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Will other Dems follow Rep. Espaillat's lead of endorsing Mamdani in the name of unity?
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Jul 11, 2025
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Brigid Bergin
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Brigid Bergin
Published Jul 11, 2025
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As President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor has a new influential member of the party establishment in his corner.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s endorsement of Mamdani highlighted the awkward dance taking place within the Democratic Party as it continues to wrestle with the implications of the democratic socialist assemblymember’s historic primary win. Without criticizing his fellow Democrats, Espaillat framed his support of Mamdani as an act of party unity against the Republican-led White House.
“ I will be damned if I see the party go down,” Espaillat said at an event in Washington Heights, the heart of his Hispanic base. “ To fight Donald Trump and his authoritarian ways, we must continue to work together.”
But plenty of other Democrats are not singing the same tune.
On Monday, former Gov. David Paterson rejected the idea that Mamdani and his focus on affordability would cure what is ailing the Democratic Party after Republican wins in the 2024 election.
“If he’s the cure for what ails the party, then cyanide is the cure for a headache,” Paterson said at a press conference hosted by Republican supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.
Asked about those comments, Espaillat refused to criticize the former governor, stressing the need for consensus.
Espaillat had endorsed Cuomo before the primary.
Asked about what prompted his newfound support for Mamdani, Espaillat said, “The people of New York City have spoken.”
“If there is a common denominator in every decision that I make since I began to represent this district,” said Espaillat, “it’s called the Democratic Party.”
His argument sounded as if it were directed at other prominent New York politicians like Gov. Kathy Hochul, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“ As a lifelong Democrat, I have never chosen to be outside of the Democratic lane,” said Espaillat, emphasizing the importance of listening to voters.
Mamdani helped fuel the highest turnout for a mayoral primary since 1989. Major unions have thrown their support behind him, including the city teachers’ union, which did so on Tuesday.
Espaillat cited the need to build consensus. Mamdani, he said, had told him about “ his commitment to protect everybody, every single New Yorker and to fight antisemitism in the city of New York.”
For his part, Mamdani praised the Washington Heights representative's leadership and drew a parallel between the recent attacks on his name, ethnicity and citizenship to those Espaillat has endured.
Espaillat arrived in the United States at age 8 with his family as an undocumented immigrant. He became a citizen and the first Dominican American elected to Congress.
“When I have had to read the smears and the slander from Republican congresspeople,” Mamdani said. “I need not look far to find a leader who has had to endure the same.”
Earlier this week, Trump once again railed against Mamdani, calling him a “disaster” and threatening a federal government takeover of New York City if Mamdani is elected.
A week earlier, on a visit to a new migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, Trump suggested he might arrest Mamdani and revoke his citizenship.
While Espaillat joins other New York congressional heavyweights, including Reps. Jerold Nadler, Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in backing Mamdani, the candidate still has a calendar full of meetings with other prominent New York Democrats who remain on the sidelines.
A spokesperson for House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he was scheduled to meet with Mamdani next week.
Mamdani said he’s had “productive” conversations with Hochul, Jeffries and Schumer focused on affordability.
“What I've appreciated is that amidst that focus, these same leaders have pushed back against Donald Trump's attempts to smear me, to slander me, to threaten me and they have done so without hesitation,” said Mamdani.
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Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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