Tuesday, October 27, 2026
A Week Before the Election, Hochul Finds Her Running Mate in Mamdani
With a week left in the governor's race, Kathy Hochul picked her closing argument: Zohran Mamdani. The two rode the G train together to Williamsburg last Friday, then showed up together at a get-out-the-vote rally in Crown Heights on Sunday — an outing Hochul turned into a campaign ad on Monday. Mamdani praised Hochul's "clear vision of making life more affordable" and credited her with putting the city "back on firm financial footing." The two disagree on taxing the wealthy and on Israel, but that's apparently a detail for another day.
The takeaway — Hochul needs the voters who elected Mamdani to show up for her too, and she's willing to ride the subway to get them. Whether New Yorkers want their mayor out campaigning for the governor is a question for Nov. 3.
Mamdani Once Wanted to Abolish the Admissions Test. Now Reform Advocates Want Him to Fix It.
The mayor is being asked to change the single test that gets kids into New York's specialized high schools. Former schools chancellor David Banks, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, three borough presidents and several councilmembers were set to rally Tuesday at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church for admissions reform at five of the city's eight specialized high schools. State law makes the SHSAT the sole admissions factor at Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech; last year, Black students received 3.5% of roughly 4,000 specialized-school seats, Asian students received 56.5%, and Stuyvesant admitted three Black students. As an assemblymember, Mamdani backed abolishing that single exam — before reversing course as a mayoral candidate. Banks says the mayor could change the policy "tomorrow." Back in July, Mamdani told NY1 that "a single test does not reflect the aptitude of students across the city," but his spokesperson's current answer is a line about "making sure every child in New York City has access to an excellent education."
The takeaway — The mayor's own old position is now the demand being made of him, and his office's answer is a content-free line about "excellent education." A test that actually sorts by merit was always going to be a problem for this administration — don't bet on the reversal holding.
The City Council Wants to Shrink the Youth Jails. Inside, the Assaults Keep Rising.
The City Council was scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on bills to shrink the city's juvenile detention population, and the numbers explain why. An average of 385 young people were held in secure detention in July across two facilities — Horizon in the Bronx and Crossroads in Brooklyn — with a combined capacity of 259. Youth-on-youth assaults and altercations rose to 185 from April through June, up from 128 in the same period a year earlier. State officials revoked a waiver that had let the city exceed capacity; under it, kids had slept in classrooms and other common spaces. In September, the mayor's office announced a plan to expand alternatives to incarceration, family counseling and community monitoring — a plan Councilmember Althea Stevens, who chairs the children and youth committee, says lacks deadlines and funding figures. "The conditions haven't changed," she said. "They are just as bad as they've always been."
The takeaway — Overcrowded facilities, rising violence, and a mayoral plan with no deadlines and no dollar figures attached. These conditions didn't start under this administration, but a plan that promises everything and commits to nothing won't end them either.