The undersigned nurses are NYSNA members who implore their union to remain neutral in the 2026 New York State gubernatorial election.

A political endorsement from a labor union is more than just a calculation that one candidate is better, or less bad, than the other. Rather, it is a reflection of shared values. It is also an expression of a mutually respectful partnership—a commitment to fight for one another. 

On both counts, Gov. Kathy Hochul has demonstrated that she is wholly unworthy of NYSNA’s support.

This past winter, as 15,000 nurses in New York City prepared to walk off the job to protect their healthcare and secure safe staffing, Gov. Hochul suspended state law to allow hospital systems to hire nurses lacking NYS licenses, rolling out a red carpet for high-priced out-of-state scabs who imperiled patient care and undercut union power. As the strike dragged on, she extended that suspension repeatedly, a gift to hospital bosses intent on breaking their unions.

At safety-net hospitals, Gov. Hochul provided modest state funding to avert a strike but did little to ensure those funds helped nurses. Nurses at the Brooklyn Hospital Center had to fight to retain the healthcare benefits the state was supposed to have protected. Other facilities like Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Brookdale Hospital Center and Interfaith Medical Center remain exposed because the state offered bosses one-shot funding with no strings attached.

While President Trump bears primary responsibility for cutting Medicaid, Gov. Hochul could have compensated for those cuts by levying minimal taxes on the state’s billionaires, whose income has almost doubled since COVID. The governor refused, and as a result, New York State’s Essential Plan dropped 450,000 patients. Those now uninsured New Yorkers will likely delay care, get sicker and seek help at public hospitals – places like NYC’s Health and Hospitals system, Buffalo’s Erie County Medical Center and Westchester Medical Center – that will receive no additional funding for that work.

At the same time, Gov. Hochul has failed to aggressively enforce the state’s Safe Staffing Law, or address the statewide shortage of psychiatric beds, which contributes to the growing problem of hospital violence.

Unions and the politicians they support will never agree on everything. However, Gov. Hochul’s treatment of nurses represents not a mere disagreement. It constitutes a betrayal. 

Meanwhile, Hochul’s Republican opponent backs the Trump administration’s racist campaign against immigrants, has opposed sensible vaccine mandates, and tried to cut retired union workers’ healthcare benefits while he was Nassau County executive. That he has received the president’s endorsement plainly disqualifies him to receive NYSNA’s.

The undersigned are not suggesting, by any means, that the governor’s race is not important. It is, in fact, critical. NYSNA should instruct all members to research the candidates, watch the debates and vote as their contemplation and conscience dictate. And whoever wins the race, NYSNA should extend an offer of cooperation toward common goals. 

But NYSNA should not endorse in the contest. To do so would send a dangerous signal to all candidates that they can earn our unconditional and unrequited support simply by being slightly less odious than their opponents. 

Nurses and patients deserve better. Let’s demand it.