WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Kamala Harris has made contact with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Israel activist who tried to block former President Joe Biden from the 2024 Democratic nomination, and other progressives as she tries to cement her front-runner status in the 2028 primary.
The Harris-Mamdani phone call — which took place after Democratic socialist and other left-wing candidates trounced incumbents in last week’s New York primaries — and the other conversations were focused on the Democratic Party’s future, Axios first reported.
A source familiar with the brief conversation told The Post Harris reached out to Mamdani as she tries to rebrand herself to be more appealing to young Democrats following her 2024 defeat — and congratulated the socialist mayor for his winning endorsement slate in New York City.
“The vice president reached out to have a conversation, and we’ve had a brief conversation,” Mamdani told SiriusXM’s “The Clay Cane Show” Wednesday. “We’ve been in touch over the last few months, and I really do appreciate her outreach.”
Abbas Alawieh, the co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement that opposed Biden’s re-election over US support for Israel, posted Wednesday on X that he met with Harris in Detroit after receiving “multiple phone calls” from the ex-vice president.
“In my first call with VP Harris, I shared with her that several community members in the Michigan State Senate district I’m running to represent have had family recently killed in Israeli airstrikes with support from our American government, and that my 91-year-old grandmother’s home was destroyed as well,” Alawieh said.
“When I met with her last week, I reiterated what has long been my position: American tax dollars must never be used to target civilians and destroy entire communities,” he continued.
“Every Democrat knows how important Michigan is to defeating Trumpism,” Alawieh added. “As a Michigan Democratic candidate for State Senate District 2, I urge VP Harris and all of our party’s leaders to side with peace-loving Americans against endless wars, in opposition to the Israeli military’s genocide in Gaza, and against the ethnic cleansing campaign in Lebanon.”
The district Alawieh is running in comprises Dearborn, the mayor of which refused to endorse Harris in 2024. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian-American whose district covers Dearborn as well, also withheld her endorsement.
Harris also spoke with Democratic National Committee member James Zogby, a longtime Palestinian activist, per Axios.
Four days after Biden abandoned his re-election effort in July 2024, Harris accused Israel of killing “far too many” civilians in its war against Hamas and declared “I will not be silent” — directly after the 46th president held a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“To everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you,” she said.
Harris later sought a meeting with Uncommitted Movement leaders, reportedly to discuss an arms embargo against Israel if she was elected.
At the same time, she tried to appeal to Jewish Democratic voters by emphasizing — including in her speech accepting the party’s nomination in Chicago — that she would “stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Polls show that while Harris largely retained Biden’s share of the Jewish vote from 2020 to 2024, Trump performed far better with Muslim American voters than Harris in the presidential election.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a November exit survey, found Harris won just 20.3% of that demographic.
New York’s primary elections also revealed last week that the party’s voters heavily supported anti-Israel challengers like Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed Darializa Avila Chevalier who triumphed over five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s (D-NY) Manhattan- and Bronx-based district.
Jewish Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) was also defeated by former Big Apple comptroller Brad Lander, a former DSA member who has accused Israel of committing a “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
Harris is currently leading the national Democratic primary race with 27.3% support, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average, but has not said whether she is running in 2028.
“I might. I’m thinking about it,” she told Rev. Al Sharpton in April during the National Action Network Conference in New York. “I’ll keep you posted.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) follow Harris in the average with 17%, 12.6% and 11% support, respectively.
Reps for Harris and Mamdani did not respond to requests for comment.
