Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani completed the “trifecta of Albany support” with an official endorsement from state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Friday afternoon.
The Queens Assemblymember and Democratic Socialist already won the backing of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this week. If he is elected in November, all three leaders will play key roles in advancing Mamdani’s agenda at the state level.
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 “ringing endorsement” after weeks of conversations.
“I’m sealing that trifecta,” Sen. Stewart-Cousins said, noting that her earlier tentative backing of his candidacy came long before Speaker Heastie’s endorsement on Wednesday and Gov. Hochul’s op-ed two days prior.
“In July, I endorsed, but I told him I wasn’t going to do anything until he made me feel like I really had an investment in his success,” she said. “You kept your promise … you have a ringing endorsement from me.”
The Senate leader praised Mamdani’s focus on affordability and housing. “We have to inspire the next generation, and we have to inspire all of us to understand that we hear you,” she said. “It’s 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.”
Mamdani framed the endorsements as a sign of a new partnership between Albany and City Hall: “Now could be a time of partnership … to finally transform the most expensive city in the United States into one that is affordable for each and every New Yorker.”
Mamdani has proposed raising taxes on corporations and individuals earning over $1 million 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.
While the “Albany trifecta” signals the Democratic establishment coalescing around Mamdani, not all party leaders are backing him. State party chair Jay Jacobs this week said he would not endorse the nominee, citing disagreements over Israel and democratic socialism.
Mamdani pushed back Friday, saying his campaign has broadened the party’s base, particularly among young and Asian voters.
“The coalition we’re building has room for everyone,” he said. “Someone 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.”
Sen. Stewart-Cousins’ endorsement hours after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was heckled during a visit to Haji Camp Masjid Mosque in Queens. Cuomo’s campaign blamed Mamdani’s supporters, pointing to merchandise worn by protesters.
“Surprised that they would go to this length and desecrate a sacred space during a holy service … but then again,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Mamdani strongly denied any involvement, saying his campaign has never sold merchandise and cannot control what supporters wear. “These are things that have been created by many across the five boroughs,” he said. “What I would say to all New Yorkers is to be respectful and to engage with politics, but also to ensure that there’s room for the engagement of those sacred spaces.”
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’s campaign tried to paint him as dangerous.
“He sought to paint me, as the first Muslim Democratic nominee in the city’s history, as someone to be feared,” Mamdani said, claiming Cuomo had used the “language of an animal than of a person” to characterize him.
“The governor should answer the larger questions of why so many Muslim New Yorkers are infuriated by his belated arrival to meeting with the community,” Mamdani said, bringing up a moment in one of the Democratic primary debates when he struggled to name a mosque he had visited.
He added that Cuomo’s decision to align himself with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had deepened the distrust of Muslim New Yorkers. “That is of immense concern not just for Muslim New Yorkers, but for New Yorkers at large.”
Cuomo has long described himself as a supporter of Israel, even joining Netanyahu’s defense team at the International Criminal Court last year. But in a recent interview with The New York Times, he called the war in Gaza “horrific,” urged an immediate end to the fighting, and sought to distance himself from Netanyahu.
