Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed a fellow progressive, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, for New York City mayor on Thursday.

Her support comes as the upstart candidate has closed the gap in polls with a former governor of New York, front-runner Andrew Cuomo, who is attempting to make a political comeback after being forced to resign in disgrace back in 2021.

“Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with the New York Times. “In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s support is for a rising candidate with a similar trajectory. Both are millennial persons of color who entered political races as long-shot candidates and who gained swells of grassroots support. 

“As someone who got elected when I was 28 years old, I know very intimately what it means to be trusted with an enormous job of immense responsibility at a very young age,” she said. “It is not something that I take lightly.”

Mr. Mamdani has seen a recent jump to second place in the polls with a progressive platform that has gotten pushback from centrist Democrats in the city. AOC’s endorsement comes after Mr. Mamdani, along with the other Democratic candidates, went on the attack against Mr. Cuomo at the first primary debate on Wednesday.

Mr. Mamdani accused him of being in the pocket of the same moneyed interests that support President Trump.

“The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D.C.,” he said, pointing out $10 million raised by a pro-Cuomo super PAC.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez echoed his sentiments, telling the Times that Mr. Cuomo “belongs to the hedge funds.”

The congresswoman gave a slate of her top five candidates, with Mr. Mamdani ranked in the top spot, encouraging voters to use New York City’s new ranked-choice voting system during the Democratic primary later this month in an effort to keep Mr. Cuomo off the final ballot.

Mr. Mamdani had learned of the endorsement as he walked off the stage after Wednesday’s debate and called her a “once-in-a-generation leader.”

“In 2018, A.O.C. shocked the world and changed our politics for the better with her historic victory,” he said in a statement. “On June 24, we will do the same.”