Bill de Blasio Endorses Mamdani for NYC Mayor

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed socialist Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday in the race for City Hall — contending his fellow progressive’s “bold, sweeping” agenda will save the Big Apple.

“We don’t just need Zohran Mamdani to be our mayor because he has the right ideas, or because they can be achieved,” de Blasio said in a New York Daily News op-ed as he threw his support behind the front-runner.

“We need him because in his heart and in his bones he cannot accept a city that prices out the people who built it and keep it running.”

But the perpetually bumbling de Blasio’s endorsement drew scoffs from many insiders, including one longtime political operative with ties to the lefty Working Families Party.

“Not sure how much a progressive hack’s endorsement matters,” the operative said, snarkily adding, “I thought it was time for new energy.”

De Blasio represented that “new energy” in 2013, when his vision of turning New York City into a progressive utopia helped propel the then-public advocate’s dark horse mayoral campaign to victory.

But after quickly breaking promises and embarking on a quixotic presidential bid, de Blasio — who had a less-than-cordial relationship with the NYPD — squandered New Yorkers’ goodwill so much he saw his approval dip to an abysmal 26% during 2021, his last year in office.

“If that’s a barometer of what the future holds, he didn’t do Mamdani any favors,” said Hank Sheinkopf, another political operative who also oozed sarcasm when asked about the endorsement.

“De Blasio was nearly indicted on campaign violations, the police were in uproar, and the city in chaos, but other than that, it was great.”

The two-term mayor, apparently feeling belated vindication in Mamdani’s rise, used his op-ed to paint a rosy picture of his own time in City Hall.

He recalled that critics had ripped his policies — including affordable housing, paid sick days and pre-K for all — as “recklessly idealistic.”

“Often, these critiques were lodged by politicians and special interest groups who had a vested interest in maintaining the broken status quo. In short, labeling my agenda as infeasible masked their true problem with it: an unwillingness to cede power and opportunity to working people,” he wrote.

“In 2025, the same overheated condemnations yield the same result as in 2013: not only does the public want what Mamdani is proposing, it actually all can be done.”

Even de Blasio’s critics acknowledged his success with universal pre-K, although the rest of his record received arguably more mixed reviews.

Still, de Blasio insisted Mamdani’s promise for affordability — including rent freezes, free child care and free city buses — was the reason the little-known Queens assemblyman clinched the June Democratic primary.

“Yet, though many New Yorkers agree with him — many others are skeptical. Still others have lost faith in the city government’s ability to not only talk, but deliver. They want to know one fundamental truth: can it be done?” de Blasio wrote.

“I can say definitely — and I know better than anyone — that the answer is yes.”

De Blasio argued that President Trump’s cost-cutting agenda was even more reason to elect the socialist in November.

“At a time when Donald Trump is cutting SNAP benefits, gutting Medicaid, and once again leaving working people out to dry, the need for an unwavering fighter in City Hall has never been higher,” he wrote.

“It’s not enough to have a ‘leader’ unwilling to be bold in their pursuit for economic opportunity, or hiding behind this so-called question of feasibility.”

Not all political insiders pooh-poohed de Blasio’s endorsement.

“De Blasio’s endorsement helps Mamdani,” said Basil Smilke, a strategist who worked for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton.

“It elevates Mamdani to have a two-term mayor with progressive credentials supporting him. It helps sustain momentum.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton noted that de Blasio could be a potent campaign attack dog for Mamdani against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the candidate’s chief rival.

“De Blasio could hit the campaign trail and hurt Cuomo,” Sharpton said about the two pols, who famously butted heads when serving as mayor and governor.

Even when de Blasio’s popularity plummeted, polls showed he maintained majority support in the black community thanks to his policies of universal pre-K, poverty fighting initiatives and curbing stop-and-frisk policing.

Mamdani’s support among black voters, by contrast, was weak in the primary against Cuomo.

“De Blasio was accessible. No one perceives de Blasio as a clubhouse politician,” Sharpton said, noting de Blasio was elected twice.

De Blasio endorsed Mayor Eric Adams as his successor in the 2021 mayoral election.

He called Adams on Monday night to tell him he was endorsing Mamdani, a source with knowledge said.

The source also said de Blasio told Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, that he would have stuck with him if he remained on the Democratic Party line.

Mamdani will face Adams, Cuomo, and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa in November’s election. Attorney Jim Walden will also be on the ballot, despite suspending his campaign.