US politics matter

A letter from the Democratic Governors Association comes amid Trump threats to send troops to Chicago.

President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to the city to fight crime.

Colorado has a roughly $1 billion budget hole to address in a legislative special session.

The new map could help Republicans flip as many as five seats, boosting the GOP’s chances of holding House control.

A new memo identifies 45 words and phrases for Democrats to avoid, alleging the terms turn voters off. They span six categories — from “therapy speak” to “explaining away crime.”

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

The 78-year-old Democrat is eschewing a possible member-on-member primary, but did not indicate whether he will retire from Congress.

Trump and his allies are pushing their redistricting efforts with many of the same strategies they’ve used to get Congress in line.

Harrison recently uploaded his 2020 Senate campaign list to his Substack, appearing to violate Substack’s rules. People are not happy.

The criminal prosecution of Ingrid Lewis-Martin and other adviserss darkens the legal cloud hovering over the New York mayor’s longshot reelection bid.

The former president saluted Gavin Newsom’s “measured approach” that could net Democrats five seats.

Inside the MAGA-parodying strategy that has rocketed the California governor to algorithmic dominance — while annoying leading Republicans.

The comments came as Indiana House Republicans were preparing to convene for an afternoon caucus Monday to discuss redistricting.

In a year when Trump is not on the ballot, Republicans argue holding the House majority is a way to protect the president.

The Democrats will each be escorted by law enforcement officers to ensure they return Wednesday, as the state GOP prepares to pass a new congressional map.

Big donors have pulled back from giving to the party, and small donors are not growing enough to make up the gap.

