Major Democratic donors — who poured tens of millions of dollars into a Super PAC to support former governor Andrew Cuomo in his run for mayor — are also meeting to decide if they will fund an independent run by Cuomo in November, or back the unpopular incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent.
Mamdani’s grassroots campaign – Cuomo’s campaign outspent him 20 to 1 – centered around raising the minimum wage, tax hikes on businesses and the rich, creating city-owned grocery stores, making city bus service free and imposing a rent freeze for stabilized tenants.
The victory by the self-described Democratic socialist, who was mercilessly smeared for his denunciation of the genocide in Gaza and promise to honor the arrest warrant issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he appeared in New York City, has sent shock waves through the ruling billionaire class and the Democratic Party establishment that supported Cuomo. While Mamdani was endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez who serve in the state’s congressional delegation, as well as Bernie Sanders, they were the singular exceptions. The hierarchy of the party has either remained silent since Mamdani’s victory or been openly antagonistic.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and the House, refuse to back Mamdani’s candidacy. New York Rep. Laura Gillen, speaking for many in the party, called Mamdani the "absolute wrong choice for New York."
Democrats, along with their major donors, can be counted on to attempt to sabotage Mamdani’s campaign, just as it did the campaign of Bernie Sanders when he sought the presidential nomination. It remains, it seems, impervious to reform.
