A pro-charter school super PAC bankrolled by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending seven figures on a get-out-the-vote and media campaign to re-elect Governor Kathy Hochul, with the group also backing seven moderate Democratic state Senate candidates in districts stretching from Long Island to the Capital Region. New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany is directing its effort at competitive districts across Long Island, the Lower Hudson Valley, the Capital Region, southern Brooklyn and Staten Island, according to the group.
Bloomberg donated $1.8 million to the super PAC this year, according to the New York Post, which first reported the group's 2026 spending plans. The super PAC, originally created in 2014 by the pro-charter group StudentsFirstNY, historically spent millions helping Senate Republicans maintain control of the chamber before shifting after 2019 toward backing pro-charter, moderate Democrats in state legislative primaries and general elections, according to City & State New York.
Crystal McQueen-Taylor, speaking for the effort, said Hochul has consistently stood up for New York's students and families, and parents are now standing up for her. She said dozens of parents are canvassing Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx for Hochul because of their children's future, and that the group is mobilizing Democratic voters in suburbs and swing districts, per the Post's reporting.
Seven State Senate Races in the Crosshairs
Beyond the governor's race, New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany is backing seven moderate Democratic candidates for state Senate. The group's targets include Larry He in southern Brooklyn and incumbent Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, who represents Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn — two New York City Senate districts described as closely divided, where increased Democratic turnout could make a difference, per the Post.
The PAC is also backing Monica Martinez in Suffolk County, Rory Lancman in Nassau County's North Shore, Lisa Vider on Long Island's South Shore, Joseph Rand in Rockland County and Sarah Rogerson in Saratoga and Schenectady. Those downstate suburban contests sit in the same battleground territory an October Marist survey found deadlocked at 48% apiece between Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman, even as Hochul led statewide 53% to 42%, according to Hoodline's earlier reporting.
Bloomberg's financial footprint in the race extends further. He donated $1 million to Empire State PAC, a pro-Hochul group, in September, and gave $1.5 million in May to New Yorkers for a Stronger Future, another pro-charter group. That second PAC is managed by Jacquelyn Martell, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform New York, according to InfluenceWatch. Representatives for Bloomberg declined to comment on whether he would spend millions more to aid Hochul in the campaign's final stretch, per the Post.
A Tax Credit Fight Almost Scrambled the Alliance
The Bloomberg-backed PAC had planned to support Hochul even before she announced Friday that New York would opt into the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit scholarship program, a decision the Post reports could benefit more than 2.7 million New York public, parochial and private school students. New York's teachers' union opposed the state's participation in the program, while a coalition representing Jewish and Catholic parochial schools had urged Hochul to allow New York to take part.
Teachers' union leaders, the NAACP and the NYCLU have claimed the program amounts to a back-door privatization scheme designed to siphon taxpayer dollars from public schools, per the Post's reporting. Congress and President Trump approved the tax credit last year, and the program offers a 100% federal tax credit for individual donations of up to $1,700 annually to approved scholarship-granting organizations, which the Trump administration calls school choice.
The federal program is projected by the U.S. Treasury Department to generate up to $26 billion annually nationwide in tax-credited donations to K-12 scholarship organizations once it takes effect January 1, 2027, according to BakerHostetler. Proposed Treasury regulations published in October specify the scholarships can serve households earning up to 300% of area median income, covering roughly 95% of American children, per a U.S. Department of the Treasury fact sheet. Public school students can use the funds for tutoring, transportation or after-school programs, while private school students can apply them toward tuition.
Billionaire Money Flows on Both Sides of the Race
The charter PAC's spending adds to a broader pattern of billionaire-funded outside groups shaping this year's governor's race. Bloomberg has poured more than $150 million into New York state and local elections over the past 25 years, alongside a $750 million national initiative pledged in 2021 to expand charter schools, according to LittleSis. In October campaign finance filings, Arkansas-based Walmart heiress Alice Walton contributed $800,000 to New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany to support competitive downstate state Senate contests.
Republican nominee Blakeman has his own outside backers. The Strong and Safe New York super PAC launched a $750,000-per-week ad campaign this month bankrolled in part by $1 million contributions from MSG CEO James Dolan and casino executive Steve Wynn, attacking Hochul over pandemic-era procurement contracts, Hoodline previously reported.
The pro-charter PAC's spending has a track record. During the 2024 Democratic legislative primaries, pro-charter super PACs spent nearly $2 million combined, with New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany expending $234,000 — or $54.17 per vote — to successfully protect moderate incumbent Assembly Member Stefani Zinerman in Brooklyn, according to City & State New York. Hochul, who is seeking a second full four-year term, debated Blakeman in a televised faceoff at Spectrum News NY1 studios earlier this month, with the two set to face voters on November 3.
