New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is giving New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani an early boost as he tries to make good on one of his boldest promises: expanding free health care services for children across the city.
Standing beside Mr. Mamdani, Ms. Hochul announced Thursday that the state will pick up the tab for his 2-Care initiative — an effort to provide free universal day care for every 2‑year‑old in New York City.
She cast the move as the first step in a far larger project, a “multiyear road map,” that will eventually guarantee universal child care for all families in the state, no matter their income.
She also said the state will steer hundreds of millions more of taxpayer dollars toward expanding universal pre‑K, with the goal of making it available to every 4‑year‑old in New York state by the 2028–29 school year.
“This is something every family can agree on: The cost of child care is too damn high,” Ms. Hochul said at the press conference in New York City. “The era of empty promises ends with the two of us right here, right now.”
The overall push aims to provide affordable child care for roughly 100,000 more children.
The announcement marks an early win for Mr. Mamdani, who is eager to prove skeptics wrong about his expansive vision for government and his pledge to make the city more affordable.
Mr. Mamdani said partnership with Ms. Hochul “marks the dawn of a new day” after years of often chilly relations between Albany and New York City, noting that the ambitious announcement comes just eight days into his administration.
“Today, we take one step to realizing a city where every New Yorker, every family, every child can afford to keep calling it their home,” Mr. Mamdani said. “To those who doubt the power of the people to make their own destiny, to the cynics who insist that politics is broken to deliver meaningful change, to those who think that the promises of a campaign cannot survive once confronted with the realities of government, today is your answer.”
Ms. Hochul is running for reelection this fall. She framed the 2-Care program as a natural extension of the city’s existing free pre‑K offerings, which already cover all 4‑year‑olds and many 3‑year‑olds. She said it will help families spending between $20,000 and $40,000 a year on child care.
Mr. Mamdani said the financial burden is pushing people out of the city, and the new programs will help them stay.
Mr. Mamdani is fresh off shocking the political establishment by cruising to victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary race and winning 50% of the vote in the November election.
The Democratic socialist tapped into deep frustration over rising costs, promising to tackle the city’s “affordability crisis” by making bus service free, freezing rents and creating a universal child care system for every child from 6 weeks to 5 years old.
Now he wants to prove he can turn that vision into something real. The final price and how he plans to pay remain unknown.
Mr. Mamdani has estimated that his universal child care vision could cost the city $6 billion a year and has suggested paying for it in part by raising taxes on wealthy residents.
Ms. Hochul has been far less enthusiastic about tax hikes.
She was one of the first high-profile Democrats to endorse Mr. Mamdani, saying she was confident he would not “surrender one inch to President Trump” and his “extreme agenda.”
