A super PAC supporting charter schools, funded by Mike Bloomberg, is investing over $1 million in a get-out-the-vote initiative and media campaign to support Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul's re-election. Bloomberg donated $1.8 million to the group New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany earlier this year. The campaign will target competitive districts in Long Island, the lower Hudson Valley, the Capital Region, southern Brooklyn, and Staten Island, where the gubernatorial race is expected to be closely contested.
Crystal McQueen-Taylor, a representative from New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, stated, "Governor Hochul has consistently stood up for New York’s students and families, and now parents are standing up for her." She emphasized that parents from various neighborhoods are actively campaigning to ensure voter turnout in critical areas.
The support for Hochul follows her announcement that New York would participate in a federal “education freedom” tax credit scholarship program, which could benefit over 2.7 million students in public, parochial, and private schools. This initiative, backed by former President Trump, has faced opposition from teachers' unions.
A source associated with the Bloomberg-backed PAC indicated that the decision to support Hochul was made prior to her announcement regarding the tax credit program. The PAC is also endorsing seven moderate Democratic candidates for state Senate, including Larry He and incumbent Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, in closely divided districts.
Bloomberg's representatives did not comment on whether he would contribute additional funds to Hochul's campaign as the election approaches. In the past month, he has donated $1 million to another pro-Hochul group, Empire State PAC, and $1.5 million to New Yorker for a Strong Future, another pro-charter school organization.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit allows individuals to receive a 100% federal tax credit for donations up to $1,700 annually to approved scholarship-granting organizations, which can then provide scholarships for private school tuition or cover costs for public school students for tutoring and other programs. Each state governor must decide whether to opt into the program, which has been supported by parochial school representatives but criticized by teachers' unions and public school advocates as a potential privatization effort.