endorses

Oct. 24 (UPI) — U.S. House Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, 11 days before the Nov. 4 election.

Jeffries hasn’t issued a public statement but his endorsement was confirmed in a statement to The New York Times, with sources telling USA Today and Politico about the House minority leader’s plans.

Early voting begins Saturday.

Mamdani, who was born in India and raised in Uganda, is attempting to become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Jeffries, who serves Brooklyn in New York, had held off endorsing Mamdani, who is a state assembly member serving Queens since 2020.

The state’s two U.S. senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, haven’t endorsed Mamdani.

Mamdani has been endorsed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letita James.

Also, he has been backed by New York Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adriano Espaillat and Yvette Clarke. Two other House members, Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, have said they don’t plan to endorse in the election.

And New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said he doesn’t plan to endorse him.

In the June 24 primary, Mamdani, 34, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, and Mayor Eric Adams, 65. His opponents then chose to run as independents, but Adams dropped out on Sept. 28 and endorsed Cuomo on Thursday.

Mamdani is favored to defeat Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, 71, a Guardian Angels founder and radio show host. President Donald Trump has pressured Sliwa to drop out to give a better chance for Cuomo over Mamdani, whom he has labeled as a Communist.

Jeffries told The New York Times said they have had “areas of principled disagreement,” including Israel’s war in Gaza, but agreed on other matters, such as the desire to retain New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries wrote.

“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”

Jeffries first met with Mamdani in July in Brooklyn before the primary. They met again in August.

Jeffries had said he was focused on the federal government shutdown rather than the New York City race.

“Stay tuned,” he told reporters this week in Washington. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point, in advance of early voting.”

Jeffries has questioned how Mamdani would implement his policies and combat antisemitism and gentrification.

“We’ve got to figure out moving forward how we turn proposals into actual plans so that he is successful if he becomes the next mayor, because we need the city to be successful,” Jeffries told CNN last month.

Jeffries noted that his district, which includes historically Black communities, has “been subjected to gentrification and housing displacement.”

Mamdani has sharply criticized Israel and the war in Gaza, which Mamdani describes as genocide.

During Wednesday’s debate, he said: “I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls the city home. All 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I’ve shared about Israel and Palestine.”

Hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him.

And powerful real estate and finance industries have donated millions of dollars to political action committees opposing his candidacy.

Oct. 23 (UPI) — Outgoing New York Mayor Eric Adams officially endorsed former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to replace him.

Adams ended his campaign for re-election in late September after a federal bribery indictment and the Campaign Finance Board’s decision to withhold millions in public matching funds. After Cuomo pressured him to leave the race, Adams called him a “snake and a liar,” The New York Times reported.

But now the two are friends again, announcing the endorsement together on a sidewalk in East Harlem. “Brothers fight,” Adams said. “But when families are attacked, brothers come together.”

On Wednesday night, Cuomo, a Democrat running as an independent, participated in the final debate of the election season, facing off against front-runner Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist running as a Democrat; and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

In an interview with The Times Thursday, Adams said that he would campaign with Cuomo in neighborhoods where the mayor is most popular and try to urge people to vote for Cuomo.

“I think that it is imperative to really wake up the Black and brown communities that have suffered from gentrification on how important this race is,” Adams said. “They have watched their rents increase in terms of gentrification and they have been disregarded in those neighborhoods, and I’m going to go to those neighborhoods and speak one on one with organizers and groups, and I’m going to walk with the governor in those neighborhoods and get them engaged.”

Mamdani released a statement after the announcement.

“Today confirms what we’ve long known: Andrew Cuomo is running for Eric Adams’s second term,” Mamdani said. “It’s no surprise to see two men who share an affinity for corruption and Trump capitulation align themselves at the behest of the billionaire class and the president himself. We are going to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas that these two disgraced executives embody and build a city every New Yorker can afford.”

Sliwa brushed off the endorsement at a press conference Thursday. He told reporters that the two men were “corrupt birds of a feather flocking together.”

“The guy who called Andrew Cuomo a snake is now the snake charmer,” Sliwa said. “Are you surprised by that?”

Sept. 15 (UPI) — With less than two months before the New York City mayoral election, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has endorsed fellow Democrat Zohran Mamdani to lead the city.

Hochul, also a Democrat, issued her endorsement Sunday, penning a New York Times opinion piece.

“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought,” she said.

“I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.”

Mamdani is the frontrunner in the four-person race that includes incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo running as independents and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Recent polling shows Mamdani has 43% of the support of respondents compared to 28% for Cuomo.

