New York State Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins endorsed Zohran Mamdani on the Amsterdam Homes on Friday, Sept 19.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani accomplished the “trifecta of Albany support” with an official endorsement from state Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Friday afternoon.
The Queens Assemblymember and Democratic Socialist already received the backing of Meeting Speaker Carl Heastie and Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this week. If he’s elected in November, all three leaders will play key roles in advancing Mamdani’s agenda on the state degree.
On Sept. 19, Sen. Stewart-Cousins, talking outdoors the Amsterdam Homes public housing advanced the place she grew up, stated she had provided tentative assist in July however gave Mamdani what she referred to as a “ringing endorsement” after weeks of conversations.
“I’m sealing that trifecta,” Sen. Stewart-Cousins stated, noting that her earlier tentative backing of his candidacy got here lengthy earlier than Speaker Heastie’s endorsement on Wednesday and Gov. Hochul’s op-ed two days prior.
“In July, I endorsed, but I told him I wasn’t going to do anything until he made me feel like I really had an investment in his success,” she stated. “You kept your promise … you have a ringing endorsement from me.”
The Senate chief praised Mamdani’s deal with affordability and housing. “We have to inspire the next generation, and we have to inspire all of us to understand that we hear you,” she stated. “It’s something that I know, as mayor, Mamdani will work on until he makes sure everyone in New York City knows that he cares about them, their lives, their present and their future.”
Mamdani framed the endorsements as an indication of a brand new partnership between Albany and Metropolis Corridor: “Now could be a time of partnership … to finally transform the most expensive city in the United States into one that is affordable for each and every New Yorker.”
Mamdani has proposed elevating taxes on firms and people incomes over $1 million to fund his coverage agenda. That plan would wish backing from the Legislature and the governor, however Hochul has stated she doesn’t intend to approve the tax hikes as proposed.
Mamdani, who could be town’s first democratic socialist mayor, framed Friday’s endorsements as an indication of a brand new relationship between Albany and Metropolis Corridor.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Whereas the “Albany trifecta” alerts the Democratic institution coalescing round Mamdani, not all social gathering leaders are backing him. State social gathering chair Jay Jacobs this week stated he wouldn’t endorse the nominee, citing disagreements over Israel and democratic socialism.
Mamdani pushed again Friday, saying his marketing campaign has broadened the social gathering’s base, notably amongst younger and Asian voters.
“The coalition we’re building has room for everyone,” he stated. “Someone who cannot see that is out of step with the future that we need to be building, not just for this party, but for the city and for the state.”
Sen. Stewart-Cousins’ endorsement hours after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was heckled throughout a go to to Haji Camp Masjid Mosque in Queens. Cuomo’s marketing campaign blamed Mamdani’s supporters, pointing to merchandise worn by protesters.
“Surprised that they would go to this length and desecrate a sacred space during a holy service … but then again,” Cuomo spokesperson Wealthy Azzopardi wrote on X, previously Twitter.
Mamdani strongly denied any involvement, saying his marketing campaign has by no means bought merchandise and can’t management what supporters put on. “These are things that have been created by many across the five boroughs,” he stated. “What I would say to all New Yorkers is to be respectful and to engage with politics, but also to ensure that there’s room for the engagement of those sacred spaces.”
He argued Cuomo ought to as an alternative reckon with what he stated was a strained relationship with Muslim New Yorkers. Mamdani accused the previous governor of beforehand participating in Islamophobic, recalling moments when Cuomo’s marketing campaign tried to color him as harmful.
“He sought to paint me, as the first Muslim Democratic nominee in the city’s history, as someone to be feared,” Mamdani stated, claiming Cuomo had used the “language of an animal than of a person” to characterize him.
“The governor should answer the larger questions of why so many Muslim New Yorkers are infuriated by his belated arrival to meeting with the community,” Mamdani stated, citing a second in one of many Democratic main debates when he struggled to call a mosque he had visited.
He added that Cuomo’s determination to align himself with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had deepened the mistrust of Muslim New Yorkers. “That is of immense concern not just for Muslim New Yorkers, but for New Yorkers at large.”
Cuomo has lengthy described himself as a supporter of Israel, even becoming a member of Netanyahu’s protection staff on the Worldwide Prison Court docket final yr. However in a current interview with The New York Instances, he referred to as the struggle in Gaza “horrific,” urged a right away finish to the combating, and sought to distance himself from Netanyahu.
