LAYUP: The New York Knicks are in the NBA finals, and politicians can’t seem to get enough of it.
They’re hosting invite-only watch parties as an excuse to butter up the political press and cash in on the cultural cachet.
They’re deploying taxpayer-funded staff to film and edit Knicks-focused social media clips of themselves, fit with music, multiple shooting locations and a whole lot of hype.
And they’re even mocking up government documents in an effort to spread good vibes — and good publicity — around New York’s basketball team.
It feels like Empire State’s electeds are jumping at every opportunity they can to graft their political brands onto a once-in-a-generation milestone for the Knickerbockers, and it’s happening everywhere you look.
“There is a real unique hunger that is both exciting and unifying about this year and this run that a lot of candidates are trying to tap into,” said Matt Rey, a Democratic operative with Red Horse Strategies. “It’s really hard to reach people on anything live now, except for sports, and this is the height of it, especially for a local area … Any way that you can advertise during, before, after games in the finals is the best chance you have to reach the most amount of Democratic primary voters, bar none.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani got in on that opportunity Wednesday night when he starred in a commercial that aired during Game 1 and featured the mayor’s three favored congressional candidates dishing the rock to each other as if they left their day jobs to become full-time hoopers.
He also revealed this morning he’ll be at Monday night’s game, and paying for his own ticket — which will cost the former rent-stabilized tenant a pretty penny.
President Donald Trump also plans to attend, and Mamdani demurred when asked if he was invited to sit with the president or plans on holding some sort of in-person meeting while Trump is in town.
“I’ll keep the nature of those conversations between the two of us,” Mamdani told 1010 WINS.
The mayor is making his Knicks fandom known in other ways, like drafting up an executive order allowing kids to stay up past their bedtimes to watch the Knicks (It’s the law, mom!), inviting the San Antonio Spurs’ center Victor Wembanyama to participate in the next Charter Revision Commission meeting, and commissioning Knicks-themed art for City Hall’s rotunda and steps.
Other more staid politicians are getting in on it too. Crime-prosecuting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg happily turned his press conference about the indictment of a brazen retail theft ring into an opportunity to talk Knicks basketball.
And the irreverent Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar posted an AI graphic of herself with two of the team’s star players, as if the three are all pals.
“New York, it’s time. Let’s. Go. Knicks. 🏀” she said.
Then there’s the bets: the cliched wagers between elected officials from different cities, where the losing team’s city or state’s quintessential food is sent to the winning team’s supporters. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is betting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz slices of Joe’s Pizza and some Brooklyn Lager — and she’ll get to down Texas BBQ if the orange-and-blue win. Nick LaLota is betting a 6-foot hero on the Knicks winning, in a wager with a Texas congressman. And the New York City Council is putting bagels on the line in a wager against the breakfast-taco-eating San Antonio City Council.
For those electeds considering whether or not to jump in on the trend, Rey, the Knicks-fan-turned-Dem-operative, has some advice: “Don’t be a bandwagon fan.”
“If you’re into this run, go all for it, because this is exciting to you, and is part of what makes you unique, but if it doesn’t make you unique, find something else,” he said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, for her part, isn’t betting anything. She shut the door on any friendly wager with the Lone Star State after the Texas Gov. Greg Abbott published an AI-generated image of dunking on Hochul.
For Hochul, a famous Bills fan, the bar for glomming onto — and embracing — any sort of athletic energy that engrosses New York is low.
“I’m fired up,” she said at a press conference Thursday, where both the World Cup and NBA Finals were discussed. “I’m excited about this. I’m a huge sports fan, whatever it is. If there’s a ball involved, I love it.”
From the Capitol
THE LEGISLATIVE FINALE: The annual legislative session is crawling to a close with the Assembly spending today chipping away at its final package of bills.
The Senate concluded its business at 1:30 this morning. Assemblymembers are expecting to wrap up this evening — but optimism that the final buzzer will sound before the Knicks tip off at 8:30 p.m. is ebbing.
A good chunk of the final day was spent unanimously passing a bill from Assemblymember Alex Bores that would impose regulations on how AI chatbots interact with minors. The bots would be banned from engaging in sexually explicit conduct or encouraging kids to commit suicide.
“If you cannot make chatbots safe for children, you should not make them available to children,” said Bores, who’s running in a hotly-contested congressional primary. “I cannot think of a more appropriate bill to be my final bill in the chamber.”
The Assembly also debated a constitutional amendment that would move elections such as upstate mayoral contests and district attorney races to even-numbered years.
Democrats have argued the shifts will improve turnout in under-the-radar races and save money since polling sites will be opened less often. It’s much easier for voters “to put their energy into these elections all at once, instead of being stressed out every year about different offices,” Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha said.
Republicans have long opposed this, as well as 2023 legislation that moved most town and county races to even-numbered years, saying the shifts will politicize elections that should be decided by who’s best at managing snow plows.
“This is blatant power grab number four,” Assemblymember Joe Sempolinski said, summarizing a week when Democrats also passed measures on congressional redistricting, judicial redistricting and ending the bipartisan Board of Elections’ power to choose the wording for referenda.
