New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed on Monday to maintain ties with a controversial political operative behind the imploded campaign of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, whom a former romantic partner accused of rape, leading him to drop out of the race.

Morris Katz and his consulting firm Fight Agency gained a reputation as political wonder-workers after assisting in Mamdani’s 2025 campaign and then in the socialist sweep of New York’s congressional primaries last month. But following the high-profile collapse of Platner’s candidacy, members of the Democratic Socialists of America began circulating a petition calling for a boycott of Katz’s services.

But Mamdani, one of DSA’s most prominent national figures, declared he would not participate in the proposed blacklist.

“I will continue to work with Morris Katz,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated event. “He remains a top advisor of mine.”

Mamdani’s remarks come in spite of reports that Katz had sought to intimidate a former Platner staffer who had revealed that the Democratic contender had sent sexually explicit messages to several women. Katz also stood by the candidate through revelations that he had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol and that former romantic partners had accused him of abusive behavior. Democrats and independent observers consider unseating Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) crucial to the party’s hopes of capturing control of the Senate this fall.

Katz, born to a prominent Manhattan Jewish family, has said that AIPAC “radicalized” him and has advised candidates to take a hostile stance toward Israel.