Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday officially endorsed his Democratic Socialists of America comrade Claire Valdez to succeed outgoing Rep. Nydia Velázquez in New York’s 7th Congressional District.
Valdez, a Queens state Assembly member and former union organizer, said she hopes to follow in the congresswoman’s footsteps by fighting “genocide” in Palestine and standing up against a “fascist” President Trump administration.
“I’d be proud to stand in her shoes, to carry on her legacy, and to fight for everything that District 7 deserves,” Valdez, 36, said during a campaign kickoff at Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn.
Valdez, who announced her candidacy Thursday started the second day of her congressional campaign brandishing endorsements from the mayor and United Auto Workers union head honcho Shawn Fain.
“I am proud to stand behind this vision and to stand behind Clare,” Mamdani said, noting Valdez was among the earliest backers of his mayoral campaign.
“I need a partner like her in Washington to fight for a city that people can afford and a democracy that meets the needs of working people,” Hizzoner said.
The former UAW organizer is vying to succeed Velázquez in the North Brooklyn and Western Queens district.
She’ll face Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a longtime protégé of the retiring congresswoman, in a Democratic primary.
Flanked by over two dozen UAW members, Valdez said her union organizing background while working as an administrative assistant at Columbia University was central to her politics.
“But far too few workers are given the ability to join those unions, to have the support, to know how to organize. [Local] 2110 changed my life. They gave me a literal seat at the bargaining table,” she said.
Fain noted her union organizing background as a motivating factor for his endorsement.
“When working class people stand up together and fight for what we deserve, when working class people elect leaders like Clare Valdez – we can move mountains,” Fain said.
Reynoso has picked up several endorsements already, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn Councilwoman Crystal Hudson.
