Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, the main progressive candidates operating for mayor on this month’s Democratic main, are cross-endorsing one another, urging their respective supporters to rank the opposite candidate second on their ballots.
In a joint assertion Friday, the Mamdani and Lander campaigns mentioned they’re making the transfer as a result of it has “become increasingly clear” they’re the 2 left-wing candidates within the race who can “defeat disgraced Andrew Cuomo,” the ex-governor who’s polling as the favourite to win the first.
“As Brad and I exposed the ex-governor’s record of corruption and scandal on last night’s debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,” Mamdani mentioned in an announcement, referring to Thursday’s second and last Democratic mayoral main debate.
“His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together.”
Cross-endorsements have turn out to be more and more widespread in New York, given the ranked-choice voting system the town adopted for the primary time through the 2021 native elections. Beneath that system, a candidate who trails after the primary spherical of vote tabulations might ultimately prevail if they’re ranked on ballots that includes different candidates because the primary alternative.
There was no instant response from the Cuomo marketing campaign.
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani speaks through the New York Metropolis Democratic Mayoral Major Debate on the John Jay School of Prison Justice within the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on June 12, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by VINCENT ALBAN/POOL/AFP through Getty Photographs)
“I’m proud to cross-endorse Zohran because of his strong commitment to a more affordable New York, and to stop the corrupt, morally bankrupt, unacceptable Andrew Cuomo from becoming mayor of a city he doesn’t even like,” Lander added in his personal assertion.
The official mentioned the choice was made by the candidates alone and never influenced by progressive powerbrokers just like the Working Households Celebration or New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The official defined a key issue behind the transfer was a current ballot projecting Mamdani and Lander simply 3% aside from one another — throughout the margin of error — in a ranked-choice voting simulation of the first.
Their announcement got here simply as New Yorkers gear as much as head to the polls for the primary day of early voting Saturday. New Yorkers will then be capable of solid early ballots day by day via June 22 earlier than polls open for the ultimate spherical of voting on the June 24 main day.
Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander speaks through the New York Metropolis Democratic Mayoral Major Debate on the John Jay School of Prison Justice within the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on June 12, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by VINCENT ALBAN/POOL/AFP through Getty Photographs)
Mamdani and Lander had since beforehand urged their supporters to rank the opposite candidate someplace on their ballots after they have been each endorsed by the Working Households Celebration as a part of an anti-Cuomo slate.
The direct cross-endorsement additional signifies the progressive duo imagine they’ve a greater shot at beating Cuomo in the event that they crew up towards him.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist operating on a populist platform that features guarantees to freeze lease on stabilized tenants and drastically broaden totally backed youngster care, has constantly polled because the runner-up to Cuomo and one current survey even confirmed him overtaking the ex-gov for the primary time.
Lander has usually ranked within the No. 3 or 4 spot in most polls. On Thursday, he netted the endorsement of an opinion panel convened by the New York Occasions editorial board, and he has mentioned he expects that to present him a lift.
