# Hochul ducked out of 9/11 to hit CNN

> The governor left Ground Zero while victims' names were still being read, then talked about the day on national television.
- Title: Hochul ducked out of 9/11 to hit CNN · New York Post
- Summary: The governor left Ground Zero while victims' names were still being read, then talked about the day on national television. On the 25th anniversary, who…
- Keywords: hochul, 9/11, new york politics, media, election, news, entertainment, ducked, hit, CNN, New York Post
- Source: New York Post — https://nypost.com/2026/09/11/us-news/gov-kathy-hochul-leaves-9-11-ceremony-early-to-go-on-cnn
- Published: 2026-09-11T17:56:22+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: hochul, 9/11, new york politics, media, election, news, entertainment
## She left before the end
Gov. Kathy Hochul walked out of the 25th anniversary ceremony at the Ground Zero reflecting pool just before 11 a.m. Friday, while families were still reading names.
## Where she went instead
Her next stop was a CNN sit-down with Wolf Blitzer. The name-reading was still going on air as she described the morning she had just left.

> I saw a lot of pain this morning, I hugged a lot of families and saw little babies that never knew their grandparents.
## 2,977 names, plus six
The reading covers everyone killed on Sept. 11, 2001, along with the six people who died in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It takes hours to finish.
## Mamdani and Bloomberg stayed
Mayor Zohran Mamdani sat through the full program, as did former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who chairs the memorial museum's board of trustees.
## The last reader noticed
Michael Massaroli, who read the final names, thanked the dignitaries and families who stayed to the end. Hochul had wrapped her interview well before that.

> everyone one of these names matter
## Her office points at Vance
Press secretary Kara Cumoletti said Hochul left when she does every year, alongside former presidents and Vice President J.D. Vance, and called the story manufactured.

> Trying to manufacture a controversy out of that is both false and beneath the solemnity of the day.
## Her opponent left too
Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman stepped out of the VIP area mid-ceremony, but during the reading of his nephew's name, a court officer killed in the attacks.
## Key takeaway

On the 25th anniversary, who stayed to the last name became its own kind of scorecard.