WASHINGTON – Progressive New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is backing Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, delivering a boost to the candidate who’s behind former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the polls.
Ocasio-Cortez’s political momentum has been surging in recent months after she joined Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on a “fighting oligarchy” tour across the country and has been thrust into the national spotlight. Her endorsement of Mamdani, who is currently a New York state assembly member, gives him a slight edge compared to his opponents.
“Assembly member 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 told The New York Times in an interview announcing her endorsement. “In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.”
Mamdani wrote on X that Ocasio-Cortez is a “once-in-a-generation leader who has led the fight for working people in Congress.”
The Democratic primary for the mayoral race is on June 24. “With @AOC’s support and this movement behind us, we will do the same,” he wrote.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal, is the frontrunner among the crowded Democratic primary field.
A poll from PIX11, Emerson College and The Hill conducted between May 23 and May 26 found that in a ranked-choice voting situation, in which voters rank candidates by order of preference, Cuomo would beat Mamdani 54.4% to 45.6% in the tenth round. The survey was conducted among 1,000 registered New York voters with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
A Marist University poll on May 14 found Cuomo leading Mamdani by 60% to 40% in the sixth round of ranked choice voting. The survey was conducted among 3,383 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
Ocasio-Cortez told the Times that in order to beat Cuomo, the left needs to build a bigger base and work more collaboratively. “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.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AOC endorses Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in NYC mayor race
