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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly declined to distance himself from embattled New York City Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, after being pressed on allegations that the DSA leader failed to pay thousands in rent on a Crown Heights apartment while his family spent a reported $1.4 million renovating the NYC townhouse where he lives—a contrast critics say is difficult to square with the anti-landlord, rent-abolitionist socialist housing agenda he helps champion.
Mamdani said Sunday that people working for a “more affordable life” and a “fairer life” for New Yorkers “should be welcomed into this work.” When asked again Monday whether Gordillo should step down and whether he condemned allegations that Gordillo lied about his employment, the mayor said he welcomed anyone committed to making New York “a city that everyone can belong to.” Meanwhile, asked directly whether he condemned Gordillo’s alleged actions and lying, Mamdani ended the exchange: “Thank you very much.”
Gordillo, an Ivy League graduate who as a NYC-DSA co-chair met weekly with Mamdani and his campaign manager as the group coordinated fundraising, field and communications efforts, later served on Mamdani’s Economic Development & Workforce Development transition committee, according to public reporting.
He is named in a pending Brooklyn Housing Court case, in which a former landlord alleges Gordillo failed to pay $5,000 in rent on a $2,500-a-month Crown Heights apartment, while his family’s townhouse was undergoing its $1.4 million in renovations, according to the New York Post. Gordillo’s family reportedly bought the Bed-Stuy townhouse in 2019 for $935,000, while Gordillo’s father has said it is for Gordillo and his brother to live in.
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Members of the Democratic Socialists of America gather outside of a Trump owned building during a May Day rally in New York City in 2019. (left); Gustavo Gordillo sits in-studio on “The Story With Martha MacCallum (right) (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/)
“The Democratic Socialists of America have become the Double Standards of America — demanding transparency, fairness, and accountability from everyone else while ignoring serious questions about one of their own,” Rev. Kevin McCall, a Brooklyn pastor who also assists tenants in New York City Housing Authority complexes, told the New York Post.
“The allegations surrounding NYC chapter co-chair Gustavo Gordillo raise troubling questions about whether he misled working-class New Yorkers about where he lived, how he obtained housing, and his labor credentials. DSA leaders and elected officials must answer these questions publicly and call for Gordillo’s resignation,” the Reverend added.
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Neither Mamdani’s office, the NYC-DSA nor Gordillo, responded to Digital’s requests for comment. The housing case involving Gordillo remains pending and no judgment has been issued.
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani closed out his “Five Boroughs Against Trump” tour in Queens on Friday. (Deirdre Heavey/ Digital)
Questions about Gordillo’s working-class credentials were also central to Monday’s exchange between Mamdani and reporters about Gordillo. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers told the New York Post that its Joint Apprentice Training Committee terminated Gordillo’s electrician apprenticeship in March after a “prolonged absence from and failure to participate in required work and classes.”
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The New York Post reported that Gordillo later sought and received approval for a $95,000 annual salary from NYC-DSA without disclosing the termination to members. The outlet also reported that the Bed-Stuy renovation used nonunion contractors and was hit with a city stop-work order over permit issues—prompting further criticism of a DSA leader who has cast himself as a union electrician and advocate for working people.
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A source close to the union, according to the New York Post, said Gordillo “didn’t have a strong work record to begin with” and took the job “just for show,” while hogging “a slot from someone who probably really needed the opportunity.”
Digital’s Robert Schmad contributed to this report.
