Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., sidestepped a question Sunday about whether he supports New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who recently defeated Andrew Cuomo in the primary.
During an interview on CNN, host Manu Raju pressed Booker on whether the Democratic Party is failing to embrace its left flank. He specifically brought up Mamdani, asking, “Democratic leaders are not supporting him. Is that a problem? Do you support him?”
Booker dodged the endorsement, shifting the conversation away from ideological labels. “This is not a left-right issue,” he said. “It is an authoritarian versus pragmatic government issue. I’m one of those people who believes the ties that bind us are stronger than the lines that divide us.”
He criticized the influence of big corporations and media, saying they profit off division. “They want to pit us against each other and tell us how much we should hate each other,” Booker said. “The left-right lens is not the right lens right now.”
Raju circled back, asking again if Booker would support Mamdani. Booker didn’t budge. “Let New York politics be New York politics,” he replied. “I’ve got a governor’s race and legislative races in New Jersey. That’s where my energy is going.”
Booker added that although he lives just 10 miles from New York City, “You guys figure out your elections. I’m going to focus on mine.”
Booker isn’t the only Democrat avoiding a Mamdani endorsement. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and others have also kept their distance. Meanwhile, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., openly blasted Mamdani as a “job-killing socialist.”
“You’ll hear no ambiguity out of my mouth,” Gottheimer said. “We do not need someone who raises taxes, embraces antisemitic rhetoric, and supports slogans like ‘globalize the intifada.’”