In a statement, the Vermont senator said, “We need the kind of visionary leadership that Zohran is providing in this campaign.”

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/209042

Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he is endorsing fellow democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for mayor, giving the 33-year-old assemblymember another boost in his challenge to front-runner Andrew Cuomo.

In a statement, Sanders said Mamdani is running “an inspirational grassroots campaign” backed by small-dollar donors and praised his plan to pay for his platform of new affordable housing and free buses through an increased tax on the wealthy and corporations, a staple of the senator’s own political ideology. Sanders notably did not endorse in the 2021 primary and only backed Bill de Blasio during his reelection bid in 2017.

“At this pivotal and dangerous moment in American history, status-quo politics is not good enough. We need the kind of visionary leadership that Zohran is providing in this campaign. In my view, Zohran Mamdani is the best choice for mayor of New York City,” he said.

Mamdani acknowledged Sanders’s support on social media, writing that the veteran progressive senator “has been the single most influential political figure in my life.”

“As mayor, I will strive to live up to his example by fighting for the working class every day and hopefully make Brooklyn’s own proud,” he said.

Speculation about Sanders’s plans to endorse in the race grew after Mamdani received the support of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a longtime friend and ally of Sanders. The two recently embarked on the cross-country Fighting Oligarchy tour together, holding massive rallies in Republican strongholds in an effort to harness voters’ growing opposition to Trump between election years. Our Revolution, the progressive political organization founded by Sanders during his 2016 presidential bid, also announced its own endorsement in the primary, backing Mamdani and Comptroller Brad Lander, who have both cross-endorsed each other in the ranked-choice race.

It’s not yet clear if Sanders will join Mamdani on the campaign trail in the waning days of the race. A 2019 rally for Sanders’s presidential campaign with Ocasio-Cortez drew a reported 26,000 attendees to Queensbridge Park. Over the weekend, Mamdani rallied with the congresswoman at Terminal 5 in Manhattan, attracting thousands of supporters to the venue.

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    • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]English
      10•4 days ago

      Seriously, every mayor of NYC in my lifetime was a conservative piece of shit except DeBlasio and he was a spineless lib who didn’t go anywhere near far enough on anything

      • SmokinStalin [comrade/them]English
        3•4 days ago

        Ngl nyc is only place ive lived and seen socialists calling themselves such organizing and canvassing (like back even when i thought it was a scary word )

        • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]OPEnglish
          2•4 days ago

          For mayor? I don’t know enough about who else was running in previous mayoral elections. I know AOC gets elected under the “socialist” designation.

          • SmokinStalin [comrade/them]English
            1•3 days ago

            I wasnt paying attention to them at the time beyond “huh didnt know people actually called themselves socialists” think it was some local election.

      • fox [comrade/them]English
        3•4 days ago

        He’s got his media on lock but let’s face it, when was the last time a mayoral candidate promised to do good things actively instead of let bad things happen drip drip? Like the chuds might hate him for being a damn liberal and a communist but if he wins he’ll freeze their rent soooo