Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent Tuesday morning crisscrossing New York City to rally support for three left-wing congressional candidates he has endorsed, as voters headed to the polls in closely watched primary contests.
The mayor wore a white shirt in the Knicks’ blue-and-orange colors, printed with the faces of DSA-backed House hopefuls Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, as well as former city comptroller Brad Lander, alongside the slogan: “Our team. Our year.”
“We are feeling great,” the democratic socialist mayor told supporters while campaigning for Lander, who is taking on incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Mamdani said the socialist candidates he is backing were “standing together,” adding that New Yorkers were choosing who would represent them in Washington, DC, and help push forward his “affordability agenda.”
“We know that we live in the most expensive city in the United States of America, we’ve made it very clear that we need to transform the city into one that each and every single person can afford,” he said.
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Mamdani began the day alongside Avila Chevalier, a community organizer and former member of his mayoral campaign team, with the two arriving at a nearly empty Harlem polling site to vote at about 7:30 a.m., City & State reported.
Neither Mamdani nor Avila Chevalier’s campaign disclosed to The Post where they planned to cast their ballots.
The doctoral student is looking to topple five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat and seize New York’s 13th House District seat representing Upper Manhattan and the northwest Bronx.
The 32-year-old candidate has come under fire throughout her campaign for a series of past inflammatory social media posts, including lashing out at Joe Biden and establishment Democrats, calling the US “a f—ing disgrace” and blasting that Israel doesn’t exist.
Mamdani, who boosted her last month, claimed he hadn’t seen Avila Chevalier’s comments before he opted to endorse her. She has said she is “not interested in relitigating the politics of my tweets.”
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Most voters didn’t seem bothered by her controversial internet history, with many pointing to her progressive policies, economic message, and the mayor’s endorsement as reasons for backing her.
“She’s a progressive. She stands strong in economic issues or appears to be,” Juan Alvarez, a 36-year-old Washington Heights native, told The Post after casting his vote.
“I’m an immigrant myself and she has strong positions on immigration. It’s the first time I felt like I had a real choice with the Democratic primary. Zohran endorsed her, so I voted for her.”
Another voter, Lirior Castro, said “a win for Darializa would improve a stagnant community.”
Mamdani later showed up in Brooklyn to back Valdez in the crowded “open seat” primary race for New York’s 7th House District.
The one-term Queens state Assemblywoman is taking on Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who was endorsed by retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez to become her successor in representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens.
Queens Councilwoman Julie Won is also in the race.
“I feel like there are a lot of really good candidates, and I really want progressives to be in office,” said a 35-year-old counselor who voted for Valdez.
“We saw a lot of movement with Zohran, and I felt like that was really exciting to see that it’s actually possible to get us in there.”
The 34-year-old mayor – whose wife, Rama Duwaji, urged voters to back Valdez and Avila Chevalier on social media – later made his way to Chinatown to stump for Lander, a failed Big Apple mayoral candidate.
Voters said Lander’s views on Israel — coupled with a boost from Mamdani — helped win their support as he squares off with Goldman.
“He’s proven to be incredibly effective,” Greg, a 40-year-old city government worker, told The Post.
“I work in city government and everybody I work with, regardless of department, has a good Brad Lander story about how he was fixing something that would normally just go into a black hole. Plus, he defaults into being open and collaborative.”
A married couple in their 30s pointed to Lander’s “fresh energy” and Mamdani’s endorsement as key reasons for supporting him.
As of noon, 259,964 votes had been cast citywide, led by Manhattan at 97,426 and Brooklyn at 83,547. Queens recorded 49,479, the Bronx 24,895, and Staten Island lagged far behind with 4,618.
