Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is endorsing Zohran Mamdani as her top pick for New York City mayor, giving the socialist upstart candidate a major boost as the 2025 race for City Hall kicks into high gear.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has since being elected to Congress in 2018 become one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent progressive leaders, said in an interview published Thursday she’s backing Mamdani because of the grassroots support he has generated in pushing a policy platform centered around affordability.

“Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack,” Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times . “In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.”

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