As the leader of the political left in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani might be expected to hold significant sway over the endorsements made by his closest friends and allies.
The reality is more complicated — even with his wife.
Though Mr. Mamdani has invested significant political capital in backing three candidates for Congress — Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District, Claire Valdez in the Seventh and Brad Lander in the 10th — some of his closest allies are excluding Mr. Lander from their primary slate.
Two weeks after Mr. Mamdani starred in a basketball-themed television ad during the N.B.A. Finals showing his support for the three politicians — “This is the team,” Mr. Mamdani says in the ad — the Justice Democrats borrowed footage from it to run their own, but left Mr. Lander on the cutting-room floor.
On Tuesday, Rama Duwaji, the mayor’s wife, urged her more than 2 million Instagram followers to back Ms. Avila Chevalier and Ms. Valdez, but excluded Mr. Lander.
The same day, Zara Rahim, an adviser to the mayor, did something similar.
Ms. Rahim did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did a spokesman for the Mamdani campaign.
Usamah Andrabi, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, said the left-wing political action committee’s decision to omit Mr. Lander was largely a product of “capacity,” and Mr. Lander’s electoral strength. Mr. Lander, the former city comptroller, is widely expected to win Tuesday’s election against Representative Dan Goldman, while the races in the other two districts are considered much closer.
“We are not AIPAC,” Mr. Andrabi said, arguing that the group’s comparative lack of resources meant that they had to make strategic choices.
“A lot of people saw Dan Goldman as an extremely weak incumbent and saw Brad Lander as an extremely strong challenger to him,” he said.
Mr. Lander differs from Ms. Avila Chevalier and Ms. Valdez in other ways, too. He is a longtime member of the Democratic establishment, having also served as a New York City councilman. Ms. Avila Chevalier and Ms. Valdez, a state assemblywoman, are relative newcomers.
Mr. Lander is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America; he says he left the organization after it promoted a rally held the day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Ms. Avila Chevalier and Ms. Valdez are both D.S.A. members, and Ms. Avila Chevalier attended that Oct. 8 rally. Mr. Lander refers to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, but he is also Jewish, and a self-described liberal Zionist.
In a similar act of apparently deliberate omission, Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday urged voters to back Ms. Valdez and Mr. Lander, but made no mention of Ms. Avila Chevalier.
Like Mr. Lander, Mr. Sanders is both Jewish and a vocal critic of the Israeli government.
Mr. Lander declined to comment for this story.
Stu Loeser, a longtime Democratic strategist in New York City, said that only one thing distinguished Mr. Lander from Ms. Avila Chevalier and Ms. Valdez.
“He’s pro-Israel,” Mr. Loeser said.
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