With help from Amira McKeeTHE FINAL STRAW? Construction executive Erden Arkan must not have friends in the Trump administration like Mayor Eric Adams does. So while the Department of Justice moved to dismiss the mayor’s case, the wheels of justice kept turning for Arkan. The Turkish-American co-owner of KSK Construction Group was given a light sentence of one year probation today in Manhattan federal court. He’ll also pay a $9,500 fine and $18,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in January to giving 10 employees $1,250 each to donate to Adams’ campaign. But even while accepting that he broke New York City campaign finance laws, Arkan’s lawyer Jonathan Rosen presented him as a victim of “an unprecedented act of prosecutorial discretion,” suggesting that federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York wanted to salvage some sort of a win following the tumult and rounds of resignations over the dismissal of Adams’ case. Rosen also suggested Arkan’s case never should have been brought in federal court in the first place, arguing he was “targeted… to serve some greater end in a bureaucratic power struggle over the Adams case.” While an official from the Turkish consulate helped coordinate Arkan’s May 2021 fundraising event for Adams, Rosen said that Arkan “never had any knowledge of foreign interference” alleged by federal prosecutors. He maintained that neither the Adams campaign nor the Turkish consulate knew about Arkan’s straw donor scheme, which he’d cooked up himself. Judge Dale Ho dismissed the arguments. While he conceded “it is true that there is some incongruency between the government’s handling of Mr. Arkan’s case and Mayor Adams’ case,” he was firm that “there is not a shred of evidence in the record” indicating that the prosecutors acted wrongly prosecuting Arkan. Another related case hasn’t been resolved yet. Former Adams aide Mohamed Bahi pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping to organize a separate straw donor scheme for Adams’ 2021 campaign. While Adams himself hasn’t been accused of coordinating straw donations, the practice has been a serious problem for his campaign. Adams’ old friend Dwayne Montgomery pleaded guilty last year along with other co-conspirators to giving Adams illegal donations, and THE CITY has reported on numerous examples of more apparent straw donations to Adams. Rep. Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor, told Playbook earlier this week that this wasn’t an ideal outcome for Adams’ case. “As a prosecutor, I never liked when, ultimately, the only people held accountable for their crimes were the lower level people,” he said. “But under the circumstances, when you’ve charged someone and there’s a legitimate reason to charge that person, the right thing to do is to finish off the case.” — Jeff ColtinLET’S ALL GO TO THE (ASSEMBLY) LOBBY: New York moviegoers might soon have an easier time skipping the increasingly lengthy block of advertisements and trailers shown before the film starts, if a bill introduced this week becomes law. Assemblymember Clyde Vanel wants to require theaters to display the time a movie actually starts when promoting showings or selling tickets. His proposal comes as movies increasingly start as much as half an hour after the advertised time. “For the consumer, this can have a real monetary and social impact,” he wrote in his memo accompanying the bill. “Consumers not only may leave obligations earlier than they needed to in order to see the motion picture, but they may also consume their snacks purchased at the theater prior to the movie beginning.” “There is no justification for deceiving consumers,” he wrote, especially since moviegoers “cannot bring their own snacks to eat if they consumed their purchased snacks within the extremely long 30-minute preview period.” The bill would not apply to broadcasts of the Assembly session — where starting within half an hour of the scheduled time would be a major improvement. — Bill MahoneyNO ‘SHOOK ONES’: Queens Borough President Donovan Richards pledged today to help turn out Black voters for Zohran Mamdani in November, evoking both Martin Luther King Jr. and Mobb Deep in his enthusiastic endorsement. The Democratic mayoral nominee’s policies — including a rent freeze and free and fast buses — are common sense, not socialism, Richards said in the borough that he and Mamdani both call home. Richmond Hill, Queens was the last stop of Mamdani’s “Five Boroughs Against Trump” tour. “Count me in as a democratic socialist if it means that everyday New Yorkers will be able to afford this city,” Richards said, adding that civil rights icon King “was called a socialist and communist as well” and referencing hip-hoppers Mobb Deep by boasting that there are no “shook ones” in the borough, a reference to the group’s hit song. Richards had previewed his endorsement of Mamdani a day earlier. One of Mamdani’s biggest weak spots electorally has been politically moderate Black voters in areas like southeast Queens. And while he now has Richards as a surrogate, Queens Democratic Party leader Rep. Greg Meeks has yet to endorse him. (A Meeks spokesperson did not respond today to a query on whether the House member plans