New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed Lindsey Boylan \u2014 the first woman to publicly accuse former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment \u2014 in a City Council race on Friday, his latest attempt to wield his political clout to influence Democratic contests.<\/p>\n
Boylan \u201crepresents the kind of fearless leadership this moment demands,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has shown a willingness to tell hard truths, to challenge entrenched power, and to stand up for working people even when it isn\u2019t easy. That courage matters,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Mamdani ran against Cuomo for mayor last year, beating him once in the Democratic primary, then again in the general election after the former governor ran as a third-party candidate. During that race, Boylan occasionally demonstrated outside Cuomo campaign events to draw attention to the harassment scandal that drove him from power.<\/p>\n
The endorsement came as Mamdani, who vaulted from relative obscurity to become a national progressive star last year, has wasted little time testing whether his potent brand can bring about a leftward shift in New York politics. <\/p>\n
Just after winning the mayoral election, Mamdani endorsed Brad Lander, a former City Hall challenger, in a race against U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, who has the support of many moderate Democrats, including one of the mayor’s biggest allies, Gov. Kathy Hochul. <\/p>\n
Days after Mamdani took office, he waded into another race when he backed Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist state lawmaker, to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez. The incumbent has favored a different heir for her seat in Brooklyn and Queens, putting her at odds with Mamdani after she supported him in the mayor’s race.<\/p>\n
In Boylan’s contest, Mamdani’s endorsement is counter to Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has endorsed another candidate for the open seat in Manhattan, as the pair of leaders duel over the city’s budget woes.<\/p>\n
Mamdani, in his endorsement, acknowledged a wider objective: building support in the City Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we work to usher in a new era in our city\u2019s politics, and advance our affordability agenda, I need partners in the work like Lindsey and that\u2019s why I am proud to endorse her campaign for City Council,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Boylan, who previously had unsuccessful runs for Congress and Manhattan borough president, said she was honored to get the mayor’s endorsement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was proud to support the Mayor in his campaign to bring affordability and change to New York City,\u201d she said. Her City Council special election is on April 28.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Boylan accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her when she was an economic development adviser his administration. She said he subjected her to an unwanted kiss and inappropriate comments.<\/p>\n
Cuomo has denied the allegations. He resigned in 2021 after a report released by the state attorney general concluded that he had sexually harassed 11 women, including Boylan.<\/p>\n
Asked about Mamdani’s endorsement Friday, Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said the former governor \u201cnever harassed anyone.\u201d He also assailed Boylan as \u201ca perennial candidate\u201d unworthy of support.<\/p>\n
\u201cMamdani endorsing her tells you everything you need to know about him and his new era,\u201d Azzopardi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed Lindsey Boylan \u2014 the first woman to publicly accuse former Gov.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[80,9,24,11,10,87,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-201504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-andrew-cuomo","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}