A senior aide to American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten sounded the alarm months ago over New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s lack of experience, questioning in an email the Democratic Socialist’s ability to govern the city.
Weingarten aide Leo Casey sent the email to the Democratic Socialists of America in May, according to school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis, who reported it Saturday on X.
“A lot of our discussion here is on blocking [former Gov. Andrew] Cuomo and winning the election, which is important,” Casey said in the message on a DSA listserv on May 20 — about a month before Mamdani’s June 24 Democratic primary win.
“But the ability to govern also needs to be an important consideration,” Casey added. “And winning an election does not necessarily translate into the ability to govern.”
He then brought up Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s unpopular tenure as a cautionary tale. Johnson, who was backed by the national union that Weingarten leads, has an 80% disapproval rating from his constituents, according to polling from earlier this year.
“It is important to face squarely what happened. … It has not gone well,” Casey wrote. “Because Johnson was our candidate, there is no public discussion on the left of what went wrong. But something has clearly gone wrong, and it can’t just be attributed to our enemies.”
The New York Post reported that the United Federation of Teachers in New York City — the largest local union in the AFT — did not endorse any Democrat in the mayoral primary race.
But shortly after Mamdani defeated Cuomo, to secure the Democratic nomination, the Big Apple union endorsed Mamdani, a state assemblyman representing Queens, despite his pledge to end mayoral control of city schools and “give more say to educators and parents.”
Mamdani appears headed to victory in the Nov. 4 general election.
Casey told the Post that he voted for also-ran Brad Lander in the primary due to Mamdani’s lack of experience in city government.
“Mamdani has no experience in city government,” Casey said. “Lander has two terms as a city councilperson and a term as city comptroller.”
In a response to DeAngelis, Casey confirmed the authenticity of the leaked email, saying it is “part of a thread in a private listserv” and was written “months ago during the primary campaign.”
“I was explaining my primary vote & why I ranked Brad Lander above Mamdani,” Casey wrote. “I was clear that I would strongly support Mamdani if he won the primary.”
“The thread has nothing to do with my union or Randi, both of whom support Mamdani,” he added.
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