Brian Varela, a businessman running in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, picked up an endorsement on Monday from Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka, a sign of Varela’s increasing outreach to progressive voters.

Baraka’s progressive candidacy in last year’s New Jersey gubernatorial race raised concerns in the Jewish community, in part because Baraka, in the early 2000s, appeared alongside Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a long record of antisemitism, and applauded violent rhetoric by the controversial preacher. Baraka also faced scrutiny over his record on Israel and antisemitism.

“Brian is proud to have Mayor Baraka’s endorsement and grateful for his support,” Emmett Shell, a spokesperson for Varela’s campaign, said. “Mayor Baraka has joined north of 50 people across the ideological spectrum that point to Brian’s ability to build a wide-tent coalition.”

“That said, Brian wants to be unequivocal on the underlying issue: He entirely condemns Louis Farrakhan and the violent rhetoric Farrakhan has promoted,” Shell continued. “There is no place for that kind of rhetoric in this country, full stop. Brian has consistently denounced antisemitism in all its forms throughout his campaign and throughout his life, and that position will never waver. Antisemitism is a poison, and Brian will always stand firmly against it, regardless of who is in the room.”

The Baraka endorsement is an additional sign that Varela, who told Jewish Insider last summer, “I consider myself more of a moderate,” has pivoted in a more progressive direction as he faces off against candidates including military veteran Rebecca Bennett, who is running a campaign focused on more moderate messages.

The New Jersey Globe on Monday highlighted the Baraka endorsement as part of “Varela’s quest to claim the progressive mantle in the Democratic primary,” pointing to a series of progressive stances that Varela is taking and his other progressive endorsements.

He’s also staking out a progressive stance on immigration issues, describing himself as the “most vocal ICE critic” in the Garden State and one of the first candidates in the country to call for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment.

Asked whether he now considers himself a moderate or progressive, the Varela spokesperson said, “Brian would push back a little on the framing, because at the end of the day, voters in NJ-07 aren’t asking whether their representative is a moderate or a progressive.”

“They’re asking who is going to deliver on the issues that matter to their families. Brian looks at each policy on its own merits, whether that policy is going to strengthen the economy and raise the standard of living for people in this district,” he continued. “Sometimes that puts him in a more progressive lane, sometimes a more moderate one. The label doesn’t drive the policy. It’s the ability to change people’s lives for the better that moves Brian towards solutions.”

Varela has gone through a unique political evolution over the years, starting as a press intern for Republican Gov. Chris Christie in 2010, later running as an anti-machine candidate against now-Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and later leading the New Jersey chapter of the Forward Party, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s centrist third party.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is also seeking to paint Varela as far left, describing him in recent press releases as “dangerously radical” and the “pick of the radical left.”

Baraka also endorsed progressive Analilia Mejia in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, and is set to endorse Michael Blake, one of the progressive challengers to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY). Mejia has the backing of various prominent progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“Analilia has dedicated her career to fighting for the rights of all people and will continue to do so,” Mejia campaign spokesperson Elon Glickman said. “As an Afro-Latina, whose own family has faced bigotry and hate, she understands that Antisemitism, racism and anti-Blackness are cut from the same cloth and we must stand together in fighting it.”

Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.