Zohran Mamdani will be joined at Wednesday night’s debate by politically-connected pastor once bailed out of jail by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio — in an effort by the lefty front-runner to highlight rival Andrew Cuomo’s “disastrous record.”
Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee leading in the polls, will pack the audience at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City with six “New Yorkers left behind by Cuomo” — including Brooklyn Bishop Orlando Findlayter.
The prominent faith-leader has been a crucial player in Brooklyn politics for years, swinging elections and endorsements in New York City, and he had a key role in mobilizing black voters for de Blasio in 2013.
But the Findlayter’s reputation took a hit in 2014 when he was arrested on outstanding warrants tied to traffic violations and a protest — and de Blasio called the NYPD to get him sprung from a police precinct.
The move was blasted at the time as a classic case of favoritism for the politically connected.
Findlayter supported Cuomo’s mayoral campaign in the Democratic primary, but switched allegiances earlier this month because of concerns over the city’s affordability crisis.
“Frankly it is a city that we cannot afford…That is one of the many reasons I throw my full support behind Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor,” Findlayter said when he endorsed the Queens state assemblyman at Medgar-Evans college.
The proud socialist, who trounced Cuomo for the Dem nomination in June, described Findlayter in a press release Wednesday as: “A longtime community leader who endorsed Cuomo in the primary but now supports Zohran Mamdani, citing the need for moral and accountable leadership.”
Bringing the bishop as his special guest is an ironic move for a candidate who has attempted to paint Cuomo, now running as an independent, as the face of old-school political favors.
Mamdani is also bringing: Greg Monte, a United Federation of Teachers union member; Vivian Zayas, the co-founder of Voices for Seniors, who lost her mother in a nursing home during the COVID pandemic; Kasha Phillips, a homeless single mother; Sean Raird, a member of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, and Kia Cherry, a medical technician and 1199SEIU union member.
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