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Vetted coverage of Governor Hochul's administration, grouped by day. Every item names its publication and carries a source-credibility tier — Tier 1 primary/wire, Tier 2 established outlet, Tier 3 secondary. No spin; each story links to its original source.

15 items

Sep 11, 2026

3
La Voce di New York / The HillTIER 2High

The ceremony happened without incident: Mamdani attended Ground Zero as planned, shook hands with Giuliani on arrival, and no turned backs or protest were reported; Hochul, Vance, Bush, Clinton, Obama and Biden were in the elected-officials section

After a week in which Blakeman, Giuliani and Pataki urged Mamdani to stay away (Blakeman suggested attendees "turn their back on the mayor"), the 25th-anniversary reading of 2,753 names went ahead with the mayor and governor present. Footage shows Mamdani approaching Giuliani and the two shaking hands; Mamdani later said they exchanged pleasantries and kept the focus on families. No elected official spoke, consistent with the Memorial's post-2012 rule. Trump was at the Pentagon after reportedly being refused a speaking slot. Relevance to the governor's race: the walkout/protest Blakeman floated did not materialize, and Hochul's "voices of hatred should not prevail" line was not tested by any disruption. Secondary source: thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/6084719-mamdani-and-giuliani-shake-hands-at-9-11-commemoration/

City & State (Sophie Krichevsky)TIER 2High

Three firefighter unions endorse Hochul on the anniversary: UFA, UFOA and the NYS Professional Fire Fighters Association cite the revived September 11th Worker Protection Task Force and Tier 3/Tier 6 pension reforms in this year's budget

The Uniformed Firefighters Association (Bobby Eustace), Uniformed Fire Officers Association (James Brosi) and NYSPFFA (Sam Fresina) issued a joint statement backing Hochul for reelection, released exclusively to City & State at 5am on Sept. 11. They point to the reconstituted 9/11 Worker Protection Task Force and the Tier 3 and Tier 6 retirement changes in the FY27 budget. Context from C&S: UFA and UFOA also endorsed Hochul in 2022, NYSPFFA's political arm spent on her then, and all three are affiliates of the state AFL-CIO, which endorsed her July 1 over TWU objections. Timing matters more than novelty: the endorsement lands the same day Blakeman had urged 9/11 families and first responders to shun the governor and mayor at Ground Zero.

Gothamist (Jimmy Vielkind)TIER 2High

On the morning of the 25th anniversary, Gothamist reports the Ground Zero ceremony has lost its apolitical footing: Giuliani, Pataki and Blakeman urged Mamdani to stay away, Hochul says "the voices of hatred should not prevail," and a Suffolk poll finds 74% of city voters think the mayor should attend

Gothamist's Sept. 11 morning piece frames the run-up to the commemoration as unusually political. Giuliani, Pataki and Blakeman all called on Mayor Mamdani not to attend; Mamdani is attending and seated in the elected-officials section near them. Hochul said this week it would be wrong for Mamdani to stay away: "This is a time when the voices of hatred should not prevail over the voices of those who say, 'Let us come together.'" The 9/11 Memorial and Museum says no elected official has spoken at the ceremony since 2012 and officials are invited "simply to bear witness." The story also notes the Democratic attack on Blakeman for appearing with congressional candidate Joel Anabilah-Azumah, who posted in 2024 that 9/11 was "an inside job"; Blakeman's representatives did not return a request for comment. A Suffolk University poll of NYC voters released this week found 74% said Mamdani should attend and 74% said the event should focus on victims and survivors. Trump is at the Pentagon; Vance is at the WTC site.

Sep 10, 2026

1
amNewYork / City & StateTIER 2High

Blakeman filmed an endorsement of Brooklyn congressional candidate Joel Anabilah-Azumah, whose 2024 post calling 9/11 "an inside job" is still up; Nadler and Velázquez call it appalling two days before the 25th anniversary

City & State's First Read (Sept. 9, Rebecca C. Lewis) reported an unlisted YouTube video in which Blakeman records an endorsement of Anabilah-Azumah, the Republican and Conservative nominee against Rep. Yvette Clarke, saying he "is going to make a great member of Congress." Anabilah-Azumah's 2024 X post says "9/11 was an inside job" and "history is pretty clear on that." The same video shows endorsements of Asm. Michael Novakhov and Sen. Steve Chan. Blakeman previously filmed with Rochester GOP leader Marcus Williams, who had shared a video blaming "Zionists" for 9/11. On Sept. 10 amNY reported Reps. Jerry Nadler and Nydia Velázquez condemning the endorsement; state Democratic spokesman Addison Dick called it "disqualifying." Neither the Blakeman nor the Anabilah-Azumah campaign responded to City & State. The story lands the same week Blakeman told 9/11 attendees to turn their backs on Mamdani. amNY article body could not be fetched; row built from the City & State text and search excerpts.

