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Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan for taxpayer-funded supermarkets, telling a Hamptons crowd, “I favor free enterprise,” according to the New York Post.
Hochul delivered the line Saturday at a business breakfast hosted by billionaire supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, drawing applause from attendees.
Catsimatidis, whose Gristedes and D’Agostino chains could be threatened by the proposal, later praised Hochul’s comments, telling the Post, “These types of grocery stores just don’t work.”
The pushback adds to mounting Democratic resistance to Mamdani’s agenda, which critics warn would undercut private grocers and burden taxpayers.
CRITICISM OVER SOCIALIST NYC CANDIDATE MAMDANI’S RENT-STABILIZED APARTMENT MOUNTS AFTER ETHICS COMPLAINT
Gov. Hochul said “I favor free enterprise” at an event in the Hamptons Saturday in response to socialist Zohran Mamdani’s plan for government-run grocery stores. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
“Snappy slogan. Doesn’t work, and Mamdani doesn’t care if it does or doesn’t,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in an email to Fox News Digital.
“Gov. Cuomo has proposed a plan that was actually thought out to help those with food insecurity, and the answer isn’t Soviet-style breadlines. Kansas City just closed their government-run grocery store (and eliminated their free buses) after wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.”
Cuomo blasted Mamdani in a post on X, writing: “When you have rich parents to fall back on, the results don’t matter. As @ZohranKMamdani has said, c’est la vie. That’s not a governing philosophy. It’s an excuse for failure. It’s time to build. That requires real affordability policies. Let’s do it.”
The Kansas City reference points to the recent closure of the city-owned Sun Fresh Market, which received about $18 million in public funds over a decade but was plagued by theft, empty shelves…
