President Joe Biden is expected to visit New York next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly, visiting as the mayor remains miffed and the governor grumpy over the White House’s handling of the asylum seeker crisis.
In the city, Biden is set to attend at least two fund-raisers: an event at a Broadway theater on Monday and a pricey shindig with New York lawyers on Wednesday, according to notices for the events.
Tickets for the Monday event, branded “Broadway for Biden,” are set at $250 to $750 and tickets for the Wednesday fund-raiser, “Lawyers for Biden” start at $3,300. Deadline previously reported on Biden’s expected visit to the Theater District.
The exact locations of the fund-raisers were not clear. And it was unclear if Mayor Adams or Gov. Hochul would attend either.
The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Spokesmen for Adams and Hochul said they did not yet know if the mayor or governor would attend events with Biden, but that they were aware of planning.
Adams and Hochul, two moderate Democrats, have blamed Biden for the city’s migrant crisis, declaring he has not given New York adequate support as the city buckles under the strain of caring for about 60,000 asylum seekers.
The president, who was headed to Alaska on Monday during the city’s 9/11 ceremonies, has seemed to keep the migrant crisis at arm’s length, addressing it sparingly in public. He did not meet with Hochul two weeks ago when she visited the White House to appeal for more migrant aid.
The meeting, which came three days after Biden’s Homeland Security Department criticized New York City’s handling of the crisis in a two-page letter, produced vital commitments from the White House, according to Hochul’s office.
But the governor has said the federal response continues to fall short, and she has demanded that Washington expedite approval of work permits for asylum seekers.
“This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved through the federal government,” Hochul said in a speech last month.
Hochul, who is expected to serve as campaign surrogate for Biden’s reelection bid in 2024, has still taken a gentler tone on the White House than Adams, who declared in the spring that Biden had “failed” New York City; the mayor was dropped from the surrogate squad soon.
At the outset of his mayoralty, Adams tied himself closely to the president, calling himself the “Biden of Brooklyn.”
After Adams’ election victory — but before his ascension to mayor — Biden invited the then-Brooklyn borough president to the White House in July 2021 to discuss public safety. And in his first month as mayor, Adams received a pep talk from Biden after delivering a major speech detailing his plans to halt growing gun violence, according to the White House.
But the relationship seems to have frayed due to Adams’ frustration over more than 100,000 asylum seekers who have arrived in the city since spring 2022. Many of the migrants fled political and economic upheaval in Venezuela and have been unable to quickly secure work papers in the city.
Adams and Hochul, whose administrations have engaged in several rounds of sniping and recriminations over the crisis, have remained chummy in public appearances and maintained they are aligned on myriad issues.
But Biden, whose poll numbers are plummeting in New York State, has largely receded from view locally.
Last month, Adams told CNN he had not spoken with Biden in 2023.
Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant, said that it is likely Biden will try to dodge Adams next week, but that it might be inevitable that they wind up together at some point.
Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant,
“Adams will want the photo,” Sheinkopf said. “Biden probably won’t.”
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