Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City on Saturday and called on his party’s leadership to do the same, criticizing them for a delay that he said allowed President Trump to exploit Democratic divisions.
Mr. Van Hollen said Mr. Mamdani, the party’s nominee, is focused on “ensuring that people can afford to live in the place where they work,” a goal that “Donald Trump and the city’s financial elites see that as a threat,” according to prepared remarks.
“Yet, many Democratic members of the Senate and the House delegations representing New York have stayed on the sidelines,” Mr. Van Hollen told a group of Democratic activists and officials gathered in Des Moines on Saturday afternoon. “That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of.”
Mr. Van Hollen isn’t alone in suggesting that it is time for the national party to get behind Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist.
In recent days, a series of Democrats across the ideological spectrum have argued that it is important for their leaders to forcefully reject Mr. Trump’s apparent interest in tipping the race toward former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a lifelong Democrat who is running in the mayoral race as an independent after losing the primary to Mr. Mamdani.
Mr. Trump and his aides, allies and donors have gone to extraordinary efforts to meddle in the race and improve the chances of Mr. Cuomo — though Mr. Trump now appears increasingly resigned to a potential victory by Mr. Mamdani.
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