The New York State assemblyman is a democratic socialist democrat who is campaigning on a platform to implement a rent freeze, make bus transit free, offer free childcare for those aged 6 weeks to 5 years and raise the corporate tax rate while taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers a flat 2% tax.

In her essay, Hochul said they discussed several issues, including the New York Police Department, which, according to Hochul, they agreed on the importance of ensuring strong leadership.

The announcement came days after Mamdani told The New York Times in an interview that he intended to apologize for a comment he made in 2020 calling the NYPD “racist,” among other insults.

Hochul also said that New York needs leaders who are willing to put aside their differences in order to stand up against President Donald Trump.

“Mr. Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda — with urgency, conviction and the defiance that defines New York,” the governor said.

“And we must never allow Mr. Trump to control our city like the king he wants to be. Anyone who accepts his tainted influence or benefits from it is compromised from the start.”

Mamdani, in a statement on X, on Sunday night thanked Hochul for her endorsement, saying he is grateful for the governor’s support “in unifying our party, her resolve in standing up to Trump and her forces on making New York affordable.

“I look forward to the great work we will accomplish together,” he said.

“Our movement is only growing stronger.”

The governor of New York state, Kathy Hochul, has endorsed Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a staunch pro-Palestinian advocate who has campaigned for a more equitable allocation of the city’s resources, for mayor ahead of a closely watched November election in the financial capital of the United States.

Writing in The New York Times, the state leader said on Sunday she made her decision after “frank conversations” with her fellow Democrat, who resoundingly won the support of the party’s voters in a primary election in May.

“In our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighbourhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family,” Hochul wrote in the city-based newspaper.

“I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support,” Hochul added.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old left-wing politician who has promised to make buses free and freeze rents for subsidised tenants, won 56.4 percent of votes among registered Democrats in the primary race, easily beating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Yet Cuomo, a pro-Israel candidate who joined a team of lawyers defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against war crimes allegations in Gaza, has taken the unusual move of choosing to stay in the race, reflecting a continued divide within the Democratic Party.

While recent polls suggest Mamdani has a 22-point lead among New York voters, some prominent New York Democrats have appeared hesitant to back him, including US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres, and, until recently, Hochul — though the governor had been more positive in comments about Mamdani than the others.

Speaking in Iowa on Saturday, Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen criticised his Democratic colleagues for failing to endorse Mamdani, accusing them of the “kind of spineless politics” that “people are sick of”.

“They need to get behind him, and get behind him now,” Van Hollen said.

Mamdani, who has campaigned alongside independent Senator Bernie Sanders and progressive Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal in recent days, has received fewer endorsements from centrist Democrats like Hochul, less than two months out from the November 4 general election.

Thanking the governor for her announcement on Sunday, Mamdani acknowledged Hochul’s “support in unifying our party” as well as her “focus on making New York affordable”.

He also praised “her resolve in standing up to Trump”.

Trump has also weighed in on the race, saying Mamdani being “up by 20” in a recent poll shows there is a “rebellion against bad candidates … they’re tired of it”.

“I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he is going to win, and that is a rebellion,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” on Fox News on Friday, describing Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, as “my little communist mayor”.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed Mamdani with 45 percent support among likely voters, and a comfortable 22-point lead over his closest rival, Cuomo, with 23 percent.

Repeat Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, who cofounded the Guardian Angels to combat “violence and crime” on the New York subway in the 1970s, is polling at 15 percent, according to the Quinnipiac poll, while embattled incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, running as an independent candidate, has just 12 percent support.

Trump has dismissed Sliwa as a candidate, describing the Republican candidate known for his trademark red beret as “not exactly prime time”.

Mamdani, meanwhile, has portrayed Adams as a “puppet” of Trump’s following meetings between the mayor and the US president and his team. Trump has described Adams as a “very nice person” but has denied recent reports that he offered the mayor an ambassadorship.

NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday urged New Yorkers to vote for Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City, giving the Democratic nominee one of his most significant endorsements to date in the contest to lead the nation’s biggest city.

Writing in the New York Times’ opinion section, Hochul said that while she and Mamdani diverged on some issues, they came together on the importance of addressing the affordability crisis in the city and across the state.

“But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family,” wrote Hochul, a fellow Democrat. “I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support.”

The stunning success of Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, in the race for New York City mayor has exposed divisions within the Democratic Party as it struggles to repair its brand more than half a year into Donald Trump’s presidency. Hochul’s endorsement is the latest sign that Democratic leaders who had been skeptical of Mamdani’s left-leaning views are beginning to consolidate around him.

