Patrick Gaspard, the former ambassador to South Africa, Barack Obama aide, and veteran New York City political insider, shares much in common with mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani – despite their age and time in New York City politics spanning decades apart. They were both born in Africa to immigrant parents, Gaspard in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mamdani in Uganda. They both moved to the city with their parents at a young age. Both have ties to Columbia University, Gaspard as a graduate and Mamdani as the son of a professor, and are fans of Bill de Blasio.

Gaspard, who has emerged as an informal but key adviser in Mamdani’s campaign, said that what drew him to the 33-year-old Democratic socialist was “his seriousness of purpose, his moral clarity, his natural gifts as a commun

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