New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani are running for the same job. They’re also campaigning together. And on Monday night—just one day before the Democratic primary—they’ll make a joint appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, turning their progressive tag team into a late-night double act.
The timing is no accident. With former governor Andrew Cuomo polling ahead in his bid to become New York City’s next mayor, Lander and Mamdani have spent the last stretch of the race boosting each other rather than battling it out.
The two candidates share a politically progressive ideology, but the city’s ranked voting system makes their team up mutually beneficial, as well. Since voters can rank multiple candidates in order of preference, Lander and Mamdani aren’t cannibalizing each other’s support—they’re amplifying it. If one gets eliminated, their supporters’ next-choice votes can go to the other, keeping at least one progressive contender in the mix as the field narrows.
A Marist poll released Wednesday puts Cuomo in a commanding lead with 43 percent of first-choice votes, followed by Mamdani with 31 percent, and Lander at 8 percent.
Whether the move helps either of them close the gap is still up to the voters. But in a field crowded with candidates and short on oxygen, Lander and Mamdani appearing on Colbert together on Election Eve is sure to make news.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Colbert has extended an invitation to Cuomo leading up to the primary. LateNighter has reached out to CBS and we’ll update this article when/if we hear back. As Governor, Cuomo made two appearances on Colbert’s Late Show, both in 2020.
pathetic Cuomo is the choice…Dems really can’t get out of their own way in NY
The other two Colbert plans on interviewing aren’t an improvement at all!