The former Vice President Kamala Harris expressed a tepid endorsement for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Monday, even making a cheeky comment about New York when probed about her support for the Democratic socialist.
“Quite frankly, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he deserves backing,” Harris stated during her interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday evening.
When directly questioned about endorsing Mamdani’s bid, Harris raised her hands with a diplomatic “Sure.”
“I back the Democrat in the race, absolutely,” the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate noted.
She quickly shifted the conversation to highlight other Democratic contenders in various cities, insisting that Mamdani “is not the only luminary.”
“I know Mamdani’s in New York, and New Yorkers often think they’re the epicenter of everything,” she lightheartedly commented, “and here we are in New York doing this interview.”
“However, we have people like Barbara Drummond in Mobile, Alabama, and Helena Moreno in New Orleans,” Harris continued. “They’re also vying for mayorship and are noteworthy.”
“So let’s not overly focus on New York City and overlook the talented individuals across the nation who are currently campaigning for mayoral positions and beyond,” the former Vice President conveyed to Maddow.
Mamdani, whose progressive ideologies and critical stance on Israel have led to significant division within the party, is still seeking endorsements from prominent New York Democrats—including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Finally, New York Governor Kathy Hochul threw her support behind Mamdani last week after some delay.
Harris’ interview with Maddow was her first television news feature since leaving her office; she had recently appeared on late-night television with Stephen Colbert the previous month.
On MSNBC, she referred to President Trump as a “tyrant” and compared him to a “communist dictator.”
“In a democracy, capitalism flourishes, and at present, we’re contending with, as I referred to him during my speech at the ellipse, a tyrant,” she remarked. “We historically have contrasted our democratic integrity with that of communist dictators—that’s the kind of situation we’re facing with Donald Trump.”
Harris urged the “titans of industry” to serve as “guardrails against a tyrant who wields the federal government according to whims stemming from a fragile ego.”
Later, she addressed a snippet from her upcoming book, “107 Days,” where she mentioned that selecting Pete Buttigieg as her running mate was originally her “first choice” but was reconsidered due to fears that having an openly gay man on the ticket might pose “too great of a risk.”
“To suggest that he couldn’t be on the ticket simply because he is gay, that’s challenging to hear,” Maddow noted to Harris.
“No, no – that’s not what I meant when I said he couldn’t be on the ticket due to his sexual orientation,” Harris clarified.
“What I’m stating in my book is that in such a heated election for the presidency against someone like Donald Trump, who has no boundaries, the stakes are incredibly high for a black woman running for president, coupled with a gay man as a vice-presidential candidate. It saddened me, but I realized it was a genuine risk,” she elaborated.
“Perhaps I was being overly cautious,” Harris admitted later on.
When probed about her ambitions for the 2028 election, Harris stopped short of dismissing a future run for the presidency.
“Right now, that’s not my focus. It truly isn’t,” she shared with Maddow.
