Hochul and Mamdani Celebrate Democratic Election Gains, Not at Home but in Puerto Rico

The leaders of New York City and State are already promising early benefits from the Democratic Party’s sweeping midterm election victories — not to their own constituents but to the residents of Puerto Rico.The pledges of support by Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, made Friday during an annual event in San Juan, were well received by residents of the Caribbean territory but are drawing criticism from the pair’s New York opponents, who are suggesting their time would be better spent attending to problems at home.Tuesday’s election results promise “a whole new day” for Puerto Rico, Ms. Hochul said Friday during the four-day public policy forum sponsored by the nonprofit organization SOMOS, Inc. as she accused the Trump administration of abandoning promises to help Puerto Rico rebuild from a series of devastating earthquakes and hurricanes.“And we hope to have all those wounds heal, making sure that we continue bringing resources for resiliency, energy projects, building up the grid, as well as health care being restored, nutrition programs,” the Associated Press quoted her as saying.Mr. Mamdani, for his part, said that thanks to the midterm elections, “There’s a potential in that we can finally start to deliver for working-class people across this country. What we heard today was the fact that so often what’s described as a natural crisis here in Puerto Rico is in fact a political crisis, one that is the result of political choices.”While no New York taxpayer money was promised to the island, the two leaders took part in a roundtable discussion at the luxury El Caribe Hilton where officials announced a $280,000 fund raised from the private sector to help communities prepare for future emergencies with water storage tanks, backup solar panels, batteries, and rainwater collection systems.The initiative can be expected to play well with the roughly 1 million persons of Puerto Rican heritage living in New York State — more than half of them in New York City. But the trip has been criticized by New York Republicans like Representative Mike Lawler, who lost his reelection bid on Tuesday.“It’s a disgrace — and why New Yorkers are leaving this state in droves. I’m calling on every reporter covering SOMOS to demand answers from these Democrats. Ask them why they’re partying in Puerto Rico while New Yorkers are suffering through an affordability crisis,” Mr. Lawler told Fox News Digital even before the mayor’s departure.On the other side, commentator Anna Correa argued in the New York Amsterdam News that holding a gala event at a luxury event was a distraction from Puerto Rico’s real needs. “How can we gather in Puerto Rico to celebrate our political power while people on the island cannot reliably have access to something as basic as water?” she wrote.Years after Hurricane Maria brought catastrophic damage to the island in 2017, Puerto Rico still suffers from chronic power failures, even as residents’ electric bills have soared by 37 percent in the past five years, according to a report this week by El Pais. That in turn has aggravated a water crisis prompted by drought and aging infrastructure that has left some communities without running water for more than a year.Hopes for an early solution to the problems were set back when the Trump administration canceled a $1 billion federal solar energy program that would have provided rooftop solar panels and battery storage for low-income families. The federal Energy Department will use that money to repair the island’s damaged fossil-fuel plants instead.

Hochul and Mamdani Celebrate Democratic Election Gains, Not at Home but in Puerto Rico

Hochul and Mamdani Celebrate Democratic Election Gains, Not at Home but in Puerto Rico

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