Mamdani thanked Hochul for the boost, saying it’s a sign that “our movement is growing stronger.”

“Governor Hochul has made affordability the centerpiece of her work. I look forward to fighting alongside her to continue her track record of putting money back in New Yorkers’ pockets and building a safer and stronger New York City where no one is forced to leave just so they can afford to raise a family,” Mamdani said in a statement Sunday night. “I’m grateful to the Governor for her support in unifying our party — as well as the work she’s done standing up to President Trump, securing free lunch meals for our kids, and expanding access to childcare.”

In recent weeks, the other candidates in the race — former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa — have intensified their criticism of Mamdani over his platform and past statements ahead of the city’s general election in November.

U.S. House Republican Leadership Chair Elise Stefanik, a New York congresswoman, said Hochul’s endorsement is a sign that the governor is moving left to shore up falling poll numbers.

“At the exact moment when New Yorkers are looking for strong leadership from their Governor with a majority opposing Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul embraces this raging Communist who will destroy New York making it less affordable and more dangerous — once again putting criminals and communists first, and New Yorkers LAST,” Stefanik said in a Sunday statement.

Mamdani soundly defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Cuomo has since relaunched his campaign as an independent. Adams, a Democrat, skipped the primary to run as an independent in November. Sliwa ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Hochul served as lieutenant governor to Cuomo and replaced him after he stepped down in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations. He denied wrongdoing during the campaign, maintaining that the scandal was driven by politics.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass plans to endorse Antonio Villaraigosa, a longtime compatriot and the city’s former mayor, in the 2026 governor’s race on Tuesday.

“Antonio and I have known and worked together our entire adult life,” Bass said in a statement. “I have seen up close the impact he has made not just for our city but for our entire state. Our country is at a crossroads and it’s vital that our state have a leader who will lead California into the future.”

Villaraigosa said he was honored to have Bass’ support, describing the mayor as “a fierce advocate for working families, children, seniors, and underserved communities and a tireless champion for social and economic justice and for the people of Los Angeles.”

The race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom has drawn a crowded field of contenders with notable credentials.

In addition to Villaraigosa, who served as Los Angeles’ mayor for eight years, other prominent candidates include former Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former state legislative leader Toni Atkins, current state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former state Controller Betty Yee, wealthy businessman Stephen Cloobeck, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.

After former Vice President Kamala Harris opted against entering the gubernatorial race, independent polling has found that Porter and Bianco have a narrow edge in the 2026 contest. But much could happen in the eight months before the June primary. Politically active Californians are largely focused on the November special election about redrawing California’s congressional districts.

Despite being the Democratic leader of the nation’s second-largest city in an overwhelmingly blue state and a veteran congresswoman, it’s unclear how much weight Bass’ endorsement will have in the governor’s race.

Her favorability ratings have dropped since she was elected mayor in 2022. Shortly before Bass won the mayoral contest, 50% of Los Angeles voters had a favorable opinion of her, according to a UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll. In April, after wildfires ravaged the area, 50% had an unfavorable view of her. However, Bass’ reputation may have rebounded as she vigorously defended the city during federal immigration raids this summer.

Bass has known Villaraigosa, a former two-term Los Angeles mayor and legislative leader, for more than half a century. They met as community activists in the 1970s, focused on issues such as the drug epidemic, police accountability and poverty.

They have long supported each other’s political pursuits. Villaraigosa was an early backer of Bass’ 2022 mayoral campaign and served on her mayoral transition team.

Bass is scheduled to publicly endorse Villaraigosa on Tuesday morning outside of the Los Angeles Sentinel, a Black-owned weekly newspaper. Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris Dawson, Councilwoman Heather Hutt, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, Inglewood City Councilwoman Dionne Faulk and South Los Angeles religious leaders are also expected to attend.

The city’s Black voters were part of the coalition Villaraigosa built that won him the mayor’s race in 2005.

“I understood from an early age that much of the success that I have had is on the backs of the civil rights movement,” Villaraigosa told the Sentinel in 2022. He added that he “wouldn’t have been elected mayor if not for African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Jews and progressive whites all coming together.”

Former President Obama endorsed California Democrats’ plans to redraw congressional districts if Texas or another Republican-led state does so to increase the GOP’s chances of maintaining control of Congress after next year’s midterm election.

