Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been privately meeting with labor union leaders to push for a lefty candidate to make a run for the White House in 2028 — and he reportedly isn’t sure Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will take up the mantle.
The democratic socialist — who can’t be president himself as he’s not a “natural-born” US citizen — wants to capitalize on progressives’ momentum after the midterm elections and organize a far-left bloc to fight against moderate Democrat candidates, The Post confirmed.
Hizzoner “wants the progressive ecosystem to mobilize quickly, strategically and efficiently if a moderate candidate is clearly on the rise,” one source who spoke directly with Mamdani told Axios, which first reported the conversations.
The source likened the strategy to how former President Barack Obama appeared to use his influence to successfully consolidate support behind his ex-VP Joe Biden against Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2020.
Mamdani’s meetings come as he’s reportedly admitted in private that he’s not convinced AOC, the leading young progressive voice on Capitol Hill and his close political ally, will make a bid for the White House in two years, according to sources.
“This is an introverted person who keeps her cards close and does not jump at anything major without deep evaluation,” one insider told The Post about the Bronx and Queens congresswoman.
Lefty politicos, including many former staffers from Mamdani’s winning mayoral campaign, launched a “ready for AOC” hybrid PAC in the aftermath of the midterms aimed at getting the socialist darling to throw her hat in the ring, The Post previously reported.
While her decision remains up in the air, Mamdani hosted Jimmy Williams Jr., president of the powerful International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, at Gracie Mansion last month to discuss prospects for 2028.
The mayor asked Williams what it would take to secure an endorsement from his union and whether he would consider running for the White House himself, sources confirmed.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-C.W.A., has also recently met with Mamdani to discuss the upcoming presidential election among other issues.
Mamdani additionally plans to talk soon with Shawn Fain, president of the United Automobile Workers, Axios first reported.
Williams, Nelson and Fain are considered among the most progressive labor leaders in the country.
Mamdani has amassed substantial political capital after his stunning upset over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year, which thrust him and his controversial leftist agenda onto the national stage.
He is now widely viewed as the “kingmaker” for the progressive branch of the Democratic party and has already shown a willingness to wield that power.
Mamdani threw his weight behind several congressional candidates who will be heading to Washington after last week’s elections, including democratic socialists Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, as well as former mayoral candidate Brad Lander.
With Ocasio-Cortez rumored to be considering a run for Senate rather than the presidency, Mamdani’s been exploring other potential candidates — perhaps a laborer — to carry his progressive platform to the White House.
The lefty firebrand has over $17.5 million cash on hand in her campaign coffers, according to her FEC filings from late October.
Asked about the Axios report on Monday, Mamdani told reporters that as it pertains to AOC, “what I’ve said in private meetings is exactly what I’ve said in public, which is that I think that she would make an amazing whatever it is that she wants to run for.”
“And I know that the congresswoman makes her determinations on the basis of the most amount of good she can do for the largest number of working people, and I think that is continuing to be a compass, not just for her, but for many,” he said, during an unrelated press conference in Manhattan.
Regarding the union leader meetings, he said, “my interest is in the fact that no matter what we do at the city and state level in New York, there is a role for the federal government in delivering dignity for the working-class people who call this city our home.”
“And these union leaders have been on the front lines of doing exactly that and of fighting and protecting their members’ rights in the face of the very kind of corporate greed that has pushed many a New Yorker and many an American out of the dignified life that they’ve come to expect from the country they helped to build,” he said.
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