Democratic U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan threw his support behind Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race on Wednesday while also calling former Gov. Andrew Cuomo a “selfish POS.”

“@ZohranKMamdani fights for the PEOPLE. Andrew Cuomo is a selfish POS who only fights for himself and other corrupt elites. I know whose side I’m on. I’m with the people. I’m with Zohran,” Ryan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Ryan represents New York’s 18th Congressional District in the Hudson Valley. A former Ulster County executive, Ryan has been in Congress since 2022 and has recently not held back harsh criticism of his party. He was the first Democrat in the New York House delegation to call on former President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid in 2024 and criticized Biden for not doing enough to secure the border during his presidency. Earlier this year, Ryan encouraged his Democratic colleagues to adopt a message he called “patriotic populism” in response to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Some progressives have been frustrated that some of New York’s biggest powerbrokers in Washington have been slow to endorse the state assemblyman since he won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in June, notably House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both of Brooklyn.

Mamdani’s endorsements from Congress so far have come from progressive New York City-area lawmakers. Ryan is considered a more moderate Democrat from a historically competitive district that has been targeted heavily by Republicans and will likely be highly sought after again in 2026. Ryan won a special election and general election in 2022 narrowly, though he secured reelection in 2024 by 14 points over a well-known opponent in a year where President Donald Trump made inroads across the state.

The 18th District is made up of parts of Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties, and includes the cities of Poughkeepsie and Kingston.