Obama said that while he opposes partisan gerrymandering, Republicans in Texas acting at President Trump’s behest have forced Democrats’ hand.

If Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy,” he said at a fundraiser Tuesday in Martha’s Vineyard that was first reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday.

“I wanted just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas, and take it to the voters and see what happens,” Obama said, “… but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game. And California is one of the states that has the capacity to offset a large state like Texas.”

Redistricting typically only occurs once a decade, after the census, to account for population shifts. In 2010, Californians voted to create an independent redistricting commission to end partisan gerrymandering. California’s 52 congressional districts were last redrawn in 2021.

Earlier this summer, Trump urged Texas leaders to redraw its congressional boundaries to increase the number of Republicans in Congress. Led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Democrats responded and proposed redrawing the state’s district lines and putting the matter before voters in a special election in November.

The issue came to a head this week, with Texas lawmakers expected to vote on their new districts on Wednesday, and California legislators expected to vote on Thursday to call the special election.

Obama called Newsom’s approach “responsible,” because the matter will ultimately be decided by voters, and if approved, would only go into effect if Texas or another state embarks on a mid-decade redistricting, and line-drawing would revert to the independent commission after the 2030 census.

“I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time,” Obama said.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — Israel announced plans Thursday to revive a shelved a 3,400-home development in the West Bank that would seal it off from East Jerusalem and partition the occupied territory, effectively sinking the possiblilty of a Palestinian state.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right cabinet member who is under international sanctions and investigation by the International Criminal Court over the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, said the so-called E1 project would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

The proposed development between East Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, another Israeli settlement, has been on ice for more than a decade due to the international community’s opposition to the settlements, which are illegal under international law, and in particular E1 because of the risk to efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian question.

“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem. This is Zionism at its best — building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said.

Speaking at a news conference with settler leaders, Smotrich said the land in question was the rightful property of the Jewish people because it had been given to them by God.

The announcement came three days after Australia joined France, Canada, Britain, Portugal and Malta in pledging to recognize Palestinian statehood in September with Smotrich telling the BBC the nation they backed would never happen “because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.”

Smotrich’s move drew on an identical playbook he and Defense Minister Israel Katz used in May when they signed off on 22 Jewish settlements, the most significant expansion of the Israeli presence in the occupied West Bank in decades.

The two ministers said the step granted the unofficial settlements with legal recognition from the government, with Katz saying it would “prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.”

The May 29 move came hours after the governments of Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and Spain issued a joint communique reaffirming their commitment to the implementation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

President Trump endorsed Republican John Cox for California governor on Friday, backing that could help Cox consolidate the GOP vote in the June primary and increase his chances to win a spot on the November ballot.

“California finally deserves a great Governor, one who understands borders, crime and lowering taxes. John Cox is the man — he’ll be the best Governor you’ve ever had,” the president tweeted Friday afternoon.

Cox, who did not vote for Trump for president in 2016, said he was “honored and deeply grateful” for the endorsement.

“I am looking forward to working with [the president] to make California great again,” said Cox, who alluded to potential support from Trump during a recent debate in San Jose, when he noted that he had recently visited the White House. “Like the President, I’m a businessman who knows how to get things done. We’re going to secure the border, empower California small businesses, lower taxes, and make our state affordable for everyone.”

Trump overwhelmingly lost California to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton received nearly 8.8 million votes in the state compared to Trump’s 4.5 million., But if Cox receives anything close to Trump’s support it should be more than enough to give him a second-place finish on June 5.

Trump’s endorsement of Cox is a major blow to GOP rival Travis Allen, an assemblyman from Huntington Beach and the favorite of many California conservatives. Both men failed to win the endorsement of the California Republican Party earlier this month, but Trump’s backing is arguably more powerful.

Allen supporters fumed over the president’s announcement, and said he had been misled.

“I’m angry. I’m angry at President Trump,” said Celeste Greig, a longtime conservative leader in the California GOP, who travelled to Washington, D.C., to attend Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

When she heard the news Friday, she promptly donated an additional $300 to Allen’s campaign.

“I love the president. I have supported him, but he’s made some misjudgements and this is one. He shouldn’t have done it, he shouldn’t. I will never, never support John Cox.”

Throughout the campaign, Allen has hammered Cox for supporting Libertarian Gary Johnson in the 2016 presidential race. Cox says he cast his ballot for the former New Mexico governor because, at the time, he didn’t trust that Trump was a true conservative. Cox has since said he regretted that vote because he has been pleased by Trump’s actions in office, including the tax overhaul, though he wishes the president would tweet less.

