Zohran Mamdani gives a confused explanation following the lack of endorsement from Barack Obama just a day before the election

Democratic Candidate Zoran Mamdani Responds to Obama’s Non-Endorsement

Zoran Mamdani, a self-identified socialist running for mayor, attempted to minimize the significance of former President Barack Obama’s choice not to endorse him this past weekend, with just one day remaining in a critical race.

“I thanked President Obama for our phone call and for his support of the movement we’ve built,” Mamdani shared with reporters in City Hall Park early Monday. “I really appreciated his words, his time, and everything this movement stands for, which has brought us so close to achieving a new vision for our city,” he elaborated, albeit in a somewhat convoluted manner.

Obama didn’t make an appearance in New York City to support Mamdani, having, instead, endorsed Mikie Sherrill, a candidate for governor in New Jersey.

The conversation between Obama and Mamdani occurred over the phone, but details about their discussion remain unclear.

Mamdani’s campaign suggested that his standing in the mayoral race isn’t as strong as Obama’s past endorsements, noting that the former president has previously supported candidates like Bill de Blasio in 2013.

Since winning the Democratic primary in June, Mamdani has faced challenges in uniting the party’s moderates. It reportedly took significant time for endorsements to come in from figures like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

Interestingly, Jeffries commented over the weekend that he didn’t see Mamdani, with his far-left views, as representative of the Democratic Party’s future.

Mamdani on Monday made an allegation connecting independent candidate Andrew Cuomo to Donald Trump, claiming that Trump endorsed him. “We’ve known for some time that Andrew Cuomo has been a puppet of Donald Trump in this campaign,” he stated just hours before his campaign issued a rebuttal regarding this supposed endorsement.

However, Trump clarified he has not formally endorsed Cuomo, suggesting instead that if he had to choose between “the communist and Mr. Cuomo,” he would opt for the former governor. During an appearance on “60 Minutes,” Trump remarked, “I’m not a fan of Mr. Cuomo anyway, but in a race between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’ll take the bad Democrat any day.”