A new television ad featuring Mayor Zohran Mamdani debuted on Wednesday night during postgame coverage of the New York Knicks’ Game 1 victory in the N.B.A. finals, but the 30-second spot was not about the team or the mayor.
The mission of the spot was to hype the candidacies of three left-leaning Democrats in competitive House primaries across the city by trying to capitalize on Mr. Mamdani’s popularity and on New York’s collective excitement over the Knicks.
The candidates — Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander — have all been endorsed by the mayor. Mr. Lander and Ms. Avila Chevalier are challenging incumbents; Ms. Valdez is running for an open seat.
“This is the team,” Mr. Mamdani says in the ad, which is shot on a basketball court with a pronounced Knicks’ orange hue. “This is our year.”
The ad — which was produced by Morris Katz, the mayor’s top political adviser — and the regional TV placement cost roughly $110,000, split among the three congressional campaigns.
“It’s a new era in Knicks’ basketball, and it’s time for the same in our politics too,” Mr. Mamdani said in a written statement. “Much like the Knicks, this slate embodies a fight, a selflessness and a love of New York that will serve our city well,” he added.
After storming to victory last fall, Mr. Mamdani has taken a forceful, if sometimes surprising, role in choosing favored candidates in Democratic primaries for city, state and federal offices. Not all of the candidates have won, and his choices have also not aligned exactly with his political base, the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Though Mr. Lander, the former New York City comptroller, is not a member of the D.S.A., the mayor supported him early on in his campaign to unseat Representative Daniel Goldman in a district representing parts of Brooklyn and a sliver of Manhattan. Mr. Lander also ran for mayor last year and formed a partnership with Mr. Mamdani during that race’s Democratic primary.
The mayor also urged Ms. Valdez to run for the seat in Brooklyn and Queens that is being vacated by Representative Nydia Velázquez and has appeared with her in several social media ads. His support of Ms. Avila Chevalier was announced last week; she is trying to unseat Representative Adriano Espaillat, the powerful chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who represents Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx.
Ms. Avila Chevalier and Ms. Valdez are D.S.A. members, yet some of the organization’s members have expressed frustration that Mr. Mamdani did not back their full slate of candidates, including many running for state office.
His decision not to do so may be the result an arrangement between the mayor and Carl Heastie, the Assembly speaker. Before endorsing Mr. Mamdani last year, Mr. Heastie sought assurances from the mayor that he would not back state legislative primary challengers pushed by the D.S.A.
But the mayor was clearly eager to show his enthusiasm for his preferred candidates, as well as the Knicks.
In the ad, Mr. Mamdani tosses the ball to Mr. Lander, who says that he will “block billionaires from buying our elections,” before trying a behind-the-back pass.
“Mayor Mamdani and I are ready to go like a Brunson-KAT pick-and-roll,” Mr. Lander said in a statement, referring to two of the team’s star players. “I’m grateful as always for his support and excited to see it on the big screen as we cheer on the Knicks!”
Also in the ad, Ms. Avila Chevalier says she will abolish ICE and then throws a bounce pass to Ms. Valdez, who declares: “I’ll stand up to bad landlords and greedy corporations.”
Ms. Mamdani’s support for Ms. Avila Chevalier has proved the most intriguing, particularly because the mayor had previously committed to supporting Mr. Espaillat.
“Mayor Mamdani showed New York City, and the country, that people power beats machine politics,” Ms. Avila Chevalier said in a written statement. “Now voters in N.Y.-13 have the same choice: a movement that actually fights to keep working families in their homes, or more of the same establishment politics that left uptown and the Bronx behind.”
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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