Sep 8, 2026

1
Fingerlakes1.com (campaign release)TIER 2High

Blakeman campaign releases a McLaughlin internal showing Hochul 49.6, Blakeman 45.7 among 800 likely voters (Aug 27-31); release omits margin of error, mode and question wording

On Sept. 8 the Blakeman campaign released a McLaughlin & Associates survey of 800 likely voters fielded Aug. 27-31: Hochul 49.6%, Blakeman 45.7%, undecided 4.7%. The campaign called the 3.9-point gap inside the margin of error but did not publish a numerical MOE, survey mode, weighting or question order. Other toplines from the release: Hochul 42/55 favorable/unfavorable, Blakeman 40/30 with 30% unfamiliar; 56% "time for someone new" vs 38% "deserves reelection"; among the 80% who said they knew both candidates, Blakeman led 52-44 (threshold undefined). Context: this is a campaign-sponsored poll from a Republican firm. The most recent independent poll, Siena Aug 3-6 LV, had Hochul 49-39; a Democratic-aligned Concord/ERN poll Aug 19-21 had 50-34. Logged in the polls table flagged is_partisan. No Hochul campaign response in the release.

Sep 3, 2026

2
City & State NYTIER 2High

Blakeman campaign mails official-looking "memorandums of tax assessment" to NYC homeowners, soliciting donations off the pied-à-terre list he criticized the city for releasing

City & State obtained a Blakeman for New York mail package sent to a Queens couple: a letter headed "memorandum of tax assessment" saying "according to our records, you own a secondary property" subject to the pied-à-terre tax, plus a Blakeman letter blaming "Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani" and a $50+ contribution ask. The header reads "Not official government business" and the footer carries the required "Paid for by" disclosure. The recipients own one home and are not subject to the tax; the source who shared the photos said they panicked. The campaign did not answer how addresses were chosen; the likely source is the ~950,000-address Department of Finance list Blakeman had attacked the city for publishing. Election lawyer Sarah Steiner called it "manipulative scaremongering" but said it is technically legal. Note for readers: the tax is a city law the governor signed, but the rollout was the city's, not the state's.

ABC7 New YorkTIER 2High

Hochul answers Blakeman on the headscarf: "that says more about him than it does anybody else"; office cites 2022 Ronkonkoma mosque visit and Officer Islam's funeral as precedent

Hochul's first direct on-camera response to the headscarf pile-on: "I was invited as a guest, and I always wear the appropriate attire, whether I am going to a temple... an Orthodox community or... a catholic church in the Vatican." On Blakeman's Newsday remark that wearing a hijab and calling herself a feminist are incompatible: "I just love it when men lecture women on whether or not they are a feminist." Her office pointed to prior head coverings at a 2022 Ronkonkoma mosque that had been attacked and at the funeral of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam. Blakeman said his post was not an attack on Muslims and that he visits mosques regularly as county executive. CAIR-NY's Afaf Nasher said tying the visit to 9/11 is inappropriate. The visit was Friday Aug 28 at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on the Upper East Side.

Sep 2, 2026

2
MediaiteTIER 2High

Trump joins the headscarf pile-on: Truth Social post calls Hochul "the Worst Governor in the Country," says she wears "the hijab" to get "the Arab Vote"

On Sept. 1 President Trump posted the Aug. 28 photo of Hochul in a black headscarf at the Islamic Cultural Center School in the Bronx, wrote that Hochul, "considered the Worst Governor in the Country," was "working hard to get the Arab Vote," tied it to congestion pricing hurting her "especially [with] the people for whom she wears the hijab," and closed: "The whole thing is CRAZY!" It escalates the four-day-old controversy from conservative influencers and members of Congress to the president, three weeks after Trump boosted Blakeman at a law-enforcement rally. Hochul's office has said she wore the headscarf as a gesture of respect, consistent with past practice, and that she respects 9/11 victims while rejecting anti-Muslim hatred. Snopes rated the "wore a hijab" framing a Mixture because her hair was visible.

New York Jewish Week / JTATIER 2High

Blakeman posts the headscarf photo, calls it "political pandering" and "tone-deaf" before 9/11; Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO calls his post Islamophobia

Blakeman's first public entry into the headscarf story: a social-media post depicting Hochul in the head covering, accusing her of "political pandering" he called "especially tone-deaf" less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, responded on X: "There are far too many political leaders exploiting the 9/11 anniversary to (re)normalize Islamophobia — and it's disgusting." Blakeman, who is Jewish, has campaigned heavily on antisemitism and public safety. The same JTA item notes Hochul's campaign has her at a MET Council Rosh Hashanah food-distribution event in Brooklyn on Sept. 2 with Comptroller Mark Levine and Council Member Lincoln Restler. Blakeman's post is documented only through JTA's account; the post itself was not retrieved for this entry.

