Brad Lander on Zohran Mamdani’s Win, Andrew Cuomo’s Loss

With Zohran Mamdani on June 25.
Photo: David Delgado/Reuters

If Zohran Mamdani enters City Hall, it will be due in no small part to Brad Lander. The progressive comptroller struggled to break out of the shadow of his younger, democratic-socialist competitor, but two weeks ago, the pair cross-endorsed each other, campaigning on their shared politics and their disdain for front-runner Andrew Cuomo. Lander’s campaign didn’t stop there, running an ad urging voters against ranking Cuomo and paying for Primary Election Day robocalls aimed at Black and Jewish voters, two key parts of the former governor’s base. Lander finished third in the first round of voting, and it will likely be Lander’s second-round votes that deliver Mamdani’s official victory over Cuomo next week.

I spoke with Lander, after he got a few hours of sleep following Tuesday’s shocking results, about his alliance with Mamdani and whether he would serve in his administration.

The primary’s returns were released gradually last night. When did you realize that Mamdani might actually win it all?
I mean, it was as the same-day numbers were continuing in the pattern from the early voting. The early vote was, I guess, about 40 percent of the vote. So, at 50 percent, I think it still felt like, All right, you know, who knows what that is? But once it went to 60 percent of the vote and 70 percent of the vote and that same pattern held showing Zohran up, our team realized he’s gonna win this.

You joined the Mamdani campaign at its Election Night party as it became clearer that Cuomo was likely to be defeated. What was it like being in the room at that moment?
First, we had a wonderful Election Night party in Brooklyn with a few hundred people and a ton of cameras and obviously my family, my loved ones, my kick-ass campaign team, so many volunteers. My plan had been to stick around at my Election Night party and celebrate with my folks.

Andrew Cuomo conceded while I was giving my remarks, and there’s no doubt that the best line of my speech was that I got to say “Good fucking riddance.” I love that Zohran took the high road of bringing the city together. But I was glad I got to say some of what people were feeling about what an important thing it is to prevent [Cuomo] from exercising his grievances upon New York City. I think the vast majority of people expected we would be waiting a week to know for sure the results of the primary. I had imagined hanging out at my Election Night party and then figuring out in the light of morning how we would move forward. But, as it became clear that he was winning last night, that Andrew Cuomo had conceded, it made sense to head over there, and I’m sure glad I did.

You and Mamdani cross-endorsed each other, a strategy that will likely help to propel him to victory. How did that decision first come to be?
Well, from the beginning of this race, we had talked about making sure we had a smart ranked-choice strategy. Four years ago, Eric Adams was elected, in large part, because the No. 2 and No. 3 candidates, Maya Wiley and Kathyrn Garcia, did not cross-endorse each other, and that wound up doing grave harm to New York City. We were committed not to make that mistake again. The Working Families Party brought four candidates into a slate, and early on, I had committed to ranking that slate.

The cross-endorsement for Zohran and I emerged two weeks ago as the final shape of the race was taking place. For starters, to me, it was really ranked-choice math. We knew we could defeat Andrew Cuomo but that it would be challenging and what it would take was adding up our voters, and that’s what ranked choice lets you do. So we had dialogue with his team and we decided to do it. Once it happened and that video we did was out in the world, it shifted from being ranked-choice math to being something more like a politics of hope and cooperation. People were really excited about a politics that doesn’t feel so selfish. I thought it was interesting yesterday that both Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo went out of their way to say, “I’m only voting for myself.” And in contrast, the cross-endorsement reflects a shared belief in the future of the city and just so many people expressed gratitude for it. It certainly was valuable in its math, that it will be my No. 2’s that technically take him over 50 percent plus one when all the votes are tabulated. But it also unleashed a real hopeful energy that you could feel in the city over the past two weeks and especially yesterday.

In the last few days of this race, you spoke often about your alliance with Mamdani, saying “Jewish New Yorkers and Muslim New Yorkers are not going to be divided.” What has it been like for you to promote this example of solidarity between the two of you at a time when many have sought to drive a wedge between these two communities?
The year and a half plus since October 7 has been excruciating. I am a proud Jewish New Yorker, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in city government, and these issues matter a lot to me. Watching surging antisemitism culminating in these horrific incidents in D.C. and Boulder has been really frightening. I’ve talked to a lot of Jewish New Yorkers who are anxious. For me, that’s always gone along with believing in equal humanity. We have this Jewish term, b’tzelem Elohim. That means everyone’s equally created in God’s image. Palestinian kids in Gaza deserve just as much safety and opportunity to thrive as my kids do. Unfortunately, the war has not only divided Israelis and Palestinians but it really has divided people here in New York City and divided many Democrats, and that has been excruciating. The opportunity to show the possibility of coming together across those divides in pursuit of a city that every family would have a home they could afford, in a neighborhood they love and feel safe in with a great school for their kids, regardless of whether they’re Jewish or Muslim or Christian or Sikh or Buddhist, has been really powerful. People have really strong feelings about these issues. Zohran and I disagree about some issues in foreign policy, but we’re both committed to a vision of shared humanity broadly and making it real in New York City, and I am hopeful that we can carry that forward.

Were you surprised at the rhetoric in this race? 
Disappointed but not surprised. I mean, Bill Ackman has declared war on DEI, which is also known as civil rights. And the fact that he invested, I guess ultimately, $500,000 against Zohran. Or DoorDash. I sponsored the law that made New York City the first place in the country to guarantee a living wage for deliveristas. So it didn’t surprise me that DoorDash would take a million dollars and, instead of paying their workers what they’re worth, would try to buy a mayor’s election in order to undo the law that guarantees them a living wage. That is a billionaire form of politics we see over and over again. I was not surprised by it. I was delighted that we were able to beat it.

It’s fair to say that you were kind of in a unique position on Election Night where you had to watch one opponent whom you supported defeat the other whom you sought to defeat. How did you juggle those conflicting emotions?
This election was a roller coaster in many ways, including my emotions. The past two weeks for me in particular were extraordinary. The New York Times opinion panel came out and said I’d be the best candidate for mayor, which put a nice spring in my step, helped me have a really strong performance in the debate that night, pointing out why Andrew Cuomo was an unfit candidate. We cross-endorsed the next day, on Friday, and then, the following Tuesday, while I was for the third time trying to accompany immigrants out of immigration court past ICE agents waiting to disappear them, my arrest sparked a lot of attention to what’s going on with Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine our constitutional democracy. All of that pushed me forward with a lot of momentum. And then for the following week, I could feel a surging hopefulness amongst voters. I just can’t tell you how many people said, either “Thank you for standing up and fighting for our immigrant neighbors and our democracy. That’s the kind of leadership we want,” or “Thank you so much for the cross endorsement. That more hopeful collaborative politics is something I’ve been longing to see.” I have found it deeply hopeful. Obviously, I got in the race because I wanted to be mayor and thought I could do the best job. But what has happened to spark a more hopeful and optimistic politics has made me even more optimistic about the future of our city.

You’ll be leaving the comptroller’s office at the end of this year. Looking ahead, what’s next for you?
I still have only a few hours of sleep from last night. But look, I mean, Zohran has a real mandate for change. It will take a lot of hands to build a more affordable city where everyone belongs, and I’m eager to help however I can.

Including potentially serving in a Mamdani administration?
I’m eager to help however I can.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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