to meet with Mamdani.) Mamdani’s support in the primary was stronger in parts of the city that are heavily gentrified. Southeast Queens includes neighborhoods that have resisted being priced out. Mamdani acknowledged the critical balance between creating homes for new residents without pushing out longer-term residents. “One of the many things I appreciate about the borough president is how he has been able to chart a course of building more housing (though) not at the expense of displacing those who already live there,” he said. — Emily Ngo SEX WORK DEBATE: Andrew Cuomo went on the offensive today over Mamdani’s past support for state legislation that would decriminalize sex work in New York. The former governor said in a statement that he spent years fighting iterations of the bill over concerns it would lead to an increase in sex trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable New Yorkers. “Mark my words: This is the real world and if passed, this legislation will open the floodgates,” Cuomo said in the statement. “Mamdani may not remember the bad old days of New York City, where Times Square was seedy and crime infested and New Yorkers knew which neighborhoods to avoid at all costs. We do, and no one should be eager to return to that era.” Cuomo’s stance was backed by Sonia Ossorio, executive director at National Organization for Women New York City. Ossorio has previously criticized Mamdani’s position on decriminalization. “Full decriminalization doesn’t protect vulnerable people — it expands a market that thrives on exploitation, human trafficking, and crime in our neighborhoods,” she said in a statement. Mamdani twice co-sponsored a bill that would decriminalize sex work and clear past arrest records related to prostitution while still allowing law enforcement to go after trafficking operations. Campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec declined to say whether Mamdani still supports the concept and whether he would advocate for the legislation from City Hall if elected. But she noted that the Democratic nominee has pledged additional resources to assist victims of prostitution and sex trafficking. “While Andrew Cuomo is only interested in ‘governing’ behind a phone screen, Zohran is committed to genuine public safety, including combatting sex trafficking,” Pekec said in a statement that referenced a new department Mamdani plans to create. “His Department of Community Safety will invest $40 million towards victims services including for programs like Safe Horizon, for which funding has been cut in past budgets.” The issue of whether to decriminalize sex work has been the subject of heated debate over the years. Organizations like DecrimNY, a coalition of sex workers and various organizations aligned with the decriminalization movement, argue the changes would make sex workers safer by allowing them to report violence or unsafe working conditions to authorities without fear of arrest while delivering more autonomy to consenting adults. — Joe Anuta CANNABIS REGULATORS SUED AGAIN: A dozen cannabis dispensary licensees are suing the state over a flip-flop on the cannabis agency’s interpretation of the state’s 2021 legalization law. “The consequences are staggering. Petitioners’ investments, often more than a million dollars, are now at risk” the petition reads. “Their livelihoods are being threatened.” The petitioners are licensed under the Conditional Adult-use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) and Social and Economic Equity (SEE) licensing programs, which prioritize entrepreneurs with past cannabis convictions, women and minorities. The legal challenge seeks to block regulators from enforcing a new interpretation of school distance requirements in the state’s cannabis legalization law, which would force licensees out of their dispensary locations that had been previously approved by the agency. Agency about-face: Earlier this month, the Office of Cannabis Management notified more than 100 licensees that their dispensary locations could be impacted due to the agency’s misinterpretation of state law. The licensees are asking the court to annul the agency’s new interpretation of the law, declare their locations compliant and block the state from taking any enforcement actions against them over the school distance requirement. A spokesperson for the OCM said that the office does not comment on pending litigation. The agency is proposing a legislative fix that would allow licensees to remain in their locations, but emphasized on its website that passing such legislation “is not a guarantee.” The state is also creating an $15 million applicant relief fund for up to $250,000 per applicant to help find new locations. — Mona Zhang—26 FED PLAZA: As fewer immigrants show up for their court hearings, arrests at 26 Federal Plaza’s immigration courthouses are nearing a standstill. (THE CITY) — GOV. CLEMENCY: Hochul pardoned a Laotian immigrant Friday to stop his deportation. (The New York Times) — CUT THE CHECK: Progressive Democrats in the New York Legislature are decrying Hochul’s $2 billion rebate program as fiscally irresponsible amid looming federal cuts. (Gothamist) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

