Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor of New York City has electrified millions of people in New York, across the country, and even in other parts of the world. He has struck a nerve by giving voice to the demands of those who are struggling to live, and he has invited the fury of billionaires nationwide. The 33-year-old Muslim immigrant was born to Indian parents in Uganda and moved to New York as a child. A democratic socialist, Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary in June, beating former governor Andrew Cuomo, who had the backing of people like hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and corporate Democrats like Bill Clinton. Mamdani’s primary victory sent shock waves through both the Democratic and Republican parties, and the corporate Democrats are already mobilizing to defeat him.
Mamdani will be facing the current mayor, Eric Adams, running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the November general election. Cuomo, who says he may also run as an independent in November, has amassed a $24 million super PAC war-chest (the Super PAC allows Cuomo to skirt legal spending limits). Mamdani raised more than $8 million for the primary (the legal spending limit for the primary) in a fundraising effort driven by small donors, and attracted 50,000 campaign volunteers. He won with a detailed program to lower the cost of living and improve life for working class New Yorkers, and by taking a principled stand on controversial issues such as Palestine and immigration. He refused to allow ICE to terrorize the city and pledged to support Haitians, also under attack by the Trump administration. Mamdani said he built his program by going into the streets and asking people what were the issues that concerned them.
Mamdani’s detailed program includes freezing the rent for the more than two million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments; increasing the supply of affordable housing and cracking down on bad landlords; making the buses faster and fare-free; creating a Department of Community Safety that would invest in things like citywide mental health programs and crisis response; providing free child care for all New Yorkers age 6 weeks to 5 years; and creating a network of nonprofit city-owned grocery stores that could provide food at lower prices. He would pay for his program by raising $10 billion through a combination of boosting the corporate tax rate, imposing a flat 2% tax on the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers, and implementing procurement reform and other reforms to ensure the city is collecting all that it is owed. See more details on Mamdani’s program here: https://www.zohranfornyc.com/
Mamdani’s program represents a repudiation of the timid, compromised politics of the corporate Democrats and stands up for those in New York City who are struggling to survive. The movement of those who are fighting to survive in America in the face of corporate and billionaire domination is breaking out in various forms in every city, including at the ballot box, and Mamdani has emerged as a key spokesperson and symbol for that movement.
Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City in November will mark a victory for the working class in New York and across the U.S. Whether we live in New York City or not, we can all embrace this movement and see Mamdani as a defender of the common cause of the working class. The times created Mamdani as a person who represents what is needed in this political moment.
Below is a selection of quotes from Mamdani on various issues, from recent interviews and public events, that further illustrate his beliefs and program:
On immigration – The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city. His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you. We will not accept this intimidation.
On his campaign – I would say that a campaign offers a glimpse of what an administration would look like, and we built a campaign, the likes of which the city has not seen in a long time. We started with two full-time employees and now are managing 50,000 volunteers. At the beginning of this race, there were questions of whether we’d get 50,000 votes, and yet we had 50,000 volunteers who knocked on 1.5 million doors, made 2.1 million phone calls. And ultimately, it’s a story of not only being able to inspire people, but absorb that inspiration and build an organization. And I think that’s also the story of what it means to run a city, that you are ultimately responsible, but you’re also determined by hiring the best and the brightest. And that’s what I’ll be doing in City Hall.
On representing the working class – I am Donald Trump’s worst nightmare as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in. And the difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in DC. I don’t have to pick up the phone from [billionaires like] Bill Ackman or Ken Langone. I have to pick up the phone for the more than 20,000 New Yorkers who contributed an average donation of about $80 to break fundraising records and put our campaign in second place….
…[W]e are under attack by an affordability crisis on the inside and a Trump administration on the outside. We need to have a mayor that will actually stand up to Donald Trump, not one that we have right now that will collaborate with him. And I’m running to be your next mayor to make this city affordable.
On Palestine – When you grow up as someone especially in the third world, you have a very different understanding of the Palestinian struggle. It is one that is framed in terms of empathy and solidarity….And so then to get here and see, all of a sudden this topic was not only one that was discussed very differently, but was entirely taboo. And for me, what made it central to my identity is that it is a glaring contradiction. We say we care about freedom and justice and self-determination, and yet for some reason we draw a line when it comes to Palestinians…And it became a driving force for me that we need to have a sense of consistency here. We need to have an understanding that our solidarity must be extended to the Palestinians. It shouldn’t just incidentally include them, it must foreground them because they are a people who have been fighting for survival for decades. Their survival has been put in jeopardy by the actions of this country for an equally long period of time. And it is our responsibility as Americans to ensure that we end those days of complicity.
On the racism and threats aimed at him and a vision for unity – It’s unsurprising….And I think that ultimately my responsibility is to show that our vision for this city, it’s a vision that is universal. It’s a vision that wants to recognize the belonging of each and every New Yorker. And it’s in stark contrast to this exclusionary vision that we see from so many – one that seeks to distract people from an inability to take care of working people by designating the enemies as the ‘other.’ And one of the most difficult parts of this, however, have been the threats that have been made on my life and on people that I love, [threats] that fundamentally transform how you can live.
On how he would pay for his program – We are putting forward a platform today that will raise $10 billion a year to pay for our agenda and to prepare our city for the inevitable attacks we will see from Donald Trump’s right wing billionaire-backed assault on working class people. Our plan is twofold. The first is to raise taxes on the most profitable corporations across New York State, as well as on the wealthiest New Yorkers who reside across these five boroughs. When it comes to the corporations, we are raising the top corporate tax rate to that of our neighbor of New Jersey, 11.5%, an increase that will raise $5 billion a year. When it comes to taxing the 1% of New York City, we will do so by taxing them an additional 2%, a small flat tax that will raise $4 billion, and together with the corporate tax would raise $9 billion. And the second prong of this approach is to finally bring good governance back to New York City, raising a billion dollars a year through procurement reform, through the hiring of additional fiscal auditors, as well as finally collecting the money that New York City is owed. Together these approaches would raise $10 billion and would transform this city into one where New Yorkers can do more than worry each and every hour of each and every day, whether or not they can continue living in the wealthiest city, in the wealthiest country in the world. And we will finally start to stand up, grow the revenue of this city, and stop the exodus of working class New Yorkers to neighboring states in the hopes of finding a place where their dollar can go that little bit further.
On affordability and freedom – And as I look across this city today, I’m reminded that freedom is only worth as much as our ability to exercise it, because we hear politicians of the past come on stages across this city, including this one, saying that they believe this is the greatest city in the world. But they do not answer the question that Dr. King posed decades ago. What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can’t afford to buy a hamburger? What good is being the greatest city in the world? If New Yorkers can’t afford to live here, what good is it? If our own people cannot afford their rent, their childcare, their groceries, even $2 and 90 cents for their metro card, what good is that?
…I have spoken to the New Yorkers who do not see themselves in their politics, do not see themselves in their politicians, and do not see themselves in the policies that are being proposed. And what I have found is that it is time to bring those people from the margins to the mainstream. It is time for us to make every New Yorker visible across this city. But when we stand up and do so, we will face the wrath of all the money in the world. And so right now, you will see more than $20 million being spent against me, $20 million trying to redefine me. But let me tell you who I am. I am a man who believes in the possibility of this city. I am one who believes that we must win a new city, a city for each and every New Yorker. One they can afford, one where they can do more than just struggle. And to do that, we have to leave behind the old city and the old politicians and the old ways that gave us the struggle that we’re living in today. So it is my hope to not only earn your consideration, to not only earn your vote, but to earn your partnership. Because what I want to do is lead this city alongside each and every one of you.
