Zohran Mamdani, a proud socialist and Democratic nominee, tried to dismiss former President Barack Obama’s refusal to endorse him over the weekend, only one day before one of the most-watched contests in the country.
“I appreciated the call with President Obama and his support for the movement that we have created. I appreciated his words. I appreciated his time, and I appreciate this movement for putting us on the brink of delivering us a new city in this place,” Mamdani told reporters in City Hall Park.
The former president was campaigning for Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, over the weekend, but he didn’t go to New York City to stand next to Mamdani.
Obama and Mamdani talked on the phone instead, but not much has come out about what they talked about.
The Mamdani campaign tried to imply that the former president shouldn’t have endorsed anyone in the mayoral race, but Obama has done it before, including when he backed Bill de Blasio in 2013.
Mamdani has had a hard time getting people from the moderate wing of the party to work together since he won the Democratic primary in June.
It took months for Kathy Hochul, the governor, and Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, to support his run for City Hall.
Jeffries even remarked over the weekend that he didn’t think Mamdani and far-left politics were the future of the Democratic Party.
Mamdani also sought to make his opponent, independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, look like President Trump’s choice for mayor on Monday. He erroneously claimed that the president had backed the former governor.
Trump hasn’t endorsed anyone, but said he’d pick Cuomo over a “Communist.”
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a Communist,” the president said on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, adding, “I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.”
The Department of Justice announced that it will send election monitors to polling places in six jurisdictions ahead of Tuesday’s general elections.
The initiative is intended to help ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal election laws, the department said in a press release.
Through its Civil Rights Division, the Department of Justice enforces federal voting rights laws designed to protect every eligible citizen’s access to the ballot.
The Department routinely deploys personnel to monitor elections across the country to ensure compliance with federal civil rights statutes, the release said.
“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve.”
According to the release, the DOJ will be sending poll monitors to the following locations:
Passaic County, New Jersey
Kern County, California
Riverside County, California
Fresno County, California
Orange County, California
Los Angeles County, California
Under the direction of Bondi, the initiative will be led by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, headed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon.
Needless to say, Calif. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is opposed to the idea.
“Donald Trump’s puppet DOJ has no business screwing around with next month’s election. Sending the feds into California polling places is a deliberate attempt to scare off voters and undermine a fair election. We will not back down. Californians decide our future — no one else,” he said on X.
However, critics have long accused Democrats like Newsom of bending or ignoring federal statutes to ensure that illegal aliens, of whom there are millions in California, were able to vote.
The initiative is intended to promote transparency and facilitate clear communication between poll observers and federal election monitors, helping to ensure that elections are conducted securely and in accordance with federal standards.