The state is also getting blasted with robocalls from a mysterious group.

The state Legislature has been locked in a standoff over a push to notch more seats for Republicans in next year’s midterms.

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

The Democratic brand is still in the toilet. But the party is getting some big names to run in tough races.

The former president said he supports California’s response as a temporary offset by Republican mid-decade move to redraw political map.

“We’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts,” Texas House Democratic Caucus chair Gene Wu said in a statement.

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 ColtinLOCKED 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 ColtinHOCHUL’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 ReismanDELGADO 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.

With help from Amira McKeeTHE UNI-TEA: Brooklyn Democrats can be a fractious, feuding bunch. Today, for a short while at least, they buried the hatchet. Bitter rivals stood side by side in boisterous support of Zohran Mamdani at the Flatbush Gardens housing complex, the second stop of the Democratic mayoral nominee’s “Five Boroughs Against Trump” tour. The group included the leader of the Kings County Democratic Party and members of the New Kings Democrats faction, which sprung up as the reformist response to county bosses. It featured moderate Democrats as well as progressives and democratic socialists. “First of all, media, I need you to understand what’s going on right now because I don’t think this group of people agree about nothing,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams observed to chuckles before he launched into his remarks. Williams said New York Democrats more broadly should follow their example in supporting the party’s nominee for mayor. Key party and Brooklyn leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Yvette Clarke, were not in attendance and have yet to endorse Mamdani. Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary seven weeks ago, but many in his party say they still don’t know the young Queens state assemblymember well enough to get behind him. Some say his proposals to freeze rent and make buses free are too unrealistic. Others cite his criticisms of Israel and his reluctance to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” as reasons for concern. Mamdani has struggled to shore up support among politically moderate Black and Jewish voters. For House Democrats focused on winning the majority next year, there’s additionally the concern that having a democratic socialist as the face of the party could hurt moderate Democrats in suburban battlegrounds. But their colleagues in state and city government said today in central Brooklyn that the party needs Mamdani to face President Donald Trump. State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the county party, endorsed Eric Adams in 2021, Cuomo in this year’s primary and Mamdani immediately after he trounced the former governor in June by nearly 13 points. “People just don’t understand that we all want the same thing,” Bichotte Hermelyn told Playbook, referring to Brooklyn Democrats. “The little political fights, it’s just surface. But we all want affordability. We’re all fighting for a working class, we want equity, we want fairness.” The vibe had enough kumbaya to it that Bichotte Hermelyn and City Council Member Justin Brannan stood next to each other. Yes, the same two Democrats who waged one of the nastiest intraparty clashes in recent memory during Brannan’s 2023 campaign. (She revived bullying accusations against him, he won without party resources and concluded on election night that she’s “gotta go.”) Progressive New Kings members had praise for both Mamdani and Bichotte Hermelyn in explaining how a diverse cross-section of Democrats could get on the same page. “It’s indicative of his campaign and who he is,” Council Member Crystal Hudson said of Mamdani. “If all of us can come together behind him, he’s doing something.” Council Member Chi Ossé told Playbook, “I really do applaud Rodneyse on immediately getting into lockstep and showing that Democratic unity is important here. … I think the entire party needs to continue doing what we’re doing in there.” — Emily NgoGOP SPLIT IN ASSEMBLY SPECIAL: Republicans are beginning to coalesce around a candidate for the looming special election to replace Democratic Assemblymember Billy Jones — but not the party leader with the most say in choosing a nominee. Malone Mayor Andrea Dumas locked down support from Rep. Elise Stefanik last week. She was endorsed today by the Conservative Party and Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay. But Stefanik put out a lengthy statement this afternoon calling on Clinton County GOP Chair Jerika Manning to resign for “threatening to tank” the special. “I am not going to let her torpedo Republican candidates in the North Country,” Stefanik wrote. Manning controls 53 percent of the vote as party leaders choose a nominee for the race that’ll likely be held on Election Day. Two individuals familiar with the situation said Stefanik’s statement came about after the county chair declined to join other Republican leaders in endorsing Dumas and continued searching for a new candidate. Manning did not return a request for comment. Plattsburgh Supervisor Michael Cashman has been widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Bridie Farrell, a Child Victims Act advocate and former speed-skater who briefly ran against Stefanik in 2022, formally joined the Democratic field today as well. — Bill Mahoney NOT SWEATING: Gov. Kathy Hochul shrugged at a Siena University poll released this morning that found Stefanik, a potential gubernatorial rival, running competitively in the suburbs and among independent voters. “I’ll let you all figure it out,” she told reporters. “I’m working hard every single day putting money back in peoples’ pockets, making streets safer and fighting the damn Trump administration.” The survey found Hochul with a 14-point lead over Stefanik, 45 percent to 31 percent. The gap between the Democratic governor and the House Republican, while comfortable, is smaller than the 23-point difference Hochul held in June. “I’ve been through countless polls and, guess what, team, there’s going to be a lot more between now and November,” she added. — Nick Reisman ADULT