Andrew Cuomo is breezing to the Democratic mayoral nomination, but there are two outstanding questions left in the race, one of which may still significantly sway voters: Who will the New York Times and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorse?
For months, the Times editorial board indicated it would not endorse in the June 24 primary — or in any local races. The Gray Lady has been reconfiguring its editorial and opinion coverage and retreating, in general, from the granular reporting on the five boroughs it was known for in the 20th century. In 2021, the Times backed Kathryn Garcia, who was a long-shot candidate badly trailing Eric Adams. Garcia shot up afterwards, consolidating left-leaning voters in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and she came within 10,000 votes of becoming mayor.
A recent New York magazine piece on the Times’ opinion section indicated the newspaper could end up endorsing soon. No one really knows. If it does, that’s rotten news for Cuomo, who needs as many college-educated, affluent voters to keep him on their ballots as possible. Cuomo can certainly win if the Times endorses against him, but his path to victory would narrow.
As the ex-governor consolidates his support among working- and middle-class Black, Latino and white ethnic voters, it’s still an open question of how well he’ll run in vote-rich brownstone Brooklyn, downtown Manhattan or the Upper West Side. For now, he seems fine, especially when his top rival is Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist.
A full-throated Times endorsement against Cuomo could push affluent white liberals against him. The biggest beneficiaries of a Times endorsement could be Brad Lander, the wonky city comptroller who appeals to the Times’ sensibilities, and Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker who still lacks funds and comes closest, perhaps, to occupying Garcia’s lane in the primary. If the Times decided to back her, it would be a huge boost for her quiet campaign.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, unlike the Times editorial board, is very likely to weigh in soon. She backed two democratic socialists for City Council, and she endorsed in the mayoral race four years ago, throwing her support behind Maya Wiley, a relative progressive. Wiley did not win, but she was able to rack up more support in parts of Brooklyn and Queens where AOC is popular. Wiley was a stronger candidate, in the end, for the endorsement.
There are three candidates, realistically, who could have the leftist congresswoman’s endorsement, and all could get it since this is a ranked-choice primary. In 2021, Lander, running for city comptroller, won AOC’s backing, and there’s reason to believe he could again. Adrienne Adams, of no relation to the beleaguered mayor, is also a possibility, since she’s the sole viable female candidate left. She has a good working relationship with the progressives and socialists in the council.
And then there’s Mamdani. Ocasio-Cortez has waited long enough in the race that, for Mamdani himself, her endorsement is no longer so meaningful. He’s very popular in the leftist neighborhoods she represents in Queens and seems poised to run up large margins in the gentrifying precincts of Brooklyn. Her star power would be helpful, but he’s already maxed out on fundraising and built up name recognition. It would certainly be embarrassing for him, at least, if AOC didn’t indicate she was going to rank him first on the ballot.
The hard reality for Ocasio-Cortez is that she probably delayed her endorsement too long for it to have an enormous impact on the primary. The best use of her time would’ve been fundraising, months ago, for an aggressive anti-Cuomo effort. The various PACs and movements trying to stop Cuomo are badly underfunded. His own super PAC, seeded with nearly $9 million in big-money donations, has been blasting the airwaves since the start of spring.
If Ocasio-Cortez wants to impact the primary at all, she should come out and declare that no one who supports her should back Cuomo. It may be too little, too late, but it’d be something. Cuomo remains on a glide path to City Hall.
Ross Barkan is a journalist and author in New York City.
