Earlier this week, political leaders from the Bronx and beyond stood beside Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in a show of support of his candidacy for mayor of New York City.
There was a notable absence. Missing from the rostrum was the county’s most powerful elected official and Mr. Mamdani’s legislative boss: the Assembly speaker, Carl Heastie, a fellow Democrat.
Mr. Heastie’s hesitance to publicly embrace the Democratic nominee reflects both the frustration some in his delegation have about Mr. Mamdani and the complex political dynamics within an ideologically diverse conference, according to conversations with more than a dozen legislators, lobbyists and other people close to the speaker.
Some lawmakers have expressed concern to Mr. Heastie about Mr. Mamdani’s membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, and how that might be used against Democratic lawmakers in swing districts. Others have singled out Mr. Mamdani’s outspoken criticism of Israel as a nonstarter.
Charles Lavine, a Nassau Democrat who is chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and close to Mr. Heastie, said the speaker was sensitive to how his political decisions affect members in swing districts on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York.
Mamdani “has produced nothing and has been entirely devoted to galvanizing a small group of socialists to be his backers. That’s been his modus operandi,” Mr. Lavine said. He said he believed Mr. Mamdani harbored antisemitic views, and sensed “from him a sense of condescension and arrogance.”
For his part, Mr. Mamdani strongly disputes any notion that he is antisemitic and has focused on criticizing the Israeli government and protecting New York City’s large Jewish population. He has also spoken frequently about expanding the city’s efforts to combat antisemitism if he is elected mayor.
Mr. Heastie, noting the concerns of an array of Jewish Assembly members, has told Mr. Mamdani that he needs to do more to placate colleagues who are concerned by his outspoken criticism of Israel.
He has also sought assurances from Mr. Mamdani that he would not endorse primary challengers pushed by the Democratic Socialists.
Mr. Mamdani’s aides have said he would make his own decisions on endorsements and not simply follow the local D.S.A. chapter.
“As he has indicated the assemblyman is excited to work with anyone who will get his affordability agenda done,” Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani’s campaign, said.
Mr. Heastie’s reluctance seems unusual, given his ties to Mr. Mamdani in the Assembly, where both are part of the New York City delegation. And if Mr. Mamdani is elected mayor, he would be likely to lean on Mr. Heastie to help with legislative priorities and funding requests during budget season.
Mr. Heastie declined to comment.
Since beating an incumbent in 2020 to win an Assembly seat in Queens, Mr. Mamdani has passed few bills in Albany but has been an key voice in tilting the Legislature leftward. Even people who disagree with him say that Mr. Mamdani is an exceptional communicator who has cultivated a diverse group of allies.
Still, he and a close group of other Democratic Socialists of America members have frustrated Mr. Heastie at times with their public attacks on colleagues, their penchant for backing challengers to incumbents and their support of legislation singling out Israel. In 2023, Mr. Heastie took the unusual step of labeling a bill that Mr. Mamdani introduced, which would have ended tax-exempt status for New York charities with ties to Israeli settlements, a “non-starter.”
Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Heastie squared off the following year over efforts to expand a free bus pilot program. After a piece of unrelated landlord-friendly policy was added to the budget at the last minute, Mr. Mamdani told Mr. Heastie that he would vote against the budget. The New York Times reported that this angered Mr. Heastie, and he killed the bus pilot program.
Both deny that any retaliation occurred and say the bus program fell apart for other reasons.
In past interviews, the two men have spoken highly of one another and said they have a good relationship. Earlier this year, when Mr. Mamdani was polling in the single digits, he raised his hand to speak during a meeting of legislators, and, according to one person present, Mr. Heastie called on him and said: “Yes, Mr. Mayor.”
Those present, including Mr. Mamdani, started laughing, the person said.
“I’ve appreciated the relationship that we’ve had while I’ve been in the Assembly, and even through this process,” Mr. Mamdani said on Tuesday, adding that he wished Mr. Heastie the best in his recovery from a recent shoulder surgery.
“Because so much of what I’ve spoken about, about the necessity of delivering for working-class New Yorkers, of delivering affordability in the most expensive city in the country, it’s something that, in fact, has been a part of the message in the Assembly and the Senate for years.”
Mr. Heastie did not endorse anyone in the June Democratic primary, which included other current and former state lawmakers, as well as former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Mr. Heastie and Mr. Cuomo have a long history together as state power brokers, and as scandals involving the former governor mounted in 2021, Mr. Heastie initially did not call for Mr. Cuomo to resign.
He was then seen as hastening Mr. Cuomo’s resignation when he declared that Mr. Cuomo could “no longer remain in office.”
Despite a long relationship with Mayor Eric Adams, Mr. Heastie did not endorse a mayoral candidate four years ago. In 2013, before he became speaker, he backed Bill de Blasio for mayor. This spring he supported candidates in Democratic primaries for city comptroller and mayor of Albany.
After the Bronx endorsement on Tuesday, Jamaal T. Bailey, the state senator who chairs the Bronx Democratic Party, disputed the notion that Mr. Heastie was late in endorsing Mr. Mamdani.
Indeed, other powerful Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, have also held back on endorsing Mr. Mamdani; of the 10 House Democrats in New York City, only four have endorsed the assemblyman. (Mr. Heastie’s Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, quickly backed Mr. Mamdani after his primary win, saying she “always” supports the Democratic nominee.)
Some of Mr. Heastie’s colleagues disagree with those withholding their endorsements.
“Every Democrat needs to endorse Zohran,” said Assemblyman Tony Simone, Democrat of Manhattan, who did not back a candidate in the primary but recently endorsed Mr. Mamdani. “That’s just a fact.”
But even as Mr. Heastie has resisted endorsing Mr. Mamdani, he has still repeatedly complimented the assemblyman’s focus on the issues that he said matter the most to New Yorkers, including affordability. And Mr. Mamdani did attend an annual barbecue in July hosted by Mr. Heastie.
Whether an endorsement comes or not, several legislators and people close to Mr. Heastie noted his pragmatism, adding that he could serve as a check on some of Mr. Mamdani’s ambitions, including large increases to the corporate and personal income tax rate.
They said Mr. Heastie will find a way to work with Mr. Mamdani if he prevails this fall against Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Adams and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate.
“The speaker brings people together. He did that back when he was the Bronx chair and he has been doing that since then,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Democrat from the Bronx who chairs the powerful Codes Committee and is a Mamdani critic.
“In a legislative body, you have to be able to be able to work with everyone to be successful,” he said.
Dana Rubinstein contributed reporting.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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