![\"DSC_2190\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DSC_2190.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins endorsed Zohran Mamdani at the Amsterdam Houses on Friday, Sept 19.<\/p>\n
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani completed the \u201ctrifecta of Albany support\u201d with an official endorsement from state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Friday afternoon.\n<\/p>\n
The Queens Assemblymember and Democratic Socialist already won the backing of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie<\/a> and Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> earlier this week. If he is elected in November, all three leaders will play key roles in advancing Mamdani\u2019s agenda at the state level.<\/p>\n On Sept. 19, Sen. Stewart-Cousins, speaking outside the Amsterdam Houses public housing complex where she grew up, said she had offered tentative support in July but gave Mamdani what she called a \u201cringing endorsement\u201d after weeks of conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sealing that trifecta,\u201d Sen. Stewart-Cousins said, noting that her earlier tentative backing of his candidacy came long before Speaker Heastie\u2019s endorsement on Wednesday and Gov. Hochul\u2019s op-ed two days prior.<\/p>\n \u201cIn July, I endorsed, but I told him I wasn\u2019t going to do anything until he made me feel like I really had an investment in his success,\u201d she said. \u201cYou kept your promise \u2026 you have a ringing endorsement from me.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate leader praised Mamdani\u2019s focus on affordability and housing. \u201cWe have to inspire the next generation, and we have to inspire all of us to understand that we hear you,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I know, as mayor, Mamdani will work on until he makes sure everyone in New York City knows that he cares about them, their lives, their present and their future.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani framed the endorsements as a sign of a new partnership between Albany and City Hall: \u201cNow could be a time of partnership \u2026 to finally transform the most expensive city in the United States into one that is affordable for each and every New Yorker.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani has proposed raising taxes on corporations and individuals earning over $1 million<\/a> to fund his policy agenda. That plan would need backing from the Legislature and the governor, but Hochul has said she does not intend to approve the tax hikes as proposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the \u201cAlbany trifecta\u201d signals the Democratic establishment coalescing around Mamdani, not all party leaders are backing him. State party chair Jay Jacobs<\/a> this week said he would not endorse the nominee, citing disagreements over Israel and democratic socialism.<\/p>\n Mamdani pushed back Friday, saying his campaign has broadened the party\u2019s base, particularly among young and Asian voters.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe coalition we\u2019re building has room for everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone who cannot see that is out of step with the future that we need to be building, not just for this party, but for the city and for the state.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Stewart-Cousins\u2019 endorsement hours after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was heckled during a visit to Haji Camp Masjid Mosque<\/a> in Queens. Cuomo\u2019s campaign blamed Mamdani\u2019s supporters, pointing to merchandise worn by protesters.<\/p>\n \u201cSurprised that they would go to this length and desecrate a sacred space during a holy service \u2026 but then again,\u201d Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi wrote on X<\/a>, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n Mamdani strongly denied any involvement, saying his campaign has never sold merchandise and cannot control what supporters wear. \u201cThese are things that have been created by many across the five boroughs,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I would say to all New Yorkers is to be respectful and to engage with politics, but also to ensure that there\u2019s room for the engagement of those sacred spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n He argued Cuomo should instead reckon with what he said was a strained relationship with Muslim New Yorkers. Mamdani accused the former governor of previously engaging in Islamophobic, recalling moments when Cuomo\u2019s campaign tried to paint him as dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cHe sought to paint me, as the first Muslim Democratic nominee in the city\u2019s history, as someone to be feared,\u201d Mamdani said, claiming Cuomo had used the \u201clanguage of an animal than of a person\u201d to characterize him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe governor should answer the larger questions of why so many Muslim New Yorkers are infuriated by his belated arrival to meeting with the community,\u201d Mamdani said, bringing up a moment in one of the Democratic primary debates when he struggled to name a mosque he had visited.\u00a0<\/p>\n He added that Cuomo\u2019s decision to align himself with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had deepened the distrust of Muslim New Yorkers.\u00a0\u201cThat is of immense concern not just for Muslim New Yorkers, but for New Yorkers at large.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo has long described himself as a supporter of Israel, even joining Netanyahu\u2019s defense team<\/a> at the International Criminal Court last year. But in a recent interview with The New York Times<\/a>, he called the war in Gaza \u201chorrific,\u201d urged an immediate end to the fighting, and sought to distance himself from Netanyahu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins endorsed Zohran Mamdani at the Amsterdam Houses on Friday, Sept…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":240255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[13564,5229,128484,5297,13572,11237,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-240254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-2025-nyc-mayors-race","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-andrea-stewart-cousins","11":"tag-andrew-cuomo","12":"tag-assembly-member-zohran-mamdani","13":"tag-endorsement","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115233967006065607","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mamdani,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DSC_0936.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
Mamdani, who would be the city\u2019s first democratic socialist mayor, framed Friday\u2019s endorsements as a sign of a new relationship between Albany and City Hall.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n