Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Thursday endorsed state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City, in a push to bring progressives together to fight former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s candidacy and potential return to political power.
“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 said in her endorsement, reported The New York Times.
“In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that,” she added.
The primary in the Democrats’ race for mayor is on June 24, and Cuomo has remained in the lead in the polls.
Ocasio-Cortez, while endorsing Mamdani, chose the candidate most like her. Mamdani, 33, represents Queens. His platform in the mayoral race echoes her progressive stance, as he has called for making city buses free, freezing rent increases on rent-stabilized apartments, and opening city-run grocery stores that would be funded by a $10 billion tax hike on businesses and the wealthy.
He is also a fierce critic of Israel, which has sparked concerns from Jewish leaders.
Ocasio-Cortez also said she would rank City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams in second place in the mayoral race, citing her record in office and her “genuine inroads and connections” in working-class communities of people of color, such as the constituents the congresswoman represents in the Bronx and Queens.
She said she would then rank City Comptroller Brad Lander third, followed by former Comptroller Scott Stringer, and Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn in fourth. Several of those candidates hold political positions to Ocasio-Cortez’s right.
“Even if the entire left coalesced around any one candidate, an ideological coalition is still insufficient for us to win,” she said. “We have to have a true working-class coalition.”
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