Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin on Friday endorsed Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the New York City mayoral race, just weeks ahead of Election Day.
“He’s running to make NYC more affordable for everyone and has captured the nation’s attention with his incredible campaign,” Martin, who was elected by fellow Democrats to his position earlier this year, wrote in a post on X. “Go vote for Zohran this November!”
The endorsement comes as other national Democrats, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, have so far declined to endorse Mamdani.
In September, months after Mamdani advanced to the November general election in a June primary, New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed him.
In a New York Times op-ed, Hochul noted that while she and Mamdani have “had our disagreements,” they also share similar goals, like making New York City more affordable for residents.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the Democratic party’s presidential nominee in last year’s presidential election, also offered a tepid endorsement of Mamdani last month, telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that, “Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee and he should be supported.”
Democrats have been slow to endorse Mamdani, who describes himself as a “democratic socialist” and has campaigned on a progressive policy agenda for New York City that includes making city buses free, increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and freezing rent for certain housing units in the city.
In June, he defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination after Cuomo had been seen as the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for months.
Just weeks after his defeat, Cuomo launched an independent campaign for mayor, but faces an uphill climb to victory based on recent polling, with just three weeks left before Election Day.
In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW” earlier this month, Cuomo said that he and Mamdani are like “apples and oranges” and called the Democratic mayoral nominee “fringe.”
“You know, it’s apples and oranges. We couldn’t be more different. I’m a mainstream Democrat. He’s a fringe Democrat,” Cuomo said.
In that same interview, Cuomo said he would welcome the endorsement of incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who ran an independent campaign for mayor earlier this year, as Cuomo sought to build a coalition of anti-Mamdani voters.
When Adams dropped out of the race last month, Cuomo’s campaign experienced a bump in polling, but one recent survey still had Mamdani leading the race by 13 percentage points, well outside the poll’s margin of error.
One issue that has marred Cuomo’s comeback campaign are the multiple sexual harassment allegations that led him to resign from his post as governor in 2021. The former governor has denied the allegations.
In the “Meet the Press NOW” interview, Cuomo said the allegations were “political allegations” with “nothing to them.”
“In general, have I learned to be more careful, frankly? Just don’t put yourself in a situation where anyone can say anything, where you always have a witness? Certainly,” he added.
Republicans have also sought to attack Mamdani, with President Donald Trump labeling him a “communist.”
Trump has threatened to pull certain federal funding from New York City if Mamdani is elected and doesn’t “do the right thing.”
“But let’s say this: If he does get in, I’m going to be president, and he’s going to have to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money, he’s got to do the right thing,” the president told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in June.
In a June interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Mamdani defended himself, saying “I’m not” a communist.
In the same interview, Mamdani said that billionaires shouldn’t exist and responded to Trump’s attacks, telling “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that, “I have already had to start to get used to, get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am, ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for, and I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower, that he has since then betrayed.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
