Ocasio-Cortez endorses Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor as campaign enters final stretch

Yahoo

3 days ago

NEW YORK — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is endorsing Zohran Mamdani as her top pick for New York City mayor, giving the socialist upstart candidate a major boost as the 2025 race for City Hall kicks into high gear.
Ocasio-Cortez, who has since being elected to Congress in 2018 become one of the Democratic Party's most prominent progressive leaders, said in an interview published Thursday she's backing Mamdani because of the grassroots support he has generated in pushing a policy platform centered around affordability.
'Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack,' Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told The New York Times. 'In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.'
Ocasio-Cortez's campaign didn't immediately return requests for comment.
The Ocasio-Cortez endorsement was highly coveted in the June 24 mayoral primary, as she's considered the city's chief left-wing leader and regularly ranks as the Democratic Party's most popular member. Her stature as a national figure has only increased since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, as she and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have embarked on a nationwide tour of anti-Trump rallies that each tend to draw thousands of attendees.
Like Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani, a Queens Assembly member, is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America. They're also both millennials — Ocasio-Cortez is 35 and Mamdani is 33 — and their western Queens-based districts overlap.
'In Washington, the Congresswoman has been a tireless advocate for working people as she has led the fight against Donald Trump. That's exactly the kind of leadership we will deliver to New York,' Mamdani said in a statement accepting her endorsement.
It wasn't immediately clear if Ocasio-Cortez plans to join Mamdani on the campaign trail or appear in ads with him.
As first reported by the Daily News last month, Ocasio-Cortez met privately in recent weeks with Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander, another mayoral candidate, to discuss endorsements.
Her pick of Mamdani marks a disappointment for Lander, a longtime ally who was endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez for his 2021 comptroller run.
Given that the June 24 primary is ranked choice, Ocasio-Cortez said she's urging New Yorkers to back a slate of candidates on their ballots.
But she put Lander third on that slate, giving the No. 2 spot to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. She also put ex-Comptroller Scott Stringer in the No. 4 slot and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie in No. 5.
Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Lander, who has mostly polled as the No. 3 candidate in the race, pointed to a tweet he put out saying he's 'proud' to have her support.
The Mamdani nod from Ocasio-Cortez comes as he has emerged as the progressive standard-bearer in the Democratic mayoral primary, pushing a platform that includes promises to freeze the rent for the city's stabilized tenants, drastically expand fully subsidized child care and make public buses free.
He has consistently polled as the No. 2 candidate in the race behind front-runner Andrew Cuomo, a centrist Democrat. Some recent polls are indicating Cuomo's lead over Mamdani is narrowing, and Ocasio-Cortez said in the interview she hopes her endorsement will help beat back Cuomo, blasting him as a career politician who 'belongs to the hedge funds,' a reference to his wealthy donor base.
At the same time, Mamdani has faced scrutiny in some corners of the city's electorate over his lack of executive experience (his only elected job is serving in the State Assembly since 2021) as well as his outspoken criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged Mamdani's youth and hard-left stances on certain issues could pose an obstacle in seeking support from some communities, saying 'trust can't be built quickly.'
But she also said she 'made my expectations of the assemblymember quite clear' in conversations with him before the endorsement.
'As someone who got elected when I was 28 years old, I know very intimately what it means to be trusted with an enormous job of immense responsibility at a very young age,' she said. 'It is not something that I take lightly.'
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