Version imprimableMamdani succeeded in forming a partnership with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to provide $73 million for the childcare program for 2-year-olds. This will expand soon to $425 million to provide for 12,000 children and cover all eligible children within four years. He has also established an unprecedented rent freeze on New York City’s roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. But Mamdani has been unable to get sufficient financial support from New York State to create the free public transportation system which is his goal.
The mayor has called for the abolition of the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and reinforced the city’s “sanctuary” policies by prohibiting city government agencies from cooperating with ICE.
Mamdani, who is himself Muslim, has also spoken out forcefully against antisemitism and Islamophobia. He has himself been unjustly accused of antisemitism by 600 Jewish rabbis and the conservative media for his remark that American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Zionist lobbying group, is “a monster” that attempts to control legislation. And he is personally the victim of anti-Islamic attacks, such as Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s post showing Mamdani’s photo alongside the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11 together with the caption “the enemy is inside the gates.”
Stunning Election Success
Rising above personal and political attacks, Mamdani used his political influence and DSA’s remarkable mobilizing capacity to win stunning victories in the recent Democratic Party primary elections in New York City. Mamdani backed as candidate for Congress former rival for mayor Brad Lander, who as former comptroller had been the highest-level Jewish official in NYC government. Lander defeated incumbent Dan Goldman, who was backed by the Israel lobby. Mamdani’s other candidates for Congress, both DSA members and virtual unknowns also won. State assemblywoman Claire Valdez, 36, and campus activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, both defeated powerful progressive rivals. Valdez defeated Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, and Chevalier won over Representative Adriano Espaillat, the influential chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Having won their primaries, these candidates are virtually assured of election to Congress given the notorious weakness of a Republican Party in New York City.
Mamdani and his crew defeated long established Democratic politicians, progressives backed by the Working Families Party, and candidates supported by the labor union bureaucracy. The Mamdani-DSA victories have shaken up the local Democratic Party and the city’s progressives too.
“These victories prove that democratic socialists are building a winning coalition,” NYC-DSA co-chair Grace Mausser said in a statement. “While the Democratic establishment and MAGA fascists ignore the needs of working people, democratic socialists are speaking to the ever-growing base of voters demanding we end war, abolish ICE, tax the rich, and win universal healthcare.”
The question is whether Mamdani’s influence and DSA’s politics and organizing ability can really reach beyond New York City and have an impact on the national Democratic Party, dominated as it is by moderate professional politicians and corporate donors. Can Mamdani and DSA reach the heartland?
28 June 2026
