Mayor de Blasio held a rare in-person rally at City Hall on Tuesday with dozens of members of an influential hotel union whose endorsement would be critical if he decides to run for governor next year.
Officially, the rally in the City Hall Rotunda was held for de Blasio to sign a bill mandating hotels to pay workers severance if they were fired under certain circumstances during the pandemic.
“The pandemic hurt everybody, but few people took it on the chin more than members of the Hotel Trades Council because your livelihood was gone,” de Blasio said, flanked by more than 50 HTC members and Rich Maroko, the union’s president.
“That’s why this bill is so important,” the mayor continued. “To make people whole — people who helped make New York City great.”
But while the legislation was the primary focus, the context and timing of the celebratory event signaled de Blasio also had gubernatorial aspirations on his mind.
The Hotel Trades Council is one of a handful of city unions de Blasio has approached in recent months as part of an effort to gauge support for a potential gubernatorial bid, two sources confirmed to the Daily News.
Representing nearly 40,000 hospitality workers, the Hotel Trades Council is also the only city union that endorsed de Blasio’s 2020 presidential campaign, and appearing shoulder-to-shoulder with its members is politically salient as he sets his sights on Albany’s Executive Mansion, said Democratic strategist Trip Yang.
“He still has an opportunity here to leverage his office for his future. Once he’s a former mayor, he’s not going to have opportunities like this to garner support,” said Yang, an ex-campaign adviser to state Attorney General Letitia James and current consultant to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, both of whom are weighing their own gubernatorial bids. “Come Jan. 1, de Blasio is going to have to run as an insurgent, whether he likes it or not.”
Hizzoner has made no bones about the fact that he wants to run for governor, saying just Monday that he’s “definitely” mulling the prospect.
In his Tuesday remarks, de Blasio made a point to repeatedly praise Maroko.
“You kept fighting every step of the way and looking for what could be done even in the midst of the greatest crisis you’ve ever faced,” de Blasio told the union president. “You always believed that we could find a way to help working people. Thank you, Rich.”
But de Blasio should not count on an endorsement from the union if he runs for governor, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The source said the union has no immediate plans to endorse in the 2022 race and noted that the Hotel Trades Council has a “longstanding relationship” with other potential and declared gubernatorial candidates, including Gov. Hochul and James.
Speaking to The News after the rally, Maroko downplayed the idea that it should be seen as a political harbinger and said his focus was only on the newly inked bill.
“There were no political signals being sent,” he said. “The union’s only consideration and concern is getting members back to work as quickly as possible.”
The bill, passed by the City Council last month, requires hotels with over 100 rooms to pay workers severance of $500 per week for upward of six months if they’ve axed more than 75% of their employees during the pandemic and are still operating at those staffing levels. The rule serves as an incentive for hotels to rehire laidoff staff at a time when the city’s hospitality industry is hoping to capitalize on a return in tourism.
“Thank you, mayor!” some of the union workers shouted as de Blasio signed the bill in the Rotunda.
One of the city’s largest hospitality trade groups countered that the severance bill will hurt the bottom line of hotels.
“The hotel industry has been among the hardest-hit by COVID-19, shuttering hundreds of hotels, with many now on the verge of bankruptcy,” said Vijay Dandapani, the president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City. “The absolute worst thing that the city can do right now for tourism and our local economy is to force us to pay money we do not have, which will just force hotel owners to close up shop and leave New York altogether.”
De Blasio’s fist-pumping rally came on the heels of James and Williams stepping up their gubernatorial race preparations, dropping repeated hints about their interest in running at events across the state over the past few weeks.
Meantime, Hochul, who has already announced a reelection campaign, netted a major endorsement Monday from Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York State Democratic Party.
“For all the media platforms that the mayor has, he has not taken the same types of steps that the other candidates have so far,” Yang said. “[The Tuesday rally] is him attempting to keep pace.”
Another unusual aspect of de Blasio’s Rotunda rally was his decision to go maskless while schmoozing with dozens of HTC workers — especially considering he has for months refused to hold in-person press briefings indoors, citing COVID-19 concerns.
After the bill signing, de Blasio quickly retreated behind closed doors without taking any questions from a small group of assembled reporters.