LEARNERS EYE FREE TUITION: More than 16,500 New Yorkers applied to a free community college program for older students, Hochul announced this morning. The City University of New York received about 7,000 of the applications from students seeking associate degrees in high-demand fields, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez said. The remainder went to the State University of New York. The initiative — aimed at adult learners between the ages of 25 and 55 — applies to the 37 community colleges run by SUNY and CUNY. The program, set to begin this fall, is part of Hochul’s affordability push, as she faces a tough reelection bid next year. “I’m going to keep doing my part, focusing on families — my fight is for your family,” Hochul said during a press conference at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. “Focusing on affordability — this is a major part of it, but also putting more money back in people’s pockets.” Hochul insisted the state “has no limit” on the number of applicants because enrollment is still lower than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 4 million working-age adults in New York do not have a college degree or credential, according to the governor’s office. State lawmakers and higher education advocates told POLITICO earlier this year that community colleges don’t have enough money to implement the plan. The governor allocated $47 million in the state budget for the upcoming school year. When asked by Playbook about those concerns, Hochul pointed to record investments in SUNY and CUNY. — Madina TouréTAKEOVER TAKES: Trump’s unprecedented effort to take over law enforcement in Washington drew a reaction from Mayor Eric Adams today. Asked about Trump’s actions, Adams touted recent decreases in major crime categories to make the case that New York City does not need the type of federal intervention playing out in the nation’s capital. “I’m not part of the group that says we don’t want to work with the federal government, but we don’t need anyone to come in and take over our law enforcement apparatus,” Adams, who is running for reelection as an independent, said during an unrelated news conference. “We’ve got this under control.” Rival independent candidate Andrew Cuomo claimed the turn of events in Washington is “exactly what will happen” if Mamdani wins the general election this fall, though Trump would be more limited in the control he could exert over the NYPD. “Trump will flatten him like a pancake,” Cuomo posted Monday on X. “In 2020, Trump sent the National Guard into other states. Not New York. There’s only one person in this race who can stand up to Trump: the one who already has, successfully and effectively.” Mamdani warned Trump against trying a similar militarization in New York City, as the president has repeatedly floated, while chiding Cuomo for comments he made during a June CBS interview where he warned federal immigration officers are “going to do things that are illegal and unconstitutional” but cautioned New Yorkers not to overreact. “Donald Trump is not above the law and if he comes for New York City, he will have to go through me,” Mamdani said in a statement today. “As Mayor, I will not downplay or enable his authoritarianism — and I certainly will not tell New Yorkers not to ‘overreact’ as Andrew Cuomo did when Trump’s militia tried to bulldoze Los Angeles.” — Maya Kaufman and Joe Anuta ENDORSEMENT WATCH: Former Gov. David Paterson is set to endorse Adams’ reelection bid during a Wednesday event at City Hall, according to a person with direct knowledge of the gathering. The nod comes a month after Paterson held a press conference that called for a united front to defeat Mamdani in the general election. So far, the former elected’s wishes are not playing out. Neither Cuomo, Adams nor GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa have expressed any intention of dropping out of the race. Paterson backed Cuomo in the primary, but his support has waned after Cuomo’s decisive loss to Mamdani in the June 24 primary. — Joe AnutaGUILTY PLEA: A former Adams aide pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, admitting to organizing a fundraiser for the mayor at which he knew money would be raised by illegal straw donations. Bahi’s plea in Manhattan federal court comes four months after Judge Dale Ho dismissed the related charges against Adams after Trump’s Department of Justice sought to drop the case. Bahi said that an unnamed “volunteer of the campaign” had told him Adams’ political operation would raise money by straw donations at a December 2020 fundraiser with Uzbek-American business leader Tolib Mansurov and would then seek to match the contributions with public funds. It wasn’t clear which volunteer Bahi was referring to, though Adams’ indictment suggests it was Ahsan Chugtai, another man who was later hired by Adams’ City Hall as a Muslim community liaison. Adams adviser Frank Carone did not respond when asked about it, saying the case has “no connection at all or relevance” to the Adams campaign. Adams’ lawyers have maintained that he was not aware of any of the numerous confirmed illegal contributions to his 2021 campaign. Bahi did not respond when reporters asked how he felt about pleading guilty when Adams got off. Turkish-American developer Erden Arkan also pleaded guilty to making straw donations in January, and his sentencing is scheduled for this Friday. Bahi was hired as a Muslim liaison in the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit after Adams won. He resigned last October, the day before he was arrested and charged with witness tampering and destruction of evidence. He’s been in plea discussions with the government since at least February. Bahi agreed to pay $32,000 restitution, Ho said, and could face up to six months in prison and a $20,000 fine at sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov.ember 18. — Jeff Coltin— SPY-FI: The Adams administration is using its flagship broadband program to give police real-time access to NYCHA camera feeds — without telling anyone. (New York Focus) — AI, ESQ.:  A Queens judge is fining a landlord’s attorney for using fake, AI-generated court cases to support his argument. (Hell Gate) — TEAM ZOHRAN: Mamdani is growing his inner circle, a group of trusted advisers that lean younger and farther left than that of his rivals. (New York Times) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

