New York, NY: National climate group 350 Action today announced their endorsements for mayor in NYC’s ranked choice primary election, with Zohran Mamdani in the top slot. The rest of the five-person endorsed slate includes Adrienne Adams, Zellnor Myrie, Michael Blake, and Brad Lander.
New York state has been at the forefront of bold climate legislation, like the Climate Superfund Act, and this election presents a critical opportunity to build on that at the municipal level in NYC. 350 Action’s #1 ranked candidate, Zohran Momdani, has also been one of the lead sponsors of the Utility Accountability Bill as a NY Assembly member.
“NYC is the largest and most diverse city in the country,” said Candice Fortin, Campaign Manager, 350 Action. “What happens there matters for the city’s 8 million people and for the world: many of the banks, insurers, and billionaires who prop up the fossil fuel industry are here. The people and the planet urgently need NYC to have a mayor who cannot be bought out by corporations and people who would rather line their own pockets than meet the needs of all New Yorkers.”
350 Action also explicitly urges voters not to rank Andrew Cuomo anywhere on their ballots. Cuomo has accepted campaign donations from fossil fuel billionaires. During his tenure as governor, Cuomo approved dozens of fossil fuel projects, actively blocked climate legislation, and negotiated to weaken the climate legislation that was passed.
“Cuomo’s campaign is bankrolled by fossil fuel billionaires, which means he is fine with this city going even further underwater in the near future,” said JL Andrepont, Senior Policy Analyst, 350 Action. “350 Action urges New Yorkers to vote for the candidates who will put the people and the planet first: that means ranking Mamdani, A. Adams, Myrie, Blake, and Lander. Being a climate voter means saying NO to Cuomo and leaving him off your ballot.”
Today’s endorsement announcement marks the beginning of 350 Action’s new mayoral campaign, Our Cities, Our Roots. The new campaign will focus on five key cities holding mayoral elections this year: NYC, Detroit, New Orleans, Seattle, and Boston. NYC, the biggest of the four cities, is the only one for which 350 Action will be issuing a formal endorsement. In the four other cities, 350 Action will invite mayoral candidates to fill out scorecards evaluating their commitment to climate justice and will share the responses to help climate voters make informed decisions.
After the five mayoral elections, Our Cities, Our Roots will run accountability campaigns to ensure that candidates hold up to their climate promises and have a plan in place to implement their goals.
Learn more at https://350action.org/our-cities-our-roots/