Allen voted for Trump and often boasts that he’s the only major candidate in the governor’s race to have done so. But Allen has struggled to raise funds for his campaign while Cox, a wealthy businessman from Rancho Santa Fe, has poured more than $4 million of his own money into his gubernatorial bid.

“The fact that Allen does not have the funds to compete makes this significant,” Republican political consultant Rob Stutzman said. “Allen can’t really counter it effectively.”

Stutzman, Greig and others suspect House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) may have encouraged the president to back Cox. Having a Republican on the top of the ticket in November — as opposed to two Democrats — could drive GOP voter turnout and help House Republicans in tight races that are key to the party holding on to control of Congress.

“The only reason for Donald Trump to tweet out support for a candidate for California is going to be House seats,” said Jon Fleischman, an influential conservative blogger from Orange County who plans to vote for Allen but said Trump’s endorsement helps Cox. “There is delicious irony in tweeting support for a candidate who was boasting about not voting for him.”

Attempts to reach McCarthy were unsuccessful on Friday.

But Allen told more than 400 supporters on a conference call Friday evening that the president’s endorsement would not hinder his chances, and said Trump wrongly “decided to listen to political advisors in the swamp, and Kevin McCarthy chief among them.”

“This does not stop us. This doesn’t even slow us down,” Allen said. “All this does is put a smile on our faces, because ladies and gentlemen, as God is my witness, my name is Travis Allen and I’m going to be the next governor of the state of California…. Not even the president of the United States is going to stop” that.

Democratic front-runner Gavin Newsom responded to Trump’s tweet by aligning Cox with the president, who is widely unpopular in California.

“No surprise you’re endorsing a candidate in your own image: one who attacks immigrants while opposing common sense gun laws and equal rights,” Newsom tweeted. “Time & time again, the people of California have rejected your brand of hate. The people of California will reject @TheRealJohnHCox too.”

Newsom’s campaign to be the state’s next governor will be much easier if he faces a Republican in the general election, rather than one of the other top Democrats in the race — a fact driving his strategy. No Republican candidate has won a statewide election in California since 2006, and Democrats have a 19% edge over the GOP in voter registration.

Under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June 5 primary advance to the November election, regardless of party affiliation. The other top Democrats in the race include former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin.

Democrats and their allies have been spending millions of dollars to weigh in on Cox’s candidacy.

Newsom released an ad contrasting himself with Cox that notes Cox’s alignment with Trump on gun issues. The ad is being aired on broadcast television during programming popular with conservatives, including the “Roseanne” reboot, and will probably make Cox more appealing to GOP voters.

Meanwhile, backers of Villaraigosa — who is scrapping with Cox for the second spot in the primary — are airing an ad on Fox News and other stations that paints Cox as a Chicago carpetbagger and onetime Democrat who can’t win elections. While living in Illinois, Cox unsuccessfully ran for office multiple times.

During a testy televised debate earlier this month in San Jose, Newsom was asked whom he would prefer to face in the general election. The lieutenant governor quickly said he hoped to battle a Republican.

“A Republican would be ideal in the general election,” Newsom said with a grin, then glanced over at Cox and Allen. “Either one of these would do.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Gavin,” Cox said.

[email protected]; [email protected]

Twitter: @LATSeema, @philwillon

Updates on California politics

July 17 (UPI) — California Democratic congressional lawmaker Ro Khanna announced on Fox & Friends Thursday morning that he will endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York.

“He spent a lot of time talking about the cost of living in New York, in this country, and how we address it,” Khanna said. He said Mamdani is a “very charismatic, relatable person.”

Host Lawrence B. Jones asked Khanna if he agrees with Mamdani’s views on Israel. Mamdani has said that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to New York, he’d have him arrested.

He answered that he doesn’t agree with Mamdani on every issue. He argued that the Democratic party should focus more on the working class. It should work to raise wages and have a more economically populist agenda.

Since Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor, he’s been seeking endorsements from higher-ranking progressives. Khanna fits that bill.

The endorsement came after a breakfast meeting in New York hosted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., where Mamdani met with a variety of Democratic representatives.

Other endorsements Mamdani has gained include: Reps. Jerry Nadler,D-N.Y., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. Espaillat initially endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo on Monday formally announced he is running as an independent for mayor, three weeks after he lost to Mamdani.

Former Mayor Eric Adams announced last month that he will also run as an independent.

Mamdani is expected to meet soon with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., The Hill reported.