Black city mayors fear what’s next from Trump as he rails against crime in urban centers that didn’t support him.

O’Rourke plans to seek sanctions against Paxton for ‘outright lie.’

The longtime Democratic lawmaker lost to Bernie Moreno last year.

With help from Amira McKeeMAMDANI’S BIG FOIL: Affordability was at the center of Zohran Mamdani’s primary campaign for New York City mayor. Donald Trump is the focus of his general election bid. The Democratic nominee launched a five-borough tour “against Trump” on Monday to amplify how he believes the president will bring harm to New York City — and why he thinks he should be elected to lead the vanguard. He’s also tying opponents Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa closely to Trump, adopting a classic Democratic general election playbook by casting two fellow Dems and the GOP nominee as the president’s favored picks. Mamdani’s recalibration comes as Trump announced he’s activating the National Guard to respond to crime in Washington, D.C., listing New York and Chicago among the cities that could be next in line. It also follows a New York Times story about how Trump has talked with Cuomo as the president considers involving himself with the election. Cuomo has denied discussing the race with Trump. “We see far too many parallels between Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo, far too many stories that make clear that both administrations have been characterized by corruption, by a sense of impunity,” Mamdani told reporters Monday at the offices of 1199SEIU, which endorsed Cuomo in the primary but is backing Mamdani in the general election. The young state assemblymember who stunned the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo in June — despite the former governor’s universal name recognition and a $25 million PAC in his corner — now faces the task of winning the November election by a hefty enough margin to bolster his mandate. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is still seeking the endorsements of party leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. But with or without them, he’s going after Trump — and anyone he argues would be used by Trump against New Yorkers. He noted Monday that Cuomo conversed with Trump, Adams’ criminal fraud case was dropped at the urging of the Trump administration and that Sliwa shares a political party with the president. “My administration will be Donald Trump’s worst nightmare,” Mamdani declared just last week, arguing his policies will lift up the same working class voters the president has left behind with cuts to health care and food benefits. Trump has questioned Mamdani’s citizenship, vowed to arrest him if he interferes with federal agents’ crackdown on illegal immigration and threatened to cut federal funding to New York City if Mamdani doesn’t “do the right thing.” Cuomo, making another bid for mayor after losing by nearly 13 points in June to Mamdani, has argued that Trump would step all over Mamdani. Cuomo said he already stood up to Trump as governor during the Covid pandemic. “Trump will flatten him like a pancake,” Cuomo posted on X. (He used another food simile in a June primary debate, saying Trump would cut into Mamdani “like a hot knife through butter.”) Adams, the incumbent mayor, has said he is not beholden to anyone, including the president. He has insisted that he seeks a working relationship with Trump for the benefit of the city. And Sliwa, the longshot Republican making a repeat bid for mayor, has no direct relationship with Trump at all. In fact, the GOP nominee has encouraged Trump to stay out of the race for mayor. “Comrade Mamdani is the American people’s worst nightmare,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded Monday, charging that Mamdani’s policies will tank the economy, increase crime and favor undocumented immigrants over American citizens. — Emily NgoPROGRESS IN READING AND MATH: The nation’s largest school system saw notable gains in reading and math scores this year, but disparities persist among Black, Hispanic and disabled students, according to results announced by New York City officials today. About 56.3 percent of third through eighth graders were proficient in English during the 2024-25 school year, a 7.2 percentage point increase from the previous year, according to the latest data. Last school year’s figures represented a nearly 3 percentage point decrease from the year before — and coincided with the rollout of a new reading curriculum. Math scores continued to rise, with 56.9 percent of students meeting standards, compared to 53.4 percent last year and 49.9 percent in 2023. Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos acknowledged there were some “implementation hiccups” in the beginning. “These numbers are telling us — both in [NYC] Reads and [NYC] Solves — that we’re heading in the right direction, but work still needs to be done,” she said in an interview. “So this is just fueling us to do better. It’s by no stretch of the imagination a time for us to rest.” The percentage of Black, Hispanic and English language learners, as well as pupils with disabilities, scoring proficiently remain disproportionately low despite increases. About 43 percent and 43.1 percent of Black and Hispanic students, respectively, demonstrated mastery of math, compared to 38.4 percent and 39.7 percent the previous year. Aviles-Ramos called the persistent discrepancies “unacceptable” but also touted the improvements. “They are huge increases and we beat pre-pandemic levels and so we know that what we’re doing is working,” she said. — Madina TouréCUOMO’S ZOHRAN LAW PUSH: Cuomo promoted “Zohran’s Law” today, his new plan to block wealthy people from living in rent-stabilized apartments. His proposal — while clearly political in origin — comes with a big practical question mark: Just how eager would the Democratic-dominated state Legislature be to work with Cuomo to pass such a measure if he were elected mayor? Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said the changes could be enacted if Albany agreed to repeal the Urstadt Law. “If that was successful, we could do that at the city level,” he said. The law, a measure enacted during Gov. Nelson Rockefeller’s tenure, gives Albany control over rent rules. Progressives have spent decades demanding Urstadt’s repeal, but their push has been met with long odds, with most Albany lawmakers over the past half century hesitant to give up the power to control housing rules, as well as donations from landlords who have historically been the state’s top campaign contributors. Even progressive legislators who’ve supported repeal in the past would likely be hesitant to move forward if it meant giving Cuomo more power. As governor, Cuomo floated repealing the law when he attempted to force real estate groups to the table during housing talks in 2011, according to testimony in former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ corruption trial. But he never publicly championed giving up that power while governor. “There are people running for governor right now and I don’t know where they stand on Urstadt, including Gov. Cuomo,” then-City Councilmember Jumaane Williams said in 2014. “I would like to know where he stands on repealing Urstadt and bringing Urstadt back to New York City.” — Bill Mahoney— MAMDANI’S PUBLIC SAFETY: Mamdani’s vision for a new Department of Community Safety shows promise, but public safety experts say transferring NYPD duties to the proposed agency could pose an administrative challenge. (Gothamist) — SHUTTERED SHELTERS: New York City real estate developers are looking to convert closed hotel shelters into residential apartments. (The Wall Street Journal) — ICE CAPITAL: New York City is leading the nation in immigration courthouse arrests by ICE authorities. (THE CITY) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

After years of loyally backing Democrats, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien is diversifying the union’s PAC to support Republicans, too.