New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined repeated requests to condemn or distance himself from Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter, amid allegations concerning unpaid rent and his employment history. The issue matters because Gordillo is a prominent ally of Mamdani and a housing advocate, while critics argue the allegations conflict with the DSA’s stated approach to landlords, tenants and working-class representation.

Gordillo is named in a pending Brooklyn Housing Court case in which a former landlord alleges he owed $5,000 in rent on a Crown Heights flat costing $2,500 a month, while his family reportedly spent $1.4 million renovating a Bed-Stuy townhouse bought for $935,000 in 2019. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reportedly said his electrician apprenticeship ended in March over prolonged non-participation; the New York Post reported he later received approval for a $95,000 DSA salary without disclosing this. No judgment has been issued in the housing case, and Mamdani’s office, NYC-DSA and Gordillo did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.