Former President Barack Obama had an extended phone call with mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani on Saturday and offered to be a “sounding board” for the socialist candidate — but didn’t officially endorse him for mayor, according to a report.
The pair had a 30-minute phone call in which Obama praised Mamdani for his campaign and stated he was invested in the 34-year-old’s success beyond Tuesday’s election, according to two people familiar with the call who spoke to The New York Times.
“Your campaign has been impressive to watch,” Obama told the Democratic candidate, further offering to be a “sounding board” after he takes office.
The former prez consulted the anti-cop state assemblyman on the challenges of staffing a new administration and on being able to achieve his lofty promises on making the city more affordable, the report claimed.
The two Democrat pols made plans to meet in person at some point in Washington DC, that report stated.
During the call, Mamdani said he drew inspiration for his recent speech on Islamophobia from Obama’s speech on race during his first presidential run in 2008, the report claimed.
“Zohran Mamdani appreciated President Obama’s words of support and their conversation on the importance of bringing a new kind of politics to our city,” a spokesperson for Mamdani told The Times.
Despite the nice-making phone call, the Democratic Socialist previously trashed Obama as “pretty damn evil” in a series of tweets from 2013.
“Hasn’t Obama shown that the lesser evil is still pretty damn evil?” he wrote in a post directed at then Democrat Sen. Ed Markey.
“I can’t trust quotes from @BarackObama, not since his continued lying the face of Snowden’s #NSA revelations,” the post said.
Obama also called the lefty-pol after his shocking win in the Democratic primary in June.
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