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Mamdani, Hochul celebrate Rev. Al Sharpton's 72nd birthday in Harlem

Emma Seiwell, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul gathered with other local pols at Rev. Al Sharpton’s weekly rally in Harlem Saturday morning to celebrate the civil rights leader’s 72nd birthday.

Also in attendance at the National Action Network’s headquarters on Hancock Place near 124th Street, were Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Comptroller Mark Levine, all of whom sang Sharpton’s praises.

“We’re mixing my birthday tribute to the Saturday morning rally, and people are already in the overflow rooms,” Sharpton said. “I’m going to have some people come by that have been kind enough to break in their schedule to wish me a happy birthday.”

Mamdani called Sharpton, “someone whom you can find inspiration in every decade of their life.”

“In every year… has waged fights that have started as lonely ones, but have ended as popular ones, fights for justice, fights for those who have so often been forgotten,” Mamdani said. “You’re speaking about a consistency. Someone who all of us on this stage and beyond come to for guidance, for grace, for an understanding of what should be expected of us in this moment in time.”

“Together, all of these reverends make up a man whose birthday it is that we are here to celebrate today, a man who has shaped our city and our nation, who still wakes up long before the sun has begun its rise, and drinks green juice hours before any of us have gotten out of bed. Every time I wake up, I’m like, ‘He’s already awake,’” Mamdani said with a chuckle.

Reverend Al introduced Hochul as his “big sister,” to which she replied she “loves him dearly,” but clarified that she’s actually younger than him.

 

“Everybody’s gonna think I’m older than you, and I am not older than you,” she said. “But it’s your birthday, 72, extraordinary years of service. Not someone who came to service as an adult or a 25- or 35- or 45-year-old. He literally was a child, using his voice to preach about God at such a young age, and I cannot imagine what America would be today without having this man, this champion, this voice. The voice for the voiceless.”

Hochul later made mention of the midterm elections, which are just a month away.

“Everything changes if we do the right thing. We are on the cusp of taking back our country, and I feel so good about it. And it happens right through the state of New York,” she said.

The governor said that should Hakeem Jeffries become the next Speaker of the House, “All of a sudden, there’s a bright spotlight on what is happening in Washington. They can’t get away with it when you have Hakeem Jeffries and a majority in the House and the Senate saying, ‘No more.’”

“Then we’re just two years away from when this fever is going to break. Because Americans have had enough, and we’re sick and tired,” she added.


©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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