The Bronx Democratic party endorsed Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist candidate for NYC Mayor, during a press conference at Lou Gehrig Plaza on Tuesday.
Voting data from the mayoral primaries suggests that the assembly member from Queens will need the institutional support and perhaps more in November if he wants to sway Bronx voters away from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who won the borough by 18 percentage points in the June Democratic primary.
Party chair and state Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey acknowledged the dissent within the borough and said that the Bronx Dems came to the decision after multiple meetings, phone calls and conversations. For the party, it came down to one thing that Mamdani seemed to offer that the other candidates did not: something new.
“This is what we need in this day and time: New, fresh ideas, bold ideas, boundless energy that cannot be harnessed for the city that we love,” Bailey said. “Now we’ve had tough conversations and we’re not going to agree on everything, but we’ve had tough conversations.”
At least 10 current and former elected officials from the Bronx had already endorsed the Democratic Mayoral nominee, but the county party had, until today, abstained from Mayoral endorsements.
Mamdani told reporters Tuesday that he was excited to earn the votes of New Yorkers who passed him over in the primaries.
“ I am proud of the nearly 600,000 New Yorkers who voted for our campaign in the primary,” Mamdani said. “I am looking, however, to be a mayor for the eight and a half million people that call this city home.”
The Bronx Democrats are the fourth county Democratic party to unite behind the party’s official candidate, leaving the Queens Democrats as the only NYC county party that has yet to follow suit.
Bronx elected officials focused largely on Mamdani’s affordability platform, which has called for freezing the rent in rent-stabilized apartments, free buses, and city-owned grocery stores. State Assembly Member Amanda Septimo, who represents the South Bronx and the area around Yankee Stadium said that Mamdani’s policies would benefit people in the Borough.
“ The Bronx deserves a mayor that thinks about every single person who lives in this community,” Assembly Member Amanda Septimo said. “And that is thinking beyond political talking points, but is thinking about policies that will actually change people’s lives.”
Septimo was joined by other Bronx electeds like Assembly Members Landon Dais, Karines Reyes, George Alvarez, City Council Members Oswald Feliz, Diana Ayala and Pierina Ana Sanchez, and the entire Bronx State Senate delegation.
Notably absent was Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, who was slated to attend the endorsement. Mamdani campaign representatives attributed the absence to a scheduling conflict. Gibson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Mamdani also challenged the notion that he was not equipped to handle public safety, an issue on devastating display in the borough in recent weeks after a string of deadly shootings. He doubled down on his commitment to public safety— including policing— saying that the city needed to look at strategies that worked and invest in them by 275%.
He told reporters that meant looking at any strategy, including increased police presence.
“ For me, the number one most important thing is the outcome of public safety,” Mamdani said. “Whatever can create that outcome, I will consider it.”
Policing has emerged as a contentious topic in the mayoral race, especially after the murder of Bronx Detective Didarul Islam in a mass shooting, when critics honed in on Mamdani’s 2020 tweets advocating for defunding the NYPD.
Since then, Mamdani has spent significant time clarifying that his previous statements are “out of step” with his current thoughts on policing, although his policy proposals still vary significantly from other candidates like Cuomo, who calls for an increase in the number of police and incumbent Eric Adams who surged an additional 1,000 officers to the Bronx over the weekend to address the violence.
Instead, Mamdani’s campaign calls for a new “Department of Community Safety,” meant to divert issues that he calls “failures of our social safety net” away from the NYPD.
“ When I think about how we can deliver safety, to me it’s about ensuring that we are actually making it possible to do so,” Mamdani said. “And part of that is taking mental health response, homelessness out of the police department’s set of responsibilities.”
As November approaches, the Bronx endorsement adds new momentum to Mamdani’s campaign, but the mayoral challenger faces a significant challenge in winning over voters in a borough where Cuomo remains strong. With affordability and safety dominating the conversation, the coming weeks will test whether Mamdani’s message can resonate beyond his base.