“All of those are very partisan attacks on the integrity of our democratic institutions,” Sempolinski said. “What the people back home want us focused on is making their lives better, making their lives more affordable, not what we’re doing — which is the Democratic Party seizing more power for itself.” — Bill Mahoney
FROM CITY HALL
OVERKILL: A new report from City Comptroller Mark Levine found the majority of NYPD overtime — an outlay that routinely costs the city around $1 billion annually — comes from events that are known well in advance and could be better planned for.
“Overtime spending has been a clear cost the NYPD wants to rein in, especially as New York City seeks to reduce recurring expenses in light of projected budget gaps,” Levine said in a statement accompanying today’s report. “Overtime should be used when absolutely necessary to enable police officers to keep communities safe.”
During last year’s mayoral campaign, Mamdani pledged to rein in OT spending that has regularly been underbudgeted in the city’s annual spending plan, creating an unwelcome and pricey surprise when the bill comes due.
In the current fiscal year set to end June 30, Levine projects NYPD overtime costs will reach $890 million, the third-highest year on record.
To rein in costs, Levine suggested the department better manage staffing for parades, quality-of-life initiatives and other predictable events to prioritize regular shifts. He also recommended holding specific commands accountable when they routinely blow their overtime budgets, mandating rest periods for officers who work extended shifts to avoid fatigue and creating a more comprehensive accountability structure that could be audited.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has pledged to get a better grip on overtime spending too, and Levine’s report suggested that her efforts have produced some preliminarily positive results.
But a confluence of summer events including the World Cup, the NBA finals and celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary are expected to add around $92 million to the NYPD’s overtime budget for the upcoming fiscal year, though some of that will be covered by federal dollars.
At a recent City Council hearing, where Tisch said the department’s overtime spending has also gone up because of salary increases and general inflation, she pledged to balance the demands on the department with the fiscal goals of the comptroller and mayor.
“This uniquely busy period will lead to an increase in overtime spend,” she said. “However, this increase does not change our overtime management plan or our priority to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers while being a responsible fiscal steward.” — Joe Anuta
PENN DRAMA: Rep. Jerry Nadler is fuming over legislation pushed by a developer selected to redo Penn Station.
Before Amtrak picked Halmar to overhaul Penn in May, the developer shopped a bill on Capitol Hill to allow the railroad to benefit from nearby commercial development.
The effect of the legislation would be to supplant a now-paused deal between the state and midtown developers, including Vornado, to fund billions of dollars in upgrades to the rail hub using so-called payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, incentives. Under the bill, the developers could strike a deal with the Trump administration and make payments to Amtrak, cutting out New York officials. The head of Vornado, Steve Roth, is a former business associate of the president’s.
Nadler was the only member to vote against the idea in committee when it was attached as an amendment to a surface transportation bill. The Democrat dinged the plan as a giveaway to developers and an effort to bypass local accountability.
“This is a handout to Donald Trump and his real estate buddies, and New Yorkers will pay the price,” Nadler said in a statement to POLITICO.
Halmar, which Amtrak awarded master development rights to in May, approached Nadler in mid-March with bill language. That was after Amtrak had floated the idea of using PILOT incentives to help it pay for the new Penn Station — but before Halmar was tapped as the winning developer.
The amendment was introduced by Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.) and backed in committee by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). Both see the bill, which has broad language that applies outside of New York, as a way to make it easier for Amtrak to fund upgrades across the country.
“This is maybe the first time I’ve ever heard a Democrat not support Amtrak making these kinds of decisions,” Moulton said as he and Nadler briefly sparred over the amendment during a May 21 hearing.
Halmar declined to comment. A spokesperson for Vornado did not respond to a request for comment.
It remains unclear whether other Democrats will come out swinging against the idea, which supporters say could help speed up development around mass transit hubs — an idea that’s generally appealing to Democrats. — Ry Rivard
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
DEBATE-A-PALOOZA: One of the city’s suddenly most competitive races will be getting a high-profile debate before the primary.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Darializa Avila Chevalier — his Mamdani-backed challenger — will take the stage on June 17 for a debate hosted by Telemundo 47/WNJU. Theo Chino-Tavarez and Oscar Romero, two other candidates vying for the seat, will appear as well.
The debate will be conducted exclusively in Spanish. Hispanic residents make up around half of the district, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
The primary has heated up since Mamdani weighed in for Avila Chevalier last week. On Friday, a day after a testy forum on WNYC between Espaillat and Avila Chevalier, both campaigns held events in Harlem touting their respective progressive backing. — Madison Fernandez
IN OTHER NEWS
— BATTLEGROUND: Espaillat and Avila Chevalier are intensifying outreach to Harlem’s Black electorate, a crucial bloc in the closely watched primary fight. (The New York Times)
— ‘BLINDSIDED’: Parents of trans children say Mount Sinai plans to share records of children receiving gender-affirming care with the Trump administration. (Gothamist)
— MR. MET: Ali Najmi, former election attorney to Mamdani and head of NYC’s commission to select local judges, is now working for billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen. (Hell Gate)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
