ALBANY, New York — As Gov. Kathy Hochul unravels a signature climate law, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has remained silent.
Her reticence marks a stark change. Right after her first election win in 2018, the Congressmember joined protesters in the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call for aggressive action on climate. And for years, she’s championed the “Green New Deal,” an ambitious framework for transitioning the nation off fossil fuels.
But the nationally recognized progressive star may be moderating on some issues, or at least picking her battles more carefully, as she mulls her next potential electoral office. Ocasio-Cortez leads the Democratic field in an early poll for the 2028 presidential election and has been perennially discussed as a challenger for a Senate seat in New York.
“Anyone potentially eyeing higher office has got to pick their battles — with SCOTUS green-lighting a red-state gerrymander-us-out-of-democracy blitz, the elements mounting existential threats are more obvious targets,” said Amit Bagga, a Democratic political strategist.
The lack of a defense of New York’s climate law from Ocasio-Cortez — and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — also highlights the Democratic Party’s shifting rhetoric on climate action as affordability concerns are paramount. With voters concerned about rising energy bills, Democrats are more focused on addressing pocketbook issues.
“It’s very difficult to look at New Yorkers and Americans writ large and say what they want to hear about is climate,” said Emily Becker, a spokesperson for Third Way, a center-left think tank. “If you are looking at the cost pressures New Yorkers are facing and the passion that has emerged among the electorate on lowering the cost of living … it makes sense you would only focus on talking about those issues.”
Hochul has largely clinched a budget deal that will delay New York’s emissions reduction targets and in doing so has drawn pushback from many progressive Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups.
Those groups did not make a concerted effort to ask Ocasio-Cortez, who has opposed Hochul on other climate decisions, to weigh in on the Albany budget fight. But some said they’d welcome her support.
“Congressional elected officials are core partners in our work, but they haven’t been the center of our outreach because the principal decision makers in this process are in Albany,” said Keanu Arpels-Josiah, lead electoral adviser for Sunrise Movement NYC. “We’d appreciate hearing from [Ocasio-Cortez] directly about her support, but ultimately she’s not the deciding” official.
The Sunrise Movement has been a long-time ally for Ocasio-Cortez and pushed the Green New Deal. Arpels-Josiah pointed to her previous support for the climate law.
Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the climate law overhaul backed by Hochul.
Without a doubt, the House member has a significant record on climate issues. She first introduced the “Green New Deal” legislation in 2019 to reshape the nation’s economy and eliminate fossil fuel use. It was an ambitious framework seeking to align principles about a “just transition” for workers with emissions reduction policies.
Her success in an upstart campaign and her newfound national prominence launched a wave of similar challenges to incumbents with a focus on climate issues. She also backed New York’s climate law in 2019.
Hochul, too, once embraced the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. She rejected permits for two fossil fuel power plants in 2021 — including one in Astoria that both Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez fought against.
But Hochul has pivoted on energy issues over the past two years, moving to embrace nuclear energy and continued reliance on natural gas as cost concerns rise. She’s pointed to President Donald Trump’s opposition to clean energy and the up-front costs of transitioning off fossil fuels as she seeks to rewrite the 2019 climate law.
The governor has acknowledged that changing the state’s climate law won’t reduce energy costs. The changes she’s secured will defer significant new policies to reduce emissions until 2028 and effectively negates a 2030 emissions reduction goal the state wasn’t on track to meet.
“New York has led, and will continue to lead, on clean energy and climate,” Hochul said last week when announcing an agreement on the state’s budget. “But reality has been harsh: We cannot meet the current timelines without driving energy costs higher.”
Clean energy advocates and Democratic lawmakers have argued volatile and rising fossil fuel prices are largely responsible for rising costs. They’ve pushed for accelerated investments in solar and other renewables.
Ocasio-Cortez has in the past six months weighed in on state-level climate decisions. She pushed Hochul to reject a controversial pipeline the governor ultimately approved. After the pipeline approval, the entire Congressional delegation — including those who opposed the new fossil fuel project — endorsed Hochul.
That effectively ended a primary challenge on Hochul’s left from her own Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado — a run some environmental groups had backed because of their frustration with the governor’s environmental record.
No New York Democratic Congressional member has aggressively criticized Hochul for rolling back the climate law in public. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is not running for reelection, touched on the issue briefly during remarks at the New York League of Conservation Voters gala earlier this year.
“That law must be defended and it must never be weakened,” Nadler said, according to a recording of the event. “As I prepare to step back from Congress, I want to say this clearly. The work is not done. The threats to our environment, to our public lands, to our clean air and to water protection are real and they are urgent. The CLCPA must be protected and fully implemented, not chipped away at, not paused, not undermined.”
Mamdani, when he was still a state assemblymember, joined Ocasio-Cortez in fighting a proposed gas plant in his district. The democratic socialist championed a measure to have the state’s power authority build renewables, a flagship state legislative victor for New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter.
But Mamdani didn’t campaign heavily on climate change. Instead, he focused on cost of living issues.
Like Ocasio-Cortez, he now has a prominent national perch and is a highly influential figure on the left. It’s a position he could wield against Hochul but has largely chosen not to. Instead, he’s taken a collegial approach as he courts her support for his priorities including funding for the city, which he appears to have secured.
And that has disappointed some supporters.
“Mayor Mamdani has gone quiet. That’s not what we signed up for,” said Javier Lopez, an environmental justice consultant and adjunct professor at Columbia University. “I need him to say ‘this is wrong’ while the budget is being decided, not in a carefully worded statement after the damage is done.”
The mayor has declined to explicitly say whether he opposes Hochul’s efforts to change the existing law while expressing support for it more generally.
“The Mayor has been clear on the [climate law] and the importance of responding to the climate crisis with urgency,” said Mamdani spokesperson Jeremy Edwards in a statement. “The Mamdani Administration remains committed to working with Albany and to boldly and creatively pursuing clean energy projects that will bring us closer to a sustainable, equitable and green future.”
Progressives were more focused on pushing taxes on the rich in the state budget and addressing concerns about the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies, diluting focus on climate policy.
“That’s Hochul’s strategy: to divide and conquer the forces against her and weaken the working class,” said New York City Democratic Socialists of America co-chair Gustavo Gordillo. “Having so many fights at once limited the ability to fight back on climate probably.”
Criticizing the governor can come at a cost, as some Democratic lawmakers have discovered. Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, a Democratic socialist from the Hudson Valley, suggested the mayor was focused on securing benefits for the city.
“This governor is really not easy to work with so people have to be playing by those rules,” Shrestha said.
Ken Lovett, a spokesperson for the governor, said Hochul is focused on “fighting for the people of New York, whether it’s lowering their auto insurance costs, reforming the climate law to keep the lights on and costs down, or making it easier to build housing that will help push down rents.”
“Rather than working to divide Democrats, these advocates would be better turning their attention to the real problem — Washington Republicans who have launched an all out assault on renewable energy and clean air and water regulations,” he said.
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