TRUMP EYES NYC MAYOR\u2019S RACE: <\/b>Trump is \u201cvery interested\u201d in the New York City mayoral race, said Republican billionaire John Catsimatidis, who is friendly with both Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams. Catsimatidis said he dined Friday with Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a New York guy, he grew up in New York,\u201d Catsimatidis told Playbook. \u201cHe loves New York. He wants to make sure there\u2019s proper accounting in New York, that the quality of life goes on in New York and that we don\u2019t lose any more population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump hasn\u2019t committed to a role in the race, though, and Catsimatidis said he wants the president to hold off \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him to put off decisions on anything until September,\u201d Catsimatidis said.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported<\/a> on the president\u2019s interest earlier today.<\/p>\n

The Times also reported that during a closed-door meeting with Lawler last month in the White House, Trump discussed the mayor\u2019s race with the Hudson Valley congressman.<\/p>\n

A person familiar with the meeting told Playbook that Trump did not express a specific preference for any of the mayoral candidates, but rather was interested in who has the best shot at winning.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s involvement would come as Cuomo\u2019s pushing for the field to coalesce around the strongest challenger to Mamdani by mid-September \u2014 a dynamic that currently favors the former governor, according to most polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president runs the country and what is said to him at the dinner party is, \u2018We saved America, we saved the free world, now it\u2019s time to save New York,” Catsimatidis said. “I\u2019m pretty sure he agreed with it.\u201d \u2014<\/i><\/b> Nick Reisman and Jason Beeferman<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

ANDREW CUOMO, THE REPLY GUY:<\/b> If you haven\u2019t been on X in the last 24 hours (lucky you) you\u2019ve missed Cuomo\u2019s furious \u2014 and curious \u2014 barrage of posts and replies.<\/p>\n

Since Monday, Cuomo has expressed gratitude<\/a> to someone with the username \u201cAndrew Cuomo is a Sex Pest.\u201d He called on Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani<\/a> to \u201cBoycott, Divest, and Sanction\u201d his property in Uganda \u2014 a country, he noted, \u201cthat murders LGBTQIA+ people.\u201d And the former governor even responded earnestly<\/a> to someone else who told him to \u201cGive it up grandpa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo grandkids yet- but I’ve got the experience and the ability to get things done,\u201d Cuomo wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The mayoral hopeful and failed primary candidate has posted over 35 times on X over the past two days, mostly with a new, direct tone that would\u2019ve been unbecoming of the highly-coordinated primary campaign he was running just two months ago.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new social media approach from the 67-year-old and his campaign after his millennial foe Mamdani successfully utilized the medium to handily beat him in the Democratic primary and surge the under-30 turnout.<\/p>\n

So is Andrew himself behind the account?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hired this really smart kid named A.J. Parkinson,\u201d Rich Azzopardi told Playbook, an apparent tongue-in-cheek reference to a fictitious character<\/a> Cuomo\u2019s father first brought to life and quoted frequently in the early \u201880s.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, Parkinson emerged around the same time Cuomo took his last nap \u2014 a fact we now know because he told us so<\/a> in one of his many replies on X this afternoon.<\/p>\n

MAGA influencer Laura Loomer loves it.<\/p>\n

\u201cW,\u201d she wrote<\/a> in response to Cuomo\u2019s call for a Uganda-centric BDS movement.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s campaign did not comment on Cuomo\u2019s new online approach. \u2014 Jason Beeferman<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

NO MATCHING FUNDS FOR ADAMS: <\/b>The New York City Campaign Finance Board denied Adams millions of dollars in matching funds for the tenth time this morning \u2014 and suggested in a strongly worded statement that Adams will not be getting a penny anytime soon, POLITICO reported today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The regulatory body denied Adams the public funding he\u2019s seeking for his general election bid on two grounds: His campaign has not submitted required paperwork, and the board has reason to believe the campaign violated the law.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s decision escalates a long-simmering standoff with the incumbent and hobbles Adams\u2019 ability to compete at a time when he is already at a severe disadvantage. The mayor dropped out of the Democratic primary after the controversial dismissal of a federal bribery case<\/a> against him. He is now running in the crowded general election as an independent.<\/p>\n

Fellow independents Cuomo and Jim Walden are hoping to take down Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has solidly staked out the left lane in the general election. So is GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.<\/p>\n

Cuomo\u2019s base overlaps with Adams\u2019, as does Sliwa\u2019s, although to a lesser degree. Should the multimillion-dollar hole in his war chest persist, the mayor will be forced to continue the time-consuming process of fundraising long after his opponents, placing yet another obstacle in the way of his longshot comeback bid.<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 campaign did not immediately comment on the board\u2019s latest decision. \u2014<\/i><\/b> Joe Anuta<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 PAC CASH<\/b>: The pro-Adams PAC, Empower NYC, has raised $1 million in support of the mayor\u2019s long-shot reelection bid, including from crypto industry donors. (City and State<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2014 NUCLEAR OPTION:<\/b> Hochul\u2019s administration wants to continue subsidizing New York\u2019s aging nuclear facilities until 2050. (POLITICO Pro<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2014 RYDER\u2019S LAW:<\/b> The death of a New York City carriage horse has renewed calls for City Hall to phase-out horse-drawn carriages. (CBS News<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Missed this morning\u2019s New York Playbook? We forgive you. <\/b>Read it here<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With help from Amira McKee \ud83d\udea8 \ud83d\udea8 \u2014 \u201cTrump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race,\u201d by NYT\u2019s Nicholas Fandos, Jeremy W. Peters, Maggie Haberman and Katherine Rosman: \u201cPresident Trump may have moved out of New York City, but he has privately discussed whether to intercede in its fractious race for mayor to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}