{"id":248246,"date":"2025-09-23T06:37:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/248246\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T06:37:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:37:19","slug":"kamala-harris-offers-half-hearted-endorsement-of-nyc-mayoral-candidate-zohran-mamdani-sure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/248246\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Harris offers half-hearted endorsement of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani: ‘Sure’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> showed less than enthusiastic support for New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani on Monday, and even took a jab at the Big Apple when asked if she endorses the Democratic socialist\u2019s candidacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, as far as I\u2019m concerned, he\u2019s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported,\u201d Harris said in an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow<\/a> Monday night.<\/p>\n

When asked if she endorses Mamdani\u2019s campaign<\/a>, Harris threw her hands in the air and offered a polite,\u00a0 \u201cSure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani announced to the media on Roosevelt Island, NY on Sept. 22, 2025. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

\u201cI support the Democrat in the race, sure,\u201d the failed 2024 Democratic presidential nominee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harris then quickly pivoted to discuss other Democrats, in other cities, running for mayor \u2013 arguing that Mamdani is \u201cnot the only star.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that [Mamdani\u2019s] in New York, and I know New Yorkers think they\u2019re the center of the world,\u201d she said, playfully, \u201cand here we are in New York having this interview.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I mean, there are people like Barbara Drummond in Mobile, Alabama, Helena Moreno in New Orleans,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThey\u2019re all running for mayor too, and they are stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I hope that we don\u2019t so over index on New York City that we lose sight of the stars throughout our country, who are right now running for mayor and many other offices \u2026. so, that\u2019s where I am,\u201d the former vice president told Maddow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former Vice President Kamala Harris during her appearance on \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d on July 31, 2025. CBS via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mamdani, whose socialist views and anti-Israel rhetoric have caused a major rift among progressives and moderates in the party, has yet to secure endorsements from several top New York Democrats<\/a>\u00a0 \u2013 including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Empire State Gov. Kathy Hochul finally endorsed Mamdani <\/a>last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harris\u2019 appearance on Maddow marks her first television news interview since leaving office, though the former vice president sat down with late-night comedian Stephen Colbert<\/a> last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On MSNBC, Harris called President Trump a \u201ctyrant\u201d and likened him to a \u201ccommunist dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCapitalism thrives in a democracy, and right now we are dealing with, as I called him at my speech on the ellipse, a tyrant,\u201d the former vice president said. \u201cWe used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators \u2013 that\u2019s what we\u2019re dealing with right now in Donald Trump.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harris called on the \u201ctitans of industry\u201d to be the \u201cguard rails against a tyrant who is using the federal government to execute his whim and fancy because of a fragile ego.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vice president was later asked about an excerpt from her forthcoming book, \u201c107 Days,\u201d in which she explained that she didn\u2019t pick Pete Buttigieg to be her running mate \u2013 despite initially being her \u201cfirst choice\u201d \u2013 over concerns that the openly gay former transportation secretary presented \u201ctoo big of a risk\u201d<\/a> for the ticket.<\/p>\n

President Trump gestures as he arrives on Air Force One at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in New York. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say that he couldn\u2019t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay, it\u2019s hard to hear,\u201d Maddow expressed to Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no \u2013 that\u2019s not what I said, that he couldn\u2019t be on the ticket because he is gay,\u201d Harris argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy point, as I write in the book, is \u2026 in one of the most hotly-contested elections for president United States against someone like Donald Trump, who knows no floor, to be a black woman running for president of the United States, and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man, with the stakes being so high, it made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk,\u201d she tried to explain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I was being too cautious,\u201d Harris later acknowledged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about her 2028 plans, Harris refused to rule out another White House run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not my focus right now. It\u2019s not my focus at all. It really isn\u2019t,\u201d she told Maddow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Vice President Kamala Harris showed less than enthusiastic support for New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":248247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,69,90,27593,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,45811,80,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-248246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-elections","11":"tag-kamala-harris","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","20":"tag-pete-buttigieg","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-us-news","28":"tag-usa","29":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115252235477611020","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248246","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=248246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}