Grace Ashford

NEW: Real estate giants. DoorDash. Billy Joel. Bill Ackman and 15 other billionaires. How the superrich and big $$ interests are propping up Andrew Cuomo's run for mayor, and raising questions about why they are giving. nytimes.com/2025/06/01/nyr…

NEWS: Rep Mike Lawler, R of New York, plans to seek re-election in his crucial Hudson Valley swing seat next year rather than run for governor, he told The NYT on Wednesday. A boon for House Republicans, this also clears a path for Stefanik for gov nytimes.com/2025/07/23/nyr…

smart look at the challenges facing Zohran Mamdani inside and outside dsa from @JeffCMays @boreskes nytimes.com/2025/07/23/nyr…

Update: Excited to share that I've joined Reuters as a space and defense correspondent. I'll be reporting on weapons, national security and Silicon Valley, focusing on major arms, space companies, and venture-backed startups. Send tips / say hi: [email protected]

Also, @gr_ashford and I got the band back together. Here’s the story: nytimes.com/2025/06/12/us/…

Kathy Hochul is coming to the Hill today, to face questioning from Republicans over immigration. This will happen as Trump continues a showdown with Newsom and anti-deportation protests spread across the country. And as two House Republicans might challenge Hochul for governor.

Lots of good details here, including a list of power players that Mamdani is quietly meeting with (and seemingly impressing). From @npfandos nytimes.com/2025/06/10/nyr…

Jessica Ramos stands up and claps when Cuomo mentions raising the minimum wage to $20 at their joint rally. This is an issue she’s worked on, and she seems to believe that Cuomo has a better chance of enacting it than Mamdani.

nytimes.com/2025/06/06/nyr… "Mr. Cuomo said his resignation reflected his desire to avoid creating a “distraction to government functionality, that they would all be involved in impeachment proceedings, blah, blah, blah,” a decision he now regrets" @danarubinstein @alyceatwork

Interesting note in here: She said she had “made my expectations of the assemblymember quite clear” about the kind of expertise and support the 33-year-old would need to succeed, if elected.

EXCLUSIVE: @AOC endorses Zohran Mamdani for mayor, telling NYT she will also rank A. Adams, Lander, Stringer, Myrie. “As someone who got elected when I was 28, I know very intimately what it means to be trusted with an enormous job...at a very young age” nytimes.com/2025/06/05/nyr…

Some notable names in the latest batch of donations to Fix the City, the pro-Cuomo super PAC: -$250,000 from Mark Gorton, the LimeWire founder who has dabbled in conspiracy theories about vaccines. -$100,000 from Kathryn Murdoch, wife of Rupert Murdoch's younger son, James.

Cuomo regrets resigning, saying he and perhaps NY would have been better off if he'd stayed “At the time, I thought that I would be a distraction to government functionality...Looking back, what has really been done in the past four years anyway, right?” nytimes.com/2025/06/03/nyr…

Good story from my colleague David Brand (@DavidFBrand) on how New York's economic development entity won't fine Atlantic Yards developers for failing to build promised affordable housing. gothamist.com/news/ny-lets-b…

Lots of good background here on NY's new openness to pipelines: nytimes.com/2025/05/29/bus…

“He is an exceptional communicator. I think his time in the Assembly has been characterized more by that than changing the law.” @gr_ashford @boreskes on Mamdani's Albany days: A forceful voice but a thin legislative record nytimes.com/2025/05/28/nyr…

The Roman Catholic church has picked a new pope more rapidly than New York lawmakers have settled the #nybudget

A graphics extravaganza about how ranked-choice voting played out in the last mayor's race (and how Eric Adams won by only 7,197 votes) as the campaigns strategize over how to take advantage of it this year: nytimes.com/interactive/20…

*NEW* Our first weekly newsletter on the mayor’s race is out, including the news that Cuomo is gathering signatures to run on an independent ballot line in November under the Fight and Deliver party line.

1 in 8 N.Y.C. Public School Students Was Homeless Last Year by @clairemfahy: shorturl.at/ivLp4