Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s Democratic mayoral campaign recieved support from the Tenants Political Action Committee (PAC), amNewYork learned on Wednesday — a decision that adds to the long list of progressive organizations backing the Democratic socialist’s City Hall bid.
Tenants PAC told amNewYork ahead of its May 14 announcement that it would back Mamdani while encouraging voters to rank “tenant-friendly” candidates in the four remaining spots on their ballots, instead of formally backing any other contenders. However, the group is urging voters not to rank former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the current front-runner in the mayor’s race, who resigned in 2021 amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations that he denies.
Tenants PAC Political Director Esteban Girón said the group is supporting Mamdani because one of his core campaign pledges is freezing the rent for the city’s roughly one million stabilized tenants.
“Since the start of his campaign, Zohran is the only candidate who has consistently advocated for a rent freeze,” Girón said in a statement. “His bold, progressive vision for renters is exactly what this city needs. In an existential moment for tenants — who are fighting tooth and nail to afford to stay in the city we built — it’s imperative we elect a fighter like Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor.”
Mamdani has already picked up support from other pro-tenant groups including the New York State Tenant Bloc, which ranked him first, and Churches United for Fair Housing Action.
“Tenants are the majority and it’s time we had a Mayor who acted like it,” Mamdani said in a statement. “That’s why I am so proud to receive the endorsement of Tenants PAC who have been leaders in the fight for safe, affordable, dignified homes for each and every New Yorker.”
The group will hold a rally with Mamdani, Tenants Bloc, and the latter group’s other endorsed candidate — city Comptroller Brad Lander — at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem on Thursday.
Mamdani was the first major Democratic candidate to call for freezing rent increases on stabilized tenants. If elected, he said he would accomplish this through the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB); all nine members of the panel are appointed by the mayor.
He has also successfully pushed other candidates, including Lander and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to warm up to the idea of a rent freeze — though they have not yet committed to implementing one as mayor.
Mayor Eric Adams’ RGB appointees have opted to increase rents during each of his last three years in office. It raised rents by 2.75% for one-year leases last year and 3% the year before.
Mamdani also appeared to take aim at Cuomo, whom progressive pols and tenant advocates have painted as beholden to moneyed real estate interests, given the large influx of donations from industry honchos to a super PAC supporting his campaign. They argue that Cuomo will prioritize the whims of landlords over working-class tenants.
“Together, we will defeat the candidate of the real estate titans and deliver the housing justice our city deserves,” Mamdani said, presumably referring to Cuomo, who has called freezing the rent a “politically convenient posture.”
Progressives also charge that Cuomo’s actions over his 11 years as governor, including defunding a rental assistance voucher program in 2011, drove rents through the roof and fueled the city’s homelessness crisis.
