Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stopped short of endorsing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, saying he hasn’t “dug in” on the candidate’s policy proposals.
Buttigieg said Mamdani achieved an “extraordinary” victory in the Democratic Party‘s primary election, adding that “a big part” of the win was remaining “relentlessly” focused on affordability. Buttigieg also said Mamdani was “omnipresent” in communicating with voters by appearing on social media and podcasts.
Buttigieg said former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani’s biggest opponent in the primary, “reminded” voters of the “status quo” in the Democratic Party. Cuomo, who is running against Mamdani in the general election as an independent, said last week he “didn’t pay enough attention” to voters under 30 years old.
“But I think if my party wants to learn lessons from Mamdani’s success that are portable to a place like Michigan, where I live, it’s less about the ideology, and more about the message discipline of focusing on what people care about, and the tactical wisdom of getting out there and talking to everybody,” Buttigieg said Monday on NPR’s Morning Edition.
NPR’s Steve Inskeep said a Democratic New York lawmaker told him Mamdani is “the future” of his party. However, the lawmaker hadn’t endorsed Mamdani due to the population of Orthodox Jews in his district. Buttigieg said Mamdani is “further left than I am,” but people should distinguish between “tactics and ideology.”
Inskeep asked Buttigieg if he would endorse Mamdani, to which Buttigieg said he is “not really a player” in New York City politics. However, Buttigieg said he would talk to Mamdani, specifically about how his policy proposals would work.
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Mamdani has been endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), but has not yet secured the endorsements of other notable Democrats such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Political strategist James Carville warned in an op-ed last week that the Democratic Party is “steamrolling toward a civilized civil war,” which he argued is “necessary.” However, he said this can “only happen after the 2026 midterm elections.”