June 24 (UPI) — The European Union is set to amend its current ethical supply chain rules after its ambassadors endorsed a simplification bill from the Council of the EU.

“Today we delivered on our promise to simplify EU laws,” said EU Minister of Poland Adam Szlapka in a press release Monday. “We are taking a decisive step towards our common goal to create a more favorable business environment to help our companies grow, innovate, and create quality jobs.”

The bill would impact current environmental laws with the intention of shrinking the regulatory pressures on businesses in order to juice up the EU’s economy.

Two such green rules are the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. These currently insist that all the companies that do business in the EU and have at least 1,000 employees report their environmental effects. The bill would increase the employee threshold that forces a company to comply up to 5,000 employees.

Currently, the CSRD and CSDDD also require companies that make at least approximately $522 million in net turnover to monitor their supply chains for environmental and human rights violations. The bill would raise that starting bar to about $1.7 billion.

The release said the regulations were being loosened based on the concept that larger companies “are best equipped to absorb the costs and burdens of due diligence processes.”

The bill would also limit the obligation required for companies to adopt a transition plan to deal with climate change. It would give the EU Council authority to advise companies on how to create and execute such plans.

The Council could then give companies up to two years to implement those plans in order to “further reduce burdens and provide companies with sufficient time for adequate preparations.”

If adopted, less than 1,000 companies would be affected by the CSRD, down from the nearly 50,000 companies that currently must comply.

However, should Omnibus pass, there could be legal challenges. The nonprofit ClientEarth Europe environmental organization posted to X Tuesday that “The Omnibus is fueling legal uncertainty and might breach the law too.”

“A new legal analysis warns of the risk of future legal challenges if the Omnibus is passed into law,” the post continued. “The agreement reached by the EU Council last night heightens these risks by further undermining the [CSDDD].

President Trump has endorsed David Ellison’s takeover of Paramount Global — an $8-billion merger that has been complicated by his $20-billion lawsuit over CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

On Wednesday, Trump was asked about the hold-up in the federal review of Skydance’s takeover of the storied entertainment company. The question came as reporters clustered around the president on the White House lawn to watch the installation of a flagpole.

The Paramount-Skydance deal has been pending at the Federal Communications Commission since late last fall.

Trump said he hoped the deal goes through.

“Ellison is great. He’ll do a great job with it,” Trump said.

Then he appeared to connect the merger-review delay to his lawsuit against CBS and its parent Paramount over last fall’s “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump has maintained since last October that the Harris interview was edited to burnish her chances in the November election. CBS has denied the allegations, saying the edits were routine. The raw footage showed Harris was accurately quoted, but Trump’s team said he suffered “mental anguish” from the broadcast.

“They interviewed Kamala. Her answer was horrendous,” Trump said Wednesday. “I would say it was election-threatening. I would say election-threatening because it was so incompetent.”

1st Amendment experts have called Trump’s case frivolous, but Paramount wants to avoid waging an extensive legal fight. Paramount’s leaders have pursued a settlement to help clear a path for the company’s sale to Skydance — a deal that needs the approval of the FCC.

The mediation process to resolve the lawsuit, filed in a Texas court, has become protracted.

“They are working on a settlement,” Trump said Wednesday. He mentioned that two high-level CBS executives — the head of CBS News and the executive producer of “60 Minutes” — had abruptly departed as the merger review dragged on.

“They’re all getting fired,” he said.

Late last week, Trump’s legal team filed court documents asking for a deadline extension in the discovery process, disclosing the two sides were working to reach a resolution.

Earlier this month, Ellison met Trump briefly while the two men were sitting ringside at a UFC fight in New Jersey, according to video footage shared online. Skydance declined to discuss Ellison’s interaction with Trump.

It marked the second time this year that Ellison chatted with the president at a UFC match. The first was in April.

It’s been nearly a year since Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and fellow Paramount directors approved the two-phased $8-billion deal that will hand the company to the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, who is a Trump supporter. The deal will also see the Ellison family buy the Redstone investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc.

Santa Monica-based Skydance intends to consolidate the company that boasts the Melrose Avenue Paramount film studio, Paramount+ streaming service, CBS and cable channels including Comedy Central, Showtime and BET.

Skydance operations and personnel will be folded into Paramount.

The deal faces one final regulatory hurdle: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s consent to transfer 29 CBS television station licenses to the Ellisons from the Redstones. This week, the Senate approved Trump’s second Republican appointment to the panel, Olivia Trusty.