Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner in the New York City mayor’s race, will be endorsed on Thursday by Representative Adriano Espaillat, the city’s most powerful Latino leader and one of the most influential among voters.
His support follows endorsements for Mr. Mamdani from other prominent New York Democrats, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and major unions as he seeks to broaden his coalition ahead of the general election in November.
Mr. Espaillat said in a statement that Mr. Mamdani brought “clarity, discipline and a deep commitment to tackling the stubborn issues facing New York City,” including affordability.
“He has a strong vision of how to make New York serve those working to realize the American dream,” he said. “I’m proud to endorse him because New Yorkers deserve a mayor who will wake up every day and fight for them.”
Landing the backing of Mr. Espaillat, who is the first Dominican American member of Congress and who represents northern Manhattan and the Bronx, is significant for symbolic and practical reasons.
He is the latest member of the New York congressional delegation to back Mr. Mamdani, joining Representatives Nydia Velázquez and Jerrold Nadler and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Others, most notably Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, have not endorsed anyone in the race.
Mr. Espaillat also enjoys a deserved reputation as someone who can command voters to the polls in his district. Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat who represents a neighboring district, called him a “turnout machine.”
The endorsement is also a sign that former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s supporters are continuing to abandon him. Mr. Espaillat had endorsed Mr. Cuomo ahead of the Democratic primary in June. Mr. Cuomo also lost Keith L.T. Wright, the Manhattan Democratic chairman, and Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, an assemblywoman who leads the Brooklyn Democrats.
Mr. Cuomo has been weighing whether to campaign in the general election as he tussles with Mayor Eric Adams and others over which moderate or conservative candidate has the best chance of beating Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Espaillat also previously supported Mr. Adams, a Democrat who, like Mr. Cuomo, is running as an independent in the general election.
Many neighborhoods in Mr. Espaillat’s district supported Mr. Mamdani in the primary, including swaths of Washington Heights and Harlem. Mr. Mamdani performed well among Latino voters with 46 percent support, according to a new poll by Slingshot Strategies. Mr. Adams had support from only 9 percent of Latino voters in the poll.
Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Espaillat are both immigrants. Mr. Espaillat was the first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress. Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent.
Mr. Espaillat, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has been a fierce defender of immigrants during President Trump’s second term. He grew frustrated with the mayor’s alliance with Mr. Trump and Mr. Adams’s decision to work with the president on immigration enforcement.
Mr. Mamdani thanked Mr. Espaillat for his support and said that the congressman had been “on the front lines of the fight against Donald Trump’s authoritarian administration.”
“We both recognize the only way we can protect our city is by standing firm in our values and standing up for the working-class and immigrant communities who define us,” he said.
The endorsement follows another bestowed on Mr. Mamdani on Wednesday, by the United Federation of Teachers. In accepting the union’s support, Mr. Mamdani seemed to deliberately call out Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Schumer and another prominent Democrat who has yet to endorse him: Gov. Kathy Hochul.
He said he was excited to work with the three leaders, who he said were focused on affordability, and praised their efforts to fight Mr. Trump’s sprawling domestic policy bill, which he argued would “steal food from the hungry.”
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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