New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is looking to use his political power to reshape New York\u2019s congressional delegation less than six months after taking office.<\/p>\n
The popular mayor has made endorsements in multiple contests ahead of Tuesday\u2019s House primaries in New York,\u00a0including for\u00a0progressive challengers to two sitting Democratic congressmen. One of these picks has even put him at odds with his fellow progressives on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n
The primaries will offer an early test of Mamdani\u2019s influence after his historic rise to become the leader of the country\u2019s largest city.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis honeymoon period as mayor has continued.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0doing well right now,\u201d said New York Democratic strategist Trip Yang. \u201cHe\u2019s taking risks intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani has enjoyed a series of recent political and policy successes while in office.\u00a0He has partnered with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)\u00a0to\u00a0accomplish\u00a0key initiatives, including the establishment\u00a0of\u00a0a\u00a0\u201cpied-\u00e0-terre\u201d tax<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0property owners with second homes worth more than $5 million.\u00a0They recently unveiled\u00a0an\u00a0expansion of free childcare<\/a>\u00a0to 2-year-olds in New York City too. <\/p>\n The mayor is also riding a high coming off the New York Knicks\u2019s NBA championship victory last weekend, having\u00a0emerged\u00a0as a top cheerleader for the team. And\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0sought\u00a0to\u00a0use that momentum<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0advance his progressive vision.<\/p>\n Shortly after the Knicks won the first game of the NBA Finals, an\u00a0ad featuring Mamdani<\/a>\u00a0aired on\u00a0New York television. It showed Mamdani\u00a0passing a basketball to three of his endorsed candidates \u2014 former city Comptroller Brad Lander, community organizer Darializa Avila\u00a0Chevalier\u00a0and New York Assembly member Claire Valdez.<\/p>\n Lander is seeking\u00a0to unseat two-term Rep. Dan Goldman (D), while\u00a0Avila Chevalier is aiming to oust longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D). Valdez is running in a competitive open primary to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia\u00a0Vel\u00e1zquez.\u00a0Mamdani, joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), held a get-out-the-vote rally alongside the candidates in Brooklyn Thursday.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s support for Lander, who became one of the mayor\u2019s most ardent backers in the general election against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), in\u00a0New York\u2019s 10th Congressional District\u00a0puts him in line with progressives nationally\u00a0and locally, including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as New York City Public Advocate\u00a0Jumaane Williams.<\/p>\n But Mamdani\u2019s endorsements in the two other contests have created much more of a stir.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s endorsement for Avila Chevalier, which only came in late May,\u00a0took many political observers by surprise.\u00a0Espaillat, a progressive who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, provided Mamdani with a key endorsement after he won the\u00a0Democratic\u00a0primary\u00a0for mayor. The congressman originally backed Cuomo.<\/p>\n Multiple reports\u00a0also suggested there was an\u00a0understanding<\/a>\u00a0that Mamdani would support Espaillat in return.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will have diminished level of trust with a lot of people because everyone here knows, and most elected officials know, that there was a commitment to be with Adriano that was reneged upon,\u201d said one New York Democratic strategist who is involved in multiple primary races.<\/p>\n Espaillat has brushed off the significance of Mamdani\u2019s endorsement, and his campaign doesn\u2019t appear to be overly concerned about it, arguing it has brought more scrutiny to Avila Chevalier\u2019s record and\u00a0past statements<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf anything, the endorsement has brought more attention to Ms. Avila Chevalier\u2019s candidacy and highlighted the contrast in the race,\u201d Espaillat campaign spokesperson Reginald Johnson said,\u00a0adding that the\u00a0congressman\u00a0is \u201cproud to have the trust of the people he serves.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani\u00a0also\u00a0broke\u00a0with Vel\u00e1zquez, a progressive ally,\u00a0in a contested race for her seat.\u00a0Vel\u00e1zquez has endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a progressive and ally of Mamdani. But\u00a0the mayor has backed Valdez, who has support from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1zquez\u00a0has not been quiet<\/a>\u00a0about her frustration with Mamdani over the endorsement.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to allow DSA to define who is progressive and who is not,\u201d she said after campaigning with Reynoso,\u00a0The New York Times reported<\/a>. \u201cBecause the fact that they are here, I paved the way for that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Mamdani for comment.<\/p>\n The New York strategist argued Mamdani is making these endorsements without many tangible benefits\u00a0as Espaillat and Goldman are consistent Democrats in their voting records.<\/p>\n \u201cThis\u00a0isn\u2019t\u2026\u00a0\u2018We\u2019re\u00a0going to take out a\u00a0really bad\u00a0Dem and replace them with a\u00a0really good\u00a0Dem.\u2019 Neither of those fights are this,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n But Mamdani has also been selective in which primaries\u00a0he weighs in on. He notably poured\u00a0cold water\u00a0on the idea of a left-wing challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has at times received criticism from the party\u2019s left flank.<\/p>\n New York City Council member Chi Oss\u00e9\u00a0filed paperwork late last year to challenge Jeffries, but Mamdani\u00a0dismissed the idea<\/a>, saying \u201cthe focus should be right here on New York City.\u201d\u00a0Oss\u00e9\u00a0dropped his bid<\/a>\u00a0shortly after.<\/p>\n Yang said Mamdani is being intentional getting involved in races where\u00a0the outcomes\u00a0likely won\u2019t\u00a0impact\u00a0his agenda while\u00a0maintaining\u00a0strong relations with state officials he needs to work with to notch accomplishments, like Hochul, Jeffries and state Assembly Speaker\u00a0Carl Heastie (D).<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s taking on some political risk, but I see him as being very calculated and very thoughtful, where he takes risks,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n Mamdani has only endorsed in open state legislative races and not against any incumbents.<\/p>\n However, Ester Fuchs, a political science professor at Columbia University, argued Mamdani has\u00a0more to\u00a0risk than gain, pointing to his victory in the mayoral race last year. Although Mamdani was the Democratic nominee and won comfortably, he only just clinched a majority of the vote in one of the most Democratic-leaning cities in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needs to expand his base in New York, so it is high risk for him to go into two districts and in one case support the opponent of a senior Hispanic incumbent legislator and the other case oppose the preferred candidate of a retiring senior Hispanic legislator,\u201d Fuchs said.<\/p>\n But Dan Lamb, an associate teaching professor at Cornell University\u2019s Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy\u00a0and former congressional aide, said\u00a0he expects those involved will move on after the primary ends.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople never forget, but they have to work\u00a0together\u00a0some level after the election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen that plenty of times, and politicians have pretty good survival instincts,\u201d Lamb said. \u201cThey know that even if they did have a fight during the primary, it\u2019s in their mutual best interest to work together post-primary.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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