By Elizabeth Kim\Gothamist
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander are playing nice. Both candidates are competing for the top progressive slot in New York City’s mayoral race, and unlike many candidates in many other primaries, they have not criticized each other on the campaign trail. They’ve reserved their attacks for front-runner Andrew Cuomo, aiming to make the most out of the city’s ranked-choice voting system.
But inside a leading progressive political organization, a familiar struggle has emerged. The Working Families Party is in the process of choosing which of its four endorsed candidates should be the party’s top pick for mayor – locking Mamdani and Lander’s supporters in a brewing battle.
Some want their top candidate to distinguish themself from moderate Democrats by campaigning on left-leaning ideas – like Mamdani’s calls for free buses and freezing the rent. Others want a candidate willing to make pragmatic policy concessions, like Lander’s pledges to expand policing amid public safety concerns.
“That’s a pain point the progressive space hasn’t solved,” said Na’ilah Amaru, a Manhattan chapter member of the Working Families Party who has worked in politics. “How do you find that balance of preserving and building political capital while saying you’re rooted in ideology?”
It’s a debate over what kind of progressive meets the current political moment, and its result could set the stage for other endorsements and coalesce the city’s left — or fracture it. READ MORE…
