See more of our coverage in your search results.
A pro-charter school super PAC bankrolled by Mike Bloomberg is spending seven figures on a get-out-the-vote effort and media campaign to re-elect Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Bloomberg, a former three-term New York City mayor and billionaire business mogul, donated $1.8 million to the group New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany earlier this year.
The effort will focus on competitive districts across Long Island, the lower Hudson Valley, the Capital Region, southern Brooklyn and Staten Island – suburban and ticket-splitting areas where the race for governor will be decided, the group said.
“Governor Hochul has consistently stood up for New York’s students and families, and now parents are standing up for her,” said Crystal McQueen-Taylor, of New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany.
“This is a true parent-powered movement. Dozens of parents across Brooklyn, Harlem, and the Bronx are knocking on doors because they know what’s at stake for their children’s future,” she said. “And in the suburbs and swing districts where this election will be won, we are making sure Democrats who want to keep New York moving forward show up and vote.”
The push for Hochul came after the governor — who is seeking a second, full four-year term on November 3 — announced she was opting New York state into a federal “education freedom” tax credit scholarship program.
The initiative, championed by President Trump, could benefit more than 2.7 million New York public, parochial and private school students — but New York’s participation was fiercely opposed by the powerful teachers’ union.
A source close to the Bloomberg-backed PAC said the decision to boost Hochul was in the works before her Friday announcement about the tax credit program.
The group is also backing seven moderate Democratic candidates for state Senate, including Larry He in southern Brooklyn and incumbent Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, who reps Staten Island and a portion of southern Brooklyn.
The two New York City districts are closely divided, and increased turnout from Democratic voters there could make a difference.
The other five races cover suburban swing seats on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and in the Capital Region, including: incumbent Monica Martinez in Suffolk County, Rory Lancman in Nassau County’s North Shore, Lisa Vider on the island’s South Shore, Joseph Rand in Rockland County and Sarah Rogerson in Saratoga/Schenectady.
Bloomberg reps declined comment when asked whether the former mayor would spend millions more to aid Hochul during the final stretch of the campaign.
Last month, Bloomberg donated $1 million to another pro-Hochul group, Empire State PAC.
In May, he donated $1.5 million to New Yorker for a Strong Future, another pro-charter school group.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit, approved by Congress and Trump last year, provides a 100% federal tax credit to individuals for donations of up to $1,700 annually to approved scholarship-granting organizations.
The nonprofit groups would then offer scholarships, which families from all private schools could use to defray tuition costs.
Public school students are also eligible for scholarships to cover tutoring, after-school programs or transportation costs.
Under the law, the governor of each state has to decide whether to opt in or out of what the Trump administration calls the “school choice” program.
A coalition representing parochial schools — Jewish and Catholic — urged Hochul to allow New York to participate in the program.
But leaders of the teachers’ unions and other public school advocates — including the NAACP and the NYCLU — claimed the program is a back-door privatization scheme aimed at siphoning taxpayer dollars from public schools.