Governor Hochul Was a Guest on “All In” With Chris Hayes

Earlier tonight, Governor Hochul was a guest on “All In” with Chris Hayes on MS NOW.

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Chris Hayes, MS NOW: Governor, it's good to have you, and I have to ask you what — was that the way that you saw this going?

Governor Hochul: Well, I've had meetings with the President and the White House as well, so, I wasn't terribly surprised. I know the mayor very well. I believe that he demonstrated credible leadership by willing to go into the White House and have this conversation. And so it was probably a lot friendlier than people expected, but they're both people. I had a sense they both get along in this context, when they're talking about issues where there's a common bond and a common interest, which appears to be affordability is something I've talked about for a long time.

The mayor has leaned into, in a way that was powerful. And so anyone who wants to work with us, to drive down the cost of living in New York. We'll have those meetings, we'll have those conversations and hopefully get things really done.

Chris Hayes, MS NOW: Partly this is optics and partly it's interpersonal relationships, and partly it is I think the fact the President's actually in person pretty conflict diverse. But there's real stakes here. I mean, we have seen the videos and headlines out of Los Angeles, out of Chicago, out of Charlotte —- border patrol wrestling people to the ground, breaking people's windows, children running from church, U.S. citizens having people with helicopters repel down their buildings, right?

So far, we have not seen that level of targeting of the City of New York by the federal DHS. Do you think today's meeting is a welcome development in forestalling or avoiding that kind of faith?

Governor Hochul: Absolutely. First of all, this was an important takeaway. This was my hope that the President would see in Zohran Mamdani — someone who can lead the city, who is focused on public safety, who is working on affordability and quality of life issues and to give the President who is a New Yorker, who cares about the city, the confidence to know that he can lead. And I will continue to be his partner and make sure he's successful.

But I also had a conversation with the President a few months ago, about it was unnecessary to send the National Guard to New York. Our crime rates are going down. We've worked hard on this. Our subways are safer than they've been in decades. So I said to the President, “You don't need to send the National Guard in. We have 35,000 sworn members of the NYPD who work hard every day to protect our city. But if we need help, Mr. President, we'll give you a call.” And he hasn't called. We're fine. I haven't had to talk to him about that.

So I think between that, and also this really important meeting, set the tone to let the President know that the city is in good hands. That we have a mayor who is vested in its success and keeping people safe and being laser focused on affordability. And so once they kind of came to those terms, I think we are in a much better place. And, we'll just continue focusing on New York and our people as I will. And the President has certainly has other issues to be concerned about, rather than sending troops into our streets.

Chris Hayes, MS NOW: A lot of people have noted political observers that one of the political casualties of today was Elise Stefanik, the New York member of Congress, who has announced she will be running against you for governor. And part of the reason is that she has — out of the gate — basically tried to tie you to Zohran Mamdani. She's also keeps calling him a ‘jihadist,’ which I personally find really gross, bigoted, and objectionable. This was — he was asked about that and he swatted it away. He said, he doesn't see it that way.

I want to read you her statement today after the meeting. “We all want New York City to succeed, but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. If he walks like a jihadist, if he talks like a jihadist, if he campaigns like a jihadist. If he supports jihadist, he's a jihadist, and he's Kathy Hochul's jihadist.” Do you have a response to that?

Governor Hochul: She's full of shit. I'm sorry. I mean, she really is. I mean, this is such an extreme position. Such an extreme position. She's even more extreme than Donald Trump. I didn't think that was possible. But she's succeeded in proving that today she's out-MAGA’d Donald Trump, the founder of the MAGA Movement.

So I hope she's proud of herself, continuing to spew hateful thoughts and deeds and instead — and trying to create more violence in our political rhetoric. I think it's disgusting, it's abhorent, but that's who she is, and people are seeing this, and even the President — realize that's even too far for him.

Chris Hayes, MS NOW: On the politics of this as well, you were fairly early in endorsing Zohran Mamdani after he won the primary. Others took much longer like Hakeem Jeffries — notably the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, who of course represents the State of New York in the US Senate, has never endorsed him. Given the fact that even Donald Trump seemed amenable to working with Mamdani and seemed charmed by him. Does it make the Senate Minority Leader’s lack of endorsement, kind of stand out as even more strange?

Governor Hochul: No, I won't comment on that because everyone does what they need to do, but for me, it was important to show as the leader of the Democratic Party in the State of New York, this was our Democratic nominee, and we all should be interested, invested, and committed to his success. Because New York City is the economic engine of not just our state, but the entire nation. So never root against New York City. And I've pledged to work with the mayor, the new Mayor-Elect.

We've had many conversations and meetings that are extremely productive. And again, I want to make sure that we get over the finish line. Building more housing. I've been talking about this for years. We can focus on childcare to help families that are struggling. We can do what we can to drive down utility costs, because that's what the voters are expecting. They're exhausted, they're tired, they're looking for real leadership of people who understand what they're going through.

I do for my own life story, I see people going through this now. I know it's real and that's what we can do in New York. So I think it's going to be a new era, a new chapter for New York City, and I'm really excited to continue partnering with the mayor — the Mayor-Elect.

Chris Hayes, MS NOW: All right, Governor Kathy Hochul from Albany. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you.