Sep 1, 2026

1
Fox NewsTIER 2High

Retired Port Authority officers ask Hochul to skip the 25th-anniversary Ground Zero ceremony; she says she will attend

The Retired Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, through president John McDevitt, sent letters on Aug. 14 asking Gov. Hochul and Mayor Mamdani not to attend the Sept. 11 25th-anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero, saying their presence would inflict "deep pain" on victims' families, survivors and first responders. The group's stated objection to Hochul is her decision to light One World Trade Center for Muslim American Heritage Month — it says it did not object to the proclamation itself, only to using the World Trade Center site for the observance. The letters surfaced publicly Aug. 29. Hochul rejected the demand and says she will attend; Mamdani also plans to attend. The dispute feeds directly into the separate backlash over the Aug. 28 headscarf clip, with both threads now tied to the Sept. 11 anniversary ten days out.

Aug 22, 2026

1
Fingerlakes1.comTIER 2High

Blakeman campaigns with House Speaker Mike Johnson; Hochul campaign counters with Medicaid and SNAP cut numbers

Blakeman appeared with House Speaker Mike Johnson in Nassau County on Friday Aug 21 and said it was important to keep Johnson in his post; Johnson called Blakeman a strong candidate. The Hochul campaign responded that Johnson led House Republicans last year in passing a bill cutting Medicaid and SNAP, which it says cost nearly 500,000 New Yorkers health coverage including nearly 30,000 in Nassau County, and cited Blakeman's prior comment that he would cut Medicaid in half. Hochul spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki framed the appearance as an endorsement of the Trump agenda. The Hochul campaign's 500,000 / 30,000 coverage-loss figures are campaign claims and are not independently verified here.

Aug 14, 2026

1
ABC7 / APTIER 2High

Trump tours Nassau police academy with Blakeman, Blanche and Patel; Hochul campaign fires back

Trump visited the Nassau County Police Department's Center for Training and Intelligence at Nassau Community College on Aug 14 with AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, touting FBI preliminary 2025 data showing violent crime down an estimated 9.3% nationally (murder down 18.1%) and backing Blakeman's run for governor — his second in-person boost this year. Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki: the governor "has invested billions in public safety" while "MAGA all the way" Blakeman "let violent crime spike to decade highs" in Nassau; a second campaign statement called Blakeman "a MAGA fanboy who'd rather be at Mar-a-Lago right now." The visit landed the same day agencies statewide, including Nassau's police and sheriff's departments, owed status reports on their 287(g) ICE agreements to the Office of Immigrant Trust.

Aug 13, 2026

1
NY State of Politics / PatchTIER 2High

NYS Democratic chair Jacobs files BOE complaint over Blakeman's AI ads, alleging violation of 2026 disclosure law

State Democratic Committee chair Jay Jacobs filed a complaint Aug 10 with the State Board of Elections alleging Blakeman's AI-generated ads depicting Hochul and Mamdani violate the 2026 election law requiring "materially deceptive media" in political communications to carry a "has been manipulated" disclosure. Blakeman calls the ads satire and says Democrats are "trying to cheat." Also: https://patch.com/new-york/longisland/state-democrats-file-complaint-over-blakeman-s-ai-ads-accuse-county-exec

Aug 11, 2026

1
NY1 / News12 / PIX11TIER 2High

Trump to tour Nassau police academy Friday with Blakeman, Blanche and Patel — same day as 287(g) filing deadline

President Trump will visit the Nassau County Police Academy on Friday, Aug. 14 with AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel to tout the FBI 2025 crime report; Blakeman, who is running for governor, welcomed the visit. First Trump Long Island appearance since the 2024 Coliseum rally. Same day as the state's Aug. 14 filing deadline for agencies with 287(g) agreements, including Nassau's.

Jul 30, 2026

1
NY Post via AlgemeinerTIER 2High

Pro-Blakeman super PAC poll shows race at 47-43; public polling last had Hochul up 20

A Red Oak Strategic poll commissioned by the pro-Blakeman "Strong and Safe" super PAC — a previously unreported committee — puts Hochul at 47%, Blakeman 43%, 10% undecided among 2,000 registered voters surveyed Jul 7-12 (MOE ±2.2). It also reports Hochul approval at 39/56 and Blakeman leading independents 54-33. The partisan-sponsored numbers contrast sharply with Siena's June public poll, which had Hochul up 52-32.