NEW YORK (AP) – New York mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani rallied his supporters Sunday with strong support from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. race entered its final stages, telling the raucous audience that his campaign was “a people’s movement.”
Mamdani, the Democratic candidate, took to the stage in a small stadium in Queens to announce that he and two of the country’s most prominent progressives are running as a force against the billionaires and “oligarchs” who have thrown money and support behind their opponents.
“When you advocate for building a coalition that makes room for all New Yorkers, that’s exactly what you create. It’s tremendous power,” Mamdani said. “My friends, this has been and always will be your movement.”
As the crowd chanted his name, Mamdani reiterated his plan to hire thousands of new teachers, renegotiate city contracts, freeze rent increases in the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments, build more affordable housing and provide universal child care.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is in a predicament as early voting takes place ahead of the November 4 election. An increasingly caustic race Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, met with Republican Curtis Sliwa and others who campaigned in Queens on Sunday.
Mr. Cuomo is trying to field Mr. Mamdani, a 34-year-old state representative, as a naive candidate with policies that will harm the city. Cuomo said in a radio interview Sunday morning, insisting he was a true Democrat in the race. Mamdani’s Democratic Socialism This will lead to an exodus of residents and businesses.
“Socialists want to take over the Democratic Party. That’s what Bernie Sanders is about. That’s what AOC is about,” Cuomo said, adding, “If he wins, book your ticket to Florida now.”
Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid a series of sexual harassment allegations, which he denied. Mamdani has frequently pressed Cuomo on the allegations, telling an audience on Sunday that it was time to leave behind the former governor’s “strategies of the past.” But he urged his supporters not to take his lead in the polls for granted and to go vote.
“We cannot allow complacency to seep into this movement,” Mamdani said.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have supported his campaign for months, including before the Democratic primary in June. They cast Mamdani on Sunday as an antidote to what they called the creeping authoritarianism of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes Queens, said Mamdani’s victory would send a message to the nation that progressive messages can spread.
“It is no coincidence that the very forces Mr. Zoran is up against in this campaign mirror what we are up against across the country…an authoritarian and criminal president fueled by corruption and bigotry, and a rising right-wing extremist movement,” she said.
Sanders said Mayor Mamdani represents working families, not the “billionaire class.”
“In 2025, when the people at the top have more economic and political power than ever before, will ordinary people, working class people, be able to come together to defeat the oligarchy?” Sanders said. “That’s right, we can do it.”
Under the slogan “New York is not for sale,” the rally featured impassioned speeches from religious and labor leaders, as well as state elected officials including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The event was hosted by “Saturday Night Live’s” Sarah Sherman.
Mamdani recently received support from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a moderate New York Democrat. Jeffries said in a statement that he disagrees with Mamdani but supports him as a candidate, adding that the party should unite against Republicans and Trump.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams has abandoned his re-election campaign. Support Mr. Cuomo.
