Mamdani gets key endorsement for NYC mayor in battle for Asian American votes

Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign received a key endorsement Monday from state Sen. John Liu, one of New York City’s most prominent Asian American politicians.

Polls show the ranked-choice Democratic primary tightening into a two-man race between Mamdani, a progressive assemblymember, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Both are vying for Asian American voters, who could be a swing bloc in the primary.

At a press conference in front of City Hall, Liu noted he and Mamdani are both immigrants who attended public schools. He also pointed to the thousands of donors who have contributed to Mamdani’s campaign as evidence of grassroots support.

“He doesn’t owe anybody anything,” Liu said. “He’s not beholden to any moneyed interests.”

The state senator did not mention Cuomo, who is backed by a super PAC that’s raised millions from business leaders and special interest groups. Liu would not comment on whether he was asking voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots, which is part of a progressive strategy. But Liu said he had no plans to endorse any other mayoral candidates.

In an interview, Mamdani described Liu as a friend and inspiration.

“He has been fighting for progressive public policy and for bringing outer borough immigrant communities into the heart of our city's politics,” Mamdani said.

Liu is considered a political trailblazer. He became the first Asian American elected to citywide office as comptroller in 2010. His backing could play a crucial role helping Mamdani, a democratic socialist, broaden his appeal.

“Having someone who is a former citywide elected, who still has gravitas and respect amongst the democratic institutional class, helps give Zohran a lot of credibility,” said Trip Yang, a Democratic strategist who is not working on any of the mayoral campaigns.

Mamdani, whose parents have roots in India, has done heavy outreach among South Asians. Liu, who is Tawainese American, could help Mamdani gain a foothold in Chinese communities.

Cuomo has already secured the endorsement of Susan Zhuang, a member of the City Council from Brooklyn. In an op-ed in the Brooklyn Eagle, Zhuang made the case for the former governor’s political experience and track record responding to Asian American concerns.

“New Yorkers are facing urgent challenges: rising hate crimes, worsening affordability, under-resourced schools and a frayed sense of public safety,” Zhuang wrote. “We cannot afford a mayor who is learning on the job. We need someone who knows how to govern, how to manage complex systems and how to center communities that are too often forgotten.”

Liu chairs the Senate’s New York City education committee, and was a chief advocate of the law limiting class sizes in public schools. He’s also a fierce defender of the admissions test to the city’s prestigious specialized public high schools. Critics have said the test is a tool of segregation. Last year, just 4.5% of offers went to Black students and 7.6% went to Hispanic students. Maintaining the test is considered a top priority in Asian American communities.

Both Liu and Mamdani are alumni of one of the specialized schools, the Bronx High School of Science.

Mamdani told Gothamist he has no plans to change the admissions test if elected mayor.

There are signs that the contest for Asian American voters could be competitive. The latest Emerson poll shows Cuomo drawing 27% support from Asian voters in the first round, vs. Mamdani with 19%. But by the 10th and final round of ranked-choice tabulations, both Cuomo and Mamdani are split evenly among those voters.

Cuomo has centered his mayoral campaign on public safety, insisting that his experience as governor makes him the best candidate to restore order to a city he says is in chaos. Mamdani’s campaign has focused on addressing the city’s affordability crisis.

The mayoral race will be a test of how those competing messages land with Asian American voters. Asian neighborhoods were among those that leaned rightward during the presidential election last year, part of a growing drift away from the Democratic party.

Mamdani is convinced his campaign can reverse that trend. In the days after the election, he interviewed voters in two districts who voted for President Donald Trump and asked them what it would take for Democrats to win back their votes.

“And they said a relentless focus on an economic agenda,” he told Gothamist in an interview. “And I asked them, ‘What do you think about freezing the rent, making buses fast and free, delivering universal child care?’ And they said I would vote for that person.”

But Liu and Mamdani don’t agree about everything. The state senator has been a steady defender of Israel during the war in Gaza. Mamdani has described Israel’s attacks as “genocide.”

Still, Liu tried to downplay any friction between them.

“It’s easy to focus on this one area of disagreement,” Liu said. “There are 100 areas of agreement.”

This story has been updated with more information.