| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 12, 2026 Contact: Dan Kranz Hernandez for New York (315) 751-1771 press@hernandezforny.com NEW YORK, NY — Joseph Hernandez, Republican candidate for New York State Comptroller, released the following statement on Mayor Zohran Mamdani skipping this morning’s Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Avenue after the Columbus Citizens Foundation personally invited him: “The Columbus Citizens Foundation extended an olive branch, and the mayor left it on the table. This is the same man who posted a picture of himself giving the finger to the Columbus statue in Astoria with the caption ‘Take it down.’ His administration’s city mapfound room for Little Palestine but left off Little Italy at first. It’s disrespectful to Italians everywhere, and Kathy Hochul, who stood by him, owns this too. Italian Americans helped build this state. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to sail into New York Harbor. Italian immigrants dug the subway tunnels and raised the skyline, often for poverty wages. Rudy Giuliani took back the streets of this city, Al D’Amato served three terms in the U.S. Senate, Frank Sinatra gave New York its anthem, and Mother Cabrini built schools, orphanages and hospitals for immigrants with nothing. Italian immigrants paid for the Columbus statue at Columbus Circle themselves in 1892 to prove they belonged here. My family came to this country on a boat from Cuba with nothing. I know what it means when a community fights to be seen, and what it means when a politician won’t show up for them. Italian Americans don’t need the mayor’s approval. They deserve a comptroller who respects them and their tax dollars. If you’re Italian American, remember this when you’re in the booth on November 3.” |
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