AOC Backs Maya Wiley In First Of Several Upcoming Endorsements

ASTORIA, QUEENS — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed Maya Wiley for New York City mayor on Saturday, marking what is likely the first of several progressive candidate endorsements from the congresswoman leading up to the city’s June 22 primary elections.

In a press conference outside of City Hall, Ocasio-Cortez described Wiley as the candidate “who can center people, racial justice, economic justice, and climate justice. That didn’t just come up to run for mayor, but has experience and has a lifetime of dedication to this,” pointing to Wiley’s career as a civil rights lawyer and former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The unexpected show of support from Ocasio-Cortez, who is one of the country’s most preeminent left-wing leaders, likely solidifies Wiley’s place as the top progressive pick in the mayoral primary race, at a moment when other progressive campaigns grapple with controversies and many left-leaning activists and leaders are divided about who to support.

On Friday, Scott Stringer, the city comptroller and an initial progressive frontrunner in the mayoral election, was accused of sexual harassment for the second time. Dianne Morales, a former non-profit executive whose widely-supported campaign has centered immigrant, poor, and working class New Yorkers, has been dealing with internal turmoil and a unionization effort in the weeks leading up to the primary.

Wiley has generally been regarded as a progressive pick who is among the race’s top several candidates, but has been gaining more traction and endorsements from the left in the past few weeks, especially as some backers have rescinded their support for Stringer and Morales’ campaigns.

On Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez sought to galvanize support for Wiley, calling on the left to “come together as a movement and rank Maya number one.”

“She understands the importance of grassroots organizing not just in supporting but in leading movements, ” Ocasio-Cortez said of Wiley, describing the candidate as someone who “grassroots movements can work with, can inform and can shape.”

While the congresswoman didn’t mention other Democratic front-runners by name — Brooklyn Borough President Andrew Eric Adams, Andrew Yang, and Kathryn Garcia, all of whom are considered moderates — she did warn of what the city could look like if a candidate with less-progressive policing and development policies is elected.

“We’ve already tried Guiliani’s New York. We’ve already tried Bloomberg’s New York. And what that got us is a New York that was harder to afford and a New York that criminalized young people and put them into lifelong carceral systems,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding “it ends now. These are the stakes, Maya Wiley is the one. She will be a progressive in Gracie Mansion.”

While this is the congresswoman’s first major endorsement in the Democratic primaries, she told New Yorkers at Saturday’s press conference that it won’t be her last.

“We will rank in a way that maximizes the possibility for a New York for the many,” she said, pointing to the city’s new ranked-choice voting system and adding that she “may be announcing further ranks in the coming days and weeks.”

Already, Ocasio-Cortez has made good on that commitment.

On Monday morning she endorsed Tiffany Cabán’s run for City Council in District 22, which encompasses some parts of northwestern Queens, including Astoria, that the congresswoman represents.

This is the second time that Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Cabán, following her bid for Queens District Attorney in 2019.

At the time of the 2019 endorsement, Cabán was the second person who Ocasio-Cortez had ever endorsed.