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Hochul’s office was particularly generous when it came to a political opponent. Last May, the office shared Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado’s Outlook calendar with David Lombardo, host of the public radio program The Capitol Pressroom. Lombardo had only requested one year of records, but Hochul’s office gave him close to three years of the calendar. (The two officials were in the middle of a very public falling out, and Delgado is now running against Hochul in the Democratic primary for governor.)

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Housing

Mamdani’s signature pledge to freeze the rent on stabilized apartments wouldn’t require Albany’s sign-off. (The plan might face resistance from Adams’ appointees to the board that votes on rent increases, though, several of whom are set to continue serving into the next mayor’s term.)

But another campaign plank might run into trouble on the state level. Mamdani has proposed that the city borrow $70 billion, on top of about $30 billion it’s already planning to spend, to build 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade. (Politico reported that his campaign appears to be underestimating how much the units would cost.) But the amount that all cities and towns are allowed to borrow is capped by state law, and New York City is only allowed to borrow $30 billion over current debt levels.

Mamdani’s platform says he’ll lobby for state lawmakers to lift that “arbitrary cap.” If he’s not successful, it could imperil his ability to deliver the promised affordable housing.

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With fewer alternatives coming onto the grid than expected, New York’s energy markets will likely be hitched to the fuel for years to come.

That means they will also be increasingly tethered to global markets. The US’s gas export capacity is set to more than double by 2028 and continue growing from there, a policy Trump has championed — and a key reason that the US Energy Information Administration expects gas prices to climb sharply again this year after dropping to a historic low in 2024.

The more gas the US sells around the world, the more vulnerable domestic consumers will be to price shocks driven by geopolitical events like Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said Dennis Wamsted, an analyst at the pro-renewable Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

“In some ways you can’t fault the exporters for passing along those costs,” Wamsted said. “But it does raise the very real question of, what kind of risk are we putting rate payers at or consumers at going forward… if we become more reliant on gas-fired electricity generation?”

Many have blamed New York’s clean energy efforts for the hikes, but official estimates suggest they remain a minor factor. A long-awaited PSC report presented on Thursday found that state climate policies accounted for anywhere from 5 to 9.5 percent of the average household’s electric bill in 2024, or $10 to $12 per month, depending on the utility. (The impact on gas bills was far smaller, at 2 percent or less.)

Chart: Electric Bills Hit New Heights

With delivery charges surging and supply costs up, too, bills have climbed sharply in the last five years — and show no sign of slowing down.

[Electric bill breakdown 2014-2024, showing a general increase]
Source: Utilities via Department of Public Service