Former President Barack Obama called New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday to praise his campaign and offer to be a “sounding board” in the future, two sources confirmed to ABC News.
In the 30-minute phone call, first reported by The New York Times, Obama said he was invested in Mamdani’s success and the two discussed the challenges of staffing a new administration and accomplishing Mamdani’s campaign promises.
“Your campaign has been impressive to watch,” Obama told Mamdani, according to the sources.
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It was the second phone conversation the two have had, and they also discussed potentially meeting after the election, the sources said.
The call came amid Obama’s East Coast tour on Saturday to rally with gubernatorial candidates Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey.
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In contrast to statewide contests, Obama doesn’t tend to endorse in municipal elections. But his silence on the New York City mayoral race was notable as he had weighed in on every other major contest ahead of Tuesday’s election. That included publicly supporting voting “yes” on California’s Prop 50 redistricting measure and even weighing in on Supreme Court retention races in Pennsylvania.
In 2022, Obama endorsed then-Rep. Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor in a competitive race against billionaire developer Rick Caruso.
Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman and self-described democratic socialist, has racked up endorsements from other establishment Democrats in the state heading into Election Day, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
