New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani threw his backing behind three candidates in separate congressional contests on Wednesday, aligning himself with Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier in races against incumbent lawmakers and their preferred picks.
Mamdani endorsed former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander in a bid to oust Rep. Dan Goldman in a district split between Manhattan and Brooklyn. He backed Valdez against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, the choice of retiring Rep. Nydia Velasquez, and he announced support for Avila Chevalier over Rep. Adriano Espaillat. The three candidates appeared with Mamdani in an ad that ran after Game 1 of the NBA Finals, where he told viewers, “New York, we know anything is possible with a great team,” and urged them to vote.
The ad is the clearest sign yet that Mamdani is trying to put his stamp on the city’s congressional delegation, using his mayoral platform to push three races at once. In two of them, his preferred candidates are in their 30s, part of a broader effort to elevate younger challengers as the city’s left wing looks past November and toward the next presidential cycle.
That gamble carries a risk. Political strategist Rebecca Katz called the move “high-risk, high reward,” adding that Mamdani is “not afraid to take some big swings.” The endorsements may help his allies, but they also open him to blowback if they are read as overreach from a mayor who has become a face of the city’s left, especially in districts among the most rapidly gentrifying in New York.
The stakes in each race extend beyond personality. The contests are shaped by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and questions in the campaigns include whether candidates describe Israel’s conduct in Gaza as genocide or refuse donations from groups or people tied to AIPAC. Mamdani said his picks “will fight for everyday working New Yorkers; they’ll take on corporate greed and protect our immigrant communities” and make sure residents “can afford the city they love.”
Avila Chevalier, speaking Friday at a press conference in Harlem, framed the fight in sharper terms, saying, “[H]ere’s what the establishment never understood about Uptown and the Bronx,” and, “We don’t wait for permission.” Mamdani routed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in November in the districts now in play, but whether these endorsements can move the outcome in any of the three races is still unresolved.
