Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is endorsing Zohran Mamdani as her high choose for New York Metropolis mayor, giving the socialist upstart candidate a serious enhance because the 2025 race for Metropolis Corridor kicks into excessive gear.
Ocasio-Cortez, who has since being elected to Congress in 2018 grow to be one of many Democratic Social gathering’s most distinguished progressive leaders, mentioned in an interview printed Thursday she’s backing Mamdani due to the grassroots assist he has generated in pushing a coverage platform centered round 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 informed the New York Occasions. “In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
The Ocasio-Cortez endorsement was extremely coveted within the June 24 mayoral major, as she’s thought-about the town’s chief left-wing chief and usually ranks because the Democratic Social gathering’s hottest member. Her stature as a nationwide determine has solely elevated since President Trump returned to the White Home, as she and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have launched into a nationwide tour of anti-Trump rallies that every have a tendency to attract 1000’s of attendees.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Mario Tama/Getty Photos)
Like Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani, a Queens Meeting member, is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America. They’re additionally each 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 mentioned in a press release accepting her endorsement.
It wasn’t instantly clear if Ocasio-Cortez plans to hitch Mamdani on the marketing campaign path or seem in advertisements with him.
Her choose of Mamdani marks a disappointment for Lander, a longtime ally who was endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez for his 2021 comptroller run.
Provided that the June 24 major is ranked alternative, Ocasio-Cortez mentioned she’s urging New Yorkers to again a slate of candidates on their ballots.
However she put Lander third on that slate, giving the No. 2 spot to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. She additionally put ex-Comptroller Scott Stringer within the No. 4 slot and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie in No. 5.
Zohran Mamdani waves to the gang throughout his first marketing campaign rally at Brooklyn Metal on Could 4 2025. (MADISON SWART/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Photos)
Requested for remark, a spokeswoman for Lander, who has largely polled because the No. 3 candidate within the race, pointed to a tweet he put out saying he’s “proud” to have her assist.
The Mamdani nod from Ocasio-Cortez comes as he has emerged because the progressive standard-bearer within the Democratic mayoral major, pushing a platform that features guarantees to freeze the lease for the town’s stabilized tenants, drastically increase absolutely sponsored little one care and make public buses free.
He has persistently polled because the No. 2 candidate within the race behind front-runner Andrew Cuomo, a centrist Democrat. Some latest polls are indicating Cuomo’s lead over Mamdani is narrowing, and Ocasio-Cortez mentioned within the interview she hopes her endorsement will assist beat again Cuomo, blasting him as a profession politician who “belongs to the hedge funds,” a reference to his ultra-wealthy donor base.
On the identical time, Mamdani has confronted scrutiny in some corners of the town’s citizens over his lack of government expertise (his solely elected job is serving within the State Meeting since 2021) in addition to his outspoken criticism of Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged Mamdani’s youth and hard-left stances on sure points might pose an impediment in searching for assist from some communities, saying “trust can’t be built quickly.”
However she additionally mentioned she “made my expectations of the assemblymember quite clear” in conversations with him earlier than 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 mentioned. “It is not something that I take lightly.”
Initially Printed: June 5, 2025 at 10:01 AM EDT
