Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, the main progressive candidates working for mayor on this month’s Democratic main, are cross-endorsing one another, urging their respective supporters to rank the opposite candidate second on their ballots.
In a joint assertion Friday, the Mamdani and Lander campaigns stated they’re making the transfer as a result of it has “become increasingly clear” they’re the 2 left-wing candidates within the race who can “defeat disgraced Andrew Cuomo,” the ex-governor who’s polling as the favourite to win the first.
“As Brad and I exposed the ex-governor’s record of corruption and scandal on last night’s debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,” Mamdani stated in a press release, referring to Thursday’s second and closing Democratic mayoral main debate.
“His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together.”
Cross-endorsements have change into more and more frequent in New York, given the ranked-choice voting system town adopted for the primary time through the 2021 native elections. Below that system, candidates who path after the primary spherical of vote tabulations may finally prevail if they’re ranked on sufficient ballots that includes different candidates within the No. 1 slot.
“I’m proud to cross-endorse Zohran because of his strong commitment to a more affordable New York, and to stop the corrupt, morally bankrupt, unacceptable Andrew Cuomo from becoming mayor of a city he doesn’t even like,” Lander added in his personal assertion.
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani speaks through the New York Metropolis Democratic Mayoral Main Debate on the John Jay School of Prison Justice within the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on June 12, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by VINCENT ALBAN/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos)
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment and pandemic mismanagement accusations he denies, netted a shock cross-endorsement final week from Jessica Ramos, a progressive mayoral candidate who was considered one of his harshest critics.
Whitney Tilson, an ex-hedge fund supervisor working on a centrist platform, provided Cuomo a shock cross-endorsement throughout Thursday evening’s debate, too.
A spokesman for Cuomo — who hasn’t returned the favor by cross-endorsing both Ramos or Tilson — stated it’s “no surprise” Mamdani and Lander are ganging up on him.
“The two have been attached at the hip for months, but it won’t move the needle,” spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi stated, including that voters “know Andrew Cuomo is the only one with the experience and the record to get the city back on the right track.”
The official stated the choice was made by the candidates alone and never influenced by progressive powerbrokers just like the Working Households Occasion or New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The official defined a key issue behind the transfer was a latest ballot projecting Mamdani and Lander simply 3% aside from one another — throughout the margin of error — in a ranked-choice voting simulation of the first.
Their announcement got here simply as New Yorkers gear as much as head to the polls for the primary day of early voting Saturday. New Yorkers then be capable to forged early ballots every single day by means of June 22 earlier than polls open for the ultimate spherical of voting on the June 24 main day.
Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander speaks through the New York Metropolis Democratic Mayoral Main Debate on the John Jay School of Prison Justice within the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on June 12, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by VINCENT ALBAN/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos)
Mamdani and Lander had since beforehand urged their supporters to rank the opposite candidate someplace on their ballots after they had been each endorsed by the Working Households Occasion as a part of an anti-Cuomo slate.
The direct cross-endorsement additional signifies the progressive duo consider they’ve a greater shot at beating Cuomo in the event that they staff up towards him.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist working on a populist platform that features guarantees to freeze hire on stabilized tenants and drastically broaden totally sponsored youngster care, has persistently polled because the runner-up to Cuomo and one latest survey even confirmed him overtaking the ex-gov for the primary time.
Lander has usually ranked within the No. 3 or 4 spot in most polls. On Thursday, he netted the endorsement of an opinion panel convened by the New York Instances editorial board, and he has stated he expects that to present him a lift.
Initially Revealed: June 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM EDT
