DOMA plaintiff backs Quinn for NYC mayor

Holly Bailey
·National Correspondent

With just over two months to go before the primary, the endorsements are starting to roll in for the candidates vying to replace New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

On Wednesday night, Christine Quinn received a surprise endorsement from Edith Windsor, the plaintiff in the case that prompted the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. Windsor’s endorsement came during a rally held just hours after the court’s decision outside the historic Stonewall Inn in Manhattan when she jumped onstage to join Quinn, who is gay, and announced she was supporting the City Council speaker’s bid for mayor.

“I was committed to not endorse anyone until there was a decision" on DOMA, Windsor declared, before adding, “Christine Quinn!”

The surprise endorsement momentarily stunned Quinn, who burst into tears. If elected, Quinn, who married her partner Kim Catullo last year, would be the city’s first gay mayor.

Windsor followed up her impromptu announcement with an official endorsement on Thursday in a video circulated by the Quinn campaign.

Quinn "understands the problems of managing a big city like New York. She comes of middle-class background herself and has true compassion for the struggling middle class and the struggling working class and the struggling not-working class today. And you don't find that very often,” Windsor says in the video.

Also on Thursday, Quinn’s rival Bill de Blasio announced that he’d received the backing of Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who ran for president in 2004.

“Bill de Blasio is the progressive fighter New York City needs,” Dean, who also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “As a lifelong progressive reformer and grassroots organizer, Bill will take on the elite who profit from the status quo at the expense of working families. From battling the flood of corporate money and corrupt insiders deals that infect our politics to challenging the powerful interests that block common-sense gun violence prevention, Bill has always been a voice for everyday New Yorkers.”