Mayor Zohran Mamdani is endorsing five candidates for state office today, and they include just three of the seven state-level campaigns backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, along with two other Working Families Party-endorsed Democrats.
Mamdani is putting his seal of approval on Samantha Kattan, Aber Kawas, and Brian Romero in western Queens, Illapa Sairitupac in Lower Manhattan, and Eli Northrup in Upper Manhattan.
All of Mamdani's candidates, who represent all of the state endorsements he'll make this primary cycle, are running for open seats. Four are for the State Assembly, and the fifth, Kawas's race, is for the Senate. Kattan, Kawas, and Sairitupac are on DSA's list of endorsed candidates.
"I am extremely proud to endorse a slate of candidates who will advance our affordability agenda in Albany," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement to Hell Gate. "These leaders embody the best of our politics: A belief that there is no task too small and no problem too big for a government that answers to everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected. On June 23, New Yorkers have the opportunity to elect this new slate of champions for a new era in our city's politics."
The mayor personally met with all the candidates he's endorsing, and Morris Katz, a senior advisor to the mayor, said that they were picked for reasons that extended beyond their commitment to advancing the mayor's agenda of universal childcare, fast and free buses, and taxing the rich to pay for it.
"There's a desire for a shared vision of the platform, but also movement-building. There's a long-term view," Katz told Hell Gate. "There will be fights for working people next year but there's also a vision for what the politics in our city should look like. These are people who have demonstrated a real commitment to the movement and a vision for a different kind of politics."
Michael Lange, who writes extensively about the mayor's political power on his New York City and state politics-focused Substack, the Narrative Wars, told Hell Gate he was a bit surprised by the list of Mamdani's picks, especially on the heels of the mayor's eye-opening endorsement of Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is fighting to unseat the longtime incumbent and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressman Adriano Espaillat.
"Him only doing open seats is like, whoa, I'm a little surprised by the caution, especially after going on MS Now and endorsing against an incumbent," Lange said of the mayor's Avila Chevalier announcement.