Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Friday tapped Julie Su – a controversial cabinet official under President Joe Biden with a checkered record in California – to serve in a newly created post of deputy mayor for economic justice.

The freshly minted position represents a comeback for Su, who served as Biden’s acting secretary of labor, but repeatedly failed to get a full confirmation from Congress when two prominent moderate Democrats joined with Republicans to oppose her.

Su’s nomination sputtered over concerns about her unabashed progressive views and lingering questions about her time as California’s labor secretary in the COVID pandemic era that saw widespread fraud.

“There’s a reason Julie Su’s nomination failed to earn support from Democrats or Republicans,” a spokesman for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told The Post Friday.

“Throughout her tenure at the Department of Labor, she prioritized partisan activism over American workers and their families,” Cassidy said. “Julie Su is a perfect fit for the Mamdani administration.”

Su, a Harvard-educated lawyer and past MacArthur Foundation “genius” recipient, had shot to prominence representing human trafficked Thai nationals who worked in slavery inside a sweatshop garment factory in El Monte, Calif.

She also championed progressive views during her academic career – including penning a 2005 paper that argued the very definition of a corporation “seems to promote and perpetuate economic injustice.”

Concerns over Su’s ideology and questions about her time as labor secretary under California Gov. Gavin Newsom provided more than enough fuel for senators to block her permanent appointment in the Biden admin.

California’s Employment Development Department shelled out more than $30 billion to fraudsters claiming unemployment, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.A non-partisan report also found that five million Golden State residents had severely delayed payments, and another million were wrongfully denied.

Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia opposed Su’s confirmation — after the departure of Biden’s first labor secretary Marty Walsh — due to her “more progressive background.”

His fellow independently minded Democratic Sen. Krysten Sinema, of Arizona, likewise didn’t cotton to Su, as business groups rallied against her nomination.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who’s a socialist like Mamdani and has endorsed the incoming mayor, by contrast lavished praise on Su.

“Her strong pro-worker track record as Acting Secretary shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is the right person for the job,” he said in a statement after her 2023 nomination.

Su ended up being the only Biden cabinet official to serve in an acting capacity without being confirmed or having her nomination withdrawn.

Mamdani not only waved off concerns about Su’s record, but argued it’d be a plus for the new “economic justice” post.

“I’m aware of the deputy mayor’s record, and I’m very excited to have her,” Mamdani said when asked about Su’s history Friday.

“I can say that in looking at our deputy mayor’s record and looking at how she stood up for workers across the country, it is a moment of incredible excitement for me and the entire team to have her.”

Su will oversee enforcement of policies that “protect workers” in a role that folds the Taxi and Limousine Commission, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections, the NYC Commission on Human rights and others under her purview, Mamdani’s transition team officials said.

The mayor-elect said enforcement of a recent City Council bill protecting Uber drivers from unjust firings would be a great example of the work Su will do.

“The mayor-elect just said laws are only as good as their enforcement, right? Otherwise they are just words on paper. And so part of the job would be to breathe life into the protection that workers enjoy,” Su said, standing by Mamdani’s side.

Democratic political operative Ken Frydman said Su’s role appears akin to a union-friendly “Robin Hood.”

“A deputy mayor for economic justice will take from the rich and give to the poor. Or at least try to,” he said.

“Union density means the incoming administration wants to make the city payroll more ‘dense’ with union jobs. Which, in turn, will make the city budget ever-more ‘dense’ with debt.”

Mamdani announced Su’s appointment along with that of a seemingly less controversial pick: Leila Bozorg, who’ll serve as deputy mayor for housing and planning.

Bozorg will join the new administration after serving as outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ executive director for housing.

Mamdani’s transition team touted Bozorg for her role in Adams’ key “City of Yes” initiative, which massively overhauled the city’s zoning codes to allow for hundreds of thousands of new housing units.

Dan Garodnick, chair of the City Planning Commission, responsible for changes to the Big Apple map drove the “City of Yes” endeavour — and had for weeks been in the running to take up the housing role in the new admin.

“If this means that the actual architect of City of Yes and the city’s housing wins under Adams — Dan Garodnick — will not continue to serve at City Hall, then Mamdani is both trying to rewrite history and signaling he doesn’t understand the challenges facing New Yorkers,” one current City Hall insider said.

Another praised Bozorg as an effective government employee and noted she was “extremely close” to Maria Torres-Springer, Adams’ former first deputy mayor, who is now heading the Mamdani transition.

“She didn’t drive the bus on ‘City of Yes’ that was Dan’s thing, but she was in the middle of it,” the source said.

Garodnick was also once a frontrunner to be Mamdani’s first deputy mayor, a gig that ultimately went to veteran city and state government official Dean Fuleihan.