AOC praises mayoral contender Maya Wiley, touts her left-wing cred in new ad

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised mayoral candidate Maya Wiley and attested to her progressiꦕve track records in a .

“We have an option of a candidate that has a lifetime of dedication to this,” AOC says in the 30-second ad filmed outside City Hall, where she hugs Wiley.

“Racial justice, economic justice, and climate justice,” said the Queens and Bronx Democratic lawmaker, who on June 5 endorsed the former City Hall lawyer.

“And that candidate is Maya Wiley.”

The campaign video is Wiley’s first featuring AOC, and debuted after she on Thursday defended her proposal to reduce the NYPD’s funding by $1 billion, calling the police force’s budget “bloated.”

“This Tuesday, we can bring real change,” Wiley says in the ad, which also has a Spanish-language version featuring Rep Nydia Velázquez and Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Wiley.

“Build a fairer, more affordable New York. And make sure all of our kids have a chance to succeed. I’m Maya Wiley, and I’m asking for your vote.”

Wiley was launched into the Democratic mayoral primary’s top tier after AOC’s endorsement, as well as a stamp of appro⛦va💝l from Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Recent polls show the former New School professor trailing Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, but have been far more promising than her the back-of-the-pack numbers from previous months.

Police unions on June 1 labeled the former mayoral top aide “out of touch” and a “de Blasio flunky,” in response to her anti-NYPD ad in which she said New York City cops don’t value black peoples’ lives. Former NYPD captain Eric Adams said on June 8 that Wiley living in affluent Prospect Park South, which is patrolled by a neighborhood resident-funded private security guard, while calling for NYPD budget cuts is “the highest level of hypocrisy.”

And on Wednesday, rivals blasted Wiley for her failure to bring broadband to public housing residents.

“We learned during the pandemic that broadband is not a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have,” said fellow contender Kathryn Garcia, the former head of the Department of Sanitation and NYCHA, at a campaign stop Wednesday. “And the fact that Red Hook and Mott Haven still don’t have it after six years is really pretty shocking.”