Representative Nydia Velázquez and six other Democrats from Brooklyn will endorse a slate of three candidates in the New York City mayor’s race on Wednesday, hoping to stop former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s momentum.
Ms. Velázquez, a progressive power broker who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, and her fellow Democrats will collectively back Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker; Brad Lander, the city comptroller; and Zohran Mamdani, a state lawmaker from Queens.
Ms. Velázquez said in an interview that the city had been in chaos under Mayor Eric Adams and that New Yorkers deserved a leader with a “steady hand.” She said that Mr. Cuomo was leading in polls because people knew his name, but that voters deserved better choices who would stand up for working-class people.
“Brad and Adrienne and Zohran are all in this race for the right reasons,” she said. “They have integrity, decency and the desire to work with everyone to put the best interests of New Yorkers first.”
The endorsement shows how Democrats who oppose Mr. Cuomo are trying to coalesce around a few candidates in a crowded field ahead of the June 24 primary.
Ms. Velázquez will announce the endorsement with a group of allies from Brooklyn: Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president; state lawmakers Julia Salazar and Emily Gallagher; and City Council members Jennifer Gutiérrez, Sandy Nurse and Lincoln Restler.
Another key progressive leader from New York, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has not yet made an endorsement. During the 2021 mayoral race, Ms. Velázquez and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez backed Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer and former MSNBC commentator. Ms. Velázquez said that she had discussed the race with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and believed that she shared her concerns and was weighing who has the best chance of winning.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been holding anti-Trump rallies across the country and said recently that she opposed Mr. Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 following a series of sexual harassment allegations that he denies.
A poll by Siena College on Tuesday found that Mr. Cuomo was leading the field with 34 percent of votes. Mr. Mamdani, who has momentum on the left and has been a strong fund-raiser, was in second place with 16 percent. Ms. Adams and Mr. Lander — and Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller — trailed them with 6 percent each. Roughly 20 percent of voters were undecided.
The poll showed how the candidates would fare under the city’s relatively new ranked-choice voting system, in which voters can list up to five candidates on their ballot in order of preference. It found that Mr. Cuomo would defeat Mr. Mamdani in the ninth and final round with 64 percent compared with Mr. Mamdani’s 36 percent.
Voters do not necessarily vote along clear ideological lines, and campaigns are trying to strategize how to use the system to their advantage. The Siena poll showed some supporters of Mr. Lander and Ms. Adams ranking Mr. Cuomo ahead of Mr. Mamdani on their ballots — a dynamic that Mr. Cuomo’s opponents are trying to change.
The left-leaning Working Families Party has urged voters to leave Mr. Cuomo off their ballot entirely, as has a coalition known as “D.R.E.A.M.” — which recently shifted its branding from “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor” to “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.” The Working Families Party endorsed Ms. Adams, Mr. Lander and Mr. Mamdani, along with Zellnor Myrie, a state lawmaker from Brooklyn.
The group led by Ms. Velázquez is not explicitly encouraging voters to leave Mr. Cuomo off their ballots, but each elected official could release preferred rankings and advice about whether to rank Mr. Cuomo.
Some Democrats who oppose Mr. Cuomo want to see his challengers cross-endorse each other, following the example of Andrew Yang, a candidate who endorsed a competitor, Kathryn Garcia, in the 2021 race. Others are hoping to rally behind a single candidate: Mr. Mamdani, who has focused on an affordability message.
Bill Neidhardt, a former aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio who worked on the campaign of Mayor Brandon Johnson in Chicago, threw his support behind Mr. Mamdani.
“The message from this poll to all anti-Cuomo Democrats: Consolidate or die,” he wrote on social media. “The polling. The matching funds. The grass-roots energy. It all says Zohran is the pick.”
Mr. Adams, a Democrat who has record low approval ratings and is not related to the City Council speaker, decided against running in the Democratic primary and will run as an independent in the general election in November.
Mr. Reynoso, who succeeded Mr. Adams as Brooklyn borough president, said the group settled on three candidates instead of five — the number of spots on the ballot — to focus their energy and resources on three campaigns that can win.
“I think everyone knows that the winning strategy is they work together and their bases work together and we’ll see one rise up and the others help get them to a winning number,” he said.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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