Hochul going to State of Union thanks to Espaillat

Gov. Hochul is expected to attend President Biden’s State of the Union speech on Thursday, becoming the first sitting New York governor to attend the annual address in memory.

Hochul is slated to attend as a guest of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan-Bronx Democrat. Last year, Espaillat brought Mayor Adams as his guest to the State of the Union.

In a statement, the governor said much in New York hinges on federal action, including “addressing immigration and border security” after Republicans upended a bipartisan deal to secure the southwestern border.

Hochul apparently would be the first sitting New York governor to attend a State of the Union speech since at least the early ’80s. She is the first woman to serve as New York’s governor, and Espaillat said he thought it would be fitting to bring her at the start of Women’s History Month.

“She also has been a strong visionary for the state,” Espaillat said by phone, praising her work to help secure federal funding for families.

Hochul, a Democrat, has fostered a warm public relationship with Biden, and she is set to serve as one of his campaign surrogates in his expected general election race with Donald Trump.

Though she at times directed public criticism toward the White House over the city’s migrant crisis, she has had a far gentler touch than Adams on the issue.

The Democratic mayor was removed from the president’s surrogate squad last year after saying Biden had “failed” New York.

The State of the Union offers a chance for the 81-year-old president to turn popular perceptions as he tilts into campaign mode and tries to dispel widespread concern that he is too old for another term.

Polls show Trump leading Biden.

New York politicians sent an array of messages through their State of the Union guests.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, the Democrat who won a special election on Long Island last month, invited the parents of Omer Neutra, a member of the Israeli Army who was taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and remains missing.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, an

Albany Democrat, invited Billie Jean King, the trailblazing tennis legend.

And Sen. Chuck Schumer of Brooklyn, the Democratic majority leader, invited a 25-year-old Ukrainian soldier who lost one of his legs below the knee after he was injured by a landmine. The soldier came to New York City this winter for medical treatment.

Schumer said he hoped the presence of the soldier, Andrii Chevozorov, would bring attention to the need for American weapons and equipment in Ukraine, which is losing ground to Russia’s invasion.

Legislation to provide more U.S. aid to Ukraine has been held up by House Republicans.

Schumer told the Daily News he was bringing Chevozorov to “make a point” to the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

“If he doesn’t put the bill on the floor, he will regret it next year and the year after,” Schumer said, warning of the Ukrainians’ plight. “One of the American leaders told me that if we don’t give them armaments, Russian tanks could be at the border of Poland in a year.”

Chevozorov is expected to wear his uniform to the speech.