New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she was motivated by economics — not politics — when she abruptly pulled the plug on Wednesday on a long-anticipated and soon-to-take-effect plan to toll drivers entering part of Manhattan.
Hardly anybody at the state Capitol in Albany seemed to believe Hochul’s sudden shift, including members of her own party.
Hochul’s decision to abandon the years-in-the-making tolling plan 25 days before it was to go into effect came as a shock to Democrats and Republicans alike, angering transit advocates and environmentalists who spent more than a decade pushing Albany lawmakers to pass it. It made odd bedfellows of business titans and progressive lawmakers typically at odds who longed to see the tolls go live.
Many of them said they view the governor’s decision as a brazen political attempt to help Democratic congressional candidates in New York City’s suburbs, a political battleground where congestion pricing has become a significant issue in a handful of races that could help decide which party wins control of the House of Representatives.
But Hochul spent the better part of three years being one of congestion pricing’s biggest boosters, and even praised New York’s tolling plan overseas as recently as two weeks ago. The governor seemed to anticipate that her critics would say she’s acting politically.
“To those cynics who question my motivation, I approach every decision through one lens: What is best for New Yorkers?” Hochul said in her Wednesday address. “And we need to make sure our solutions work for everyone, especially, especially those who are struggling to make ends meet.”
She was right to anticipate the criticism.
“I get politics, I get elections,” said Assemblymember Tony Simone, a Manhattan Democrat whose district largely lies within the congestion pricing zone. “But leaders stand by policies that work. Leaders take the brunt of the hits when things don’t become popular.”
Hochul, who took office in 2021, is the de facto leader of New York’s Democratic Party, and has rarely been afraid to jump into national politics when the opportunity arises.
She’s leaned hard into her role as a surrogate for President Joseph Biden, touting his electoral prospects on cable news programs and standing beside him — literally — when he announced a unilateral crackdown on border crossings on Tuesday.
She faced criticism for the Democratic Party’s poor performance in battleground congressional districts in New York in 2021, which helped Republicans take control of the House of Representatives.
Politico reported late Tuesday that Hochul was considering delaying congestion pricing’s launch amid concerns raised by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat who would be in line to become speaker if Democrats win the House in November.
In a statement, Jeffries’ spokesperson Andy Eichar said the leader supports a temporary pause to “better understand the financial impact on working-class New Yorkers who have confronted a challenging inflationary environment as a result of the pandemic.”
Hochul insists her decision to halt congestion pricing only has to do with New Yorkers’ pocketbooks. In a six-minute video address on Wednesday, she said a $15 toll is too much of a burden on working people and would threaten to harm New York City’s post-pandemic recovery.
Later in the day, her political team sent key supporters a list of 11 suggested talking points that mirrored her speech’s economic-heavy tenor. None of those talking points obtained by Gothamist mentioned the political ramifications of her decision, which has garnered Hochul some praise from Republican officials normally critical of her, as well as suburban moderate Democrats whose politics more closely align with the governor’s.
“Implementing the planned congestion pricing program at this moment risks too many unintended consequences,” one of the talking points reads. “This is not a problem Gov. Hochul is going to put on the backs of hardworking New Yorkers who are getting hammered on costs.”
Plenty of people are questioning Hochul’s motivation, including Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay, a Republican from Oswego County.
“This sudden heel turn is because the political ramifications of congestion pricing would have hurt Democrats in upcoming congressional races,” he said. “This was not a decision to do right by the people or to manage our cost-of-living crisis. This was a calculated maneuver to avoid a political disaster.”
At a hastily organized rally outside Hochul’s Manhattan office, Daniel Pearlstein, policy and communications director for Riders Alliance, a nonprofit advocating for subway and bus riders, said the governor’s reversal is a betrayal. He said the move could also be politically dubious for Hochul.
“I think that public transit was her bright spot and that she was proving herself to New Yorkers,” Pearlstein said. “All of that can change in an instant and it can’t recover from that position unfortunately. So the sooner she changes her mind, not just the better for her, but the better for all of us.”
At least six districts in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island are legitimately up for grabs in November.
Rep. Mondaire Jones is among the Democrats who could benefit from Hochul’s decision. He is running to reclaim the Hudson Valley-based 17th District, which he gave up amid a redistricting shuffle in 2022.
Jones — who is challenging first-term Rep. Mike Lawler, a Rockland County Republican who is one of the Democrats’ top targets nationwide — said Hochul “made the right decision” in an interview with Gothamist.
“Congestion pricing should not go into effect as the scheme was drafted because it would have devastating impacts on my former and hopefully future constituents who lack adequate public transportation infrastructure engineering,” he said.
Lawler has made an issue of Jones’ past support for congestion pricing in 2022, when Jones was running for a seat in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. At a NY1/WNYC debate that year, Jones said congestion pricing is “long overdue,” though he added a scenario without exemptions would necessitate “adequate transportation infrastructure … to get them to where they need to go.”
Lawler, who is a potential Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2026, called Hochul a “disgrace.”
“She is making a political decision in an election-year gambit while continuing to support this disastrous program,” Lawler said. “This program is nothing more than a money grab as evidenced by the fact that she’s considering increasing taxes on small businesses to make up for the loss of revenue by congestion pricing not going into effect.”
Democrats, meanwhile, were split on Hochul’s decision.
Simone and a handful of like-minded New York City progressives held a news conference not far from Hochul’s Capitol office Wednesday afternoon, lambasting the governor for pulling the plug on a program that she herself had lavishly praised as recently as 2 ½ weeks ago.
Assemblymember Emily Gallagher of Brooklyn faulted Hochul for not having the “political courage” to see congestion pricing through. Assemblymember Bobby Carroll, also of Brooklyn, said Hochul “handed Republicans a win,” allowing them to claim in future campaign ads that they beat back congestion pricing.
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani of Queens said Hochul “pulled out the rug” from more than 7 million New Yorkers who rely on public transit and did it “all in the name of political cowardice.”
“This is an illustration of political malpractice of the highest order,” he said.
Others, like Staten Island Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, Bronx Assemblymember Kenny Burgos of the Bronx and Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski of Rockland County, said Hochul is making the right choice. Zebrowski chairs the committee that oversees the MTA and other authorities.
David Mack, a member of the MTA’s Board of Directors, said he was “pleased” Hochul has delayed congestion pricing, which he called an “additional tax on a region still recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic.”
If Hochul’s decision was based on politics, Mack didn’t seem to mind.
“I simply say that if, at the end of the day, the correct decision is made and it is based on the political will of the people, then the political system has actually worked,” he said in a statement.
Michelle Bocanegra contributed reporting.
