Mamdani’s endorsement power to face key test in June race

Following a decisive defeat this week of a City Council candidate endorsed by the mayor, the New York political world is wondering: does Zohran Mamdani have coattails, or is he a party of one?

The mayor will have another chance to show that his influence extends beyond City Hall this June with a slew of competitive congressional and statehouse primary races.

What You Need To Know

Sources say the mayor is being pressured to back nearly a dozen Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidates running for Congress or the state Legislature. It’s potentially putting Mayor Zohran Mamdani on a collision course with the DSA and Democratic state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who, as sources explained to NY1, made it clear he won’t be happy with the mayor opposing any Democratic incumbents

Sources familiar with the mayor’s campaign explained that the compromise could be that Mamdani instead weighs in on open seats instead of challenging incumbents. Except in special cases where he values friendship and policy stances

For weeks, team Mamdani has been getting political ducks in a row, such as hiring a new campaign manager, Celia Castellan, who is the former chief of staff to Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán

Senior campaign adviser Morris Katz is working on Assemblywoman Claire Valdez’s and Brad Lander’s campaigns. And although sources say he is friendly with Micah Lasher, who is running in Manhattan’s 12th District, Lasher is unlikely to net a Mamdani backing

Reflecting on the blowout loss of his preferred council candidate, allies are weighing in on Mamdani’s star power — and its limits.

“Even when you have a very powerful political figure like the mayor, it’s really an organized base that can be a multiplier effect, and it’s in coordination between the movement and the individual, powerful elected that we can really maximize campaign power,” Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair for the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, told NY1 in an interview.

Several Mamdani campaign sources and allies told NY1, they don’t see Lindsay Boylan’s loss in a Manhattan City Council race as a harbinger for the outcomes of the mayor’s future endorsements.

“I think endorsements are incredibly overrated,” said Peter Kauffman, a political consultant who formerly worked for Mayor Bill de Blasio and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

As of now, the mayor and his campaign are deciding which competitive Democratic primaries he should — or shouldn’t — endorse in.

According to sources, he’s being pressured to back nearly a dozen DSA-endorsed candidates running for Congress or the state Legislature.

“If they were all elected, we could potentially almost double our democratic socialist cohort up in Albany,” Gordillo said.

There are nine DSA members in both legislative chambers.

It’s potentially putting Mamdani on a collision course with the DSA and Democratic state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who, as sources explained to NY1, made it clear he won’t be happy with the mayor opposing any Democratic incumbents.

“The hardest thing to ask our [elected officials] to do is to make an endorsement against their own colleagues or against sitting elected officials,” Gordillo said. “But when those elected officials are not fighting to tax the rich, or are taking money from real estate developers, from the people who are making the city unaffordable, we have no choice but to challenge them in order to pass our agenda.”

Sources familiar with the mayor’s campaign explained that the compromise could be that Mamdani instead weighs in on open seats instead of challenging incumbents. Except in special cases, where he values friendship and policy stances.

“If there are times when it fits the agenda that he is trying to achieve for New Yorkers, then certainly there are political reasons to go out and endorse certain candidates in certain races. But for the most part, I think my default would be to sit some races out, let voters decide,” Kauffman said.

Already, Mamdani has backed former colleague Assemblywoman Claire Valdez in the open primary for New York’s 7th Congressional District in Brooklyn and Queens.

As well as former City Comptroller Brad Lander, in the primary to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman in Manhattan and Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional District.

But as for other competitive legislative contests, some members are keeping their options open.

“The mayor has been someone I’ve been excited to work with in his time as the mayor, I’ve appeared with him in a number of initiatives that he’s had in my district,” Harlem Democratic Assemblyman Jordan Wright said.

Wright also faces a competitive primary from a DSA-backed challenger, Conrad Blackburn.

In the open primary for state Senate District 27, vacated by longtime Democratic Sen. Brian Kavanaugh, Assemblywoman Grace Lee is eyeing Mamdani’s endorsement.

“He’s doing a great job in the city. I would be honored to have his endorsement. I was honored to be his colleague,” she said in a previous interview with NY1 when asked.

Democratic Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas of Queens is challenging state Sen. Jessica Ramos for her seat in District 13 and could be on the list for an endorsement from the mayor.

”Mamdani and I have an excellent relationship. We’ve been partners in this work in the assembly and now as mayor,” González-Rojas told NY1.

Historically, mayors have had spotty track records with endorsements. De Blasio helped out Eric Adams in his run for mayor — and even Cuomo.

“De Blasio actually did play, ironically enough, a critical role in sort of calming down the progressive challenge for Cuomo in 2014, but other than that, the idea that you’re going to bring up another candidate on stage and that your popularity and rizz will somehow pass off to that candidate. I haven’t seen it,” Kauffman said.

But for weeks, team Mamdani has been getting political ducks in a row, such as hiring a new campaign manager, Celia Castellan, who is the former chief of staff to Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán.

Senior campaign adviser Morris Katz is working on Valdez’s and Lander’s campaigns. And although sources say he is friendly with Micah Lasher, who is running in Manhattan’s 12th District, Lasher is unlikely to net a Mamdani backing.

“The mayor and his agenda are deeply popular, and he’ll continue to use every tool at his disposal to usher in a new era in our politics and deliver a city we can all afford,” said an unnamed spokesperson for Mamdani’s campaign.

The state and city budgets are pushing back endorsement decisions, sources said.