New York — With simply days to go earlier than polls shut in New York Metropolis’s fractious race for mayor, frontrunner Zohran Mamdani spoke Saturday with former President Barack Obama, at the same time as some main Democrats have taken a cautious political method relating to the democratic socialist.
A supply acquainted confirmed their name, first reported by the New York Occasions. In a press release to CBS Information, a spokeswoman for Mamdani’s marketing campaign stated the candidate “appreciated President Obama’s phrases of assist and their dialog on the significance of bringing a brand new form of politics to our metropolis.”
Mamdani’s win in June over former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a crowded mayoral Democratic main was arguably probably the most vital progressive main victory since now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated a Democratic incumbent congressman in 2018. The win by Mamdani upended Democratic social gathering politics in a yr the place the nationwide social gathering has struggled to restore its model points after a disastrous 2024 election cycle.
Whereas Mamdani’s success thus far has introduced the 34-year-old politician reward, it has additionally led to extra targeted criticism for his document, or lack thereof.
Even after Mamdani’s summer season main win, some nationwide Democrats have both been sluggish to publicly embrace him, or have averted doing so altogether.
In Tuesday’s normal election contest, Mamdani is going through off in opposition to Cuomo, now working as an unbiased, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Democratic Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries waited till Oct. 24, the eve of early voting, to endorse Mamdani. In the meantime, Democratic Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee, haven’t endorsed within the race.
At a rally final week with Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Mamdani stated his opponents, Cuomo and Sliwa, possess “the playbook of the previous.”
“New York, our work has solely simply begun,” Mamdani stated because the rally ended. “On [Tuesday] November 4th we set ourselves free.”
And in these closing days of the competition, Democrats aren’t the one ones making political choices that do not comply with regular social gathering strains.
In an interview earlier this week with CBS Information, Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York, a former state GOP chair, stated of Cuomo that “nobody was a fiercer critic of his time as governor than I used to be.”
“We fought him tooth and nail each step of the best way,” stated Langworthy, who’s supporting Cuomo for mayor. “However he could be a far superior selection for the individuals of New York than Zohran Mamdani.”
Langworthy additionally expressed concern concerning the implications of a Mamdani victory, saying Mamdani’s insurance policies would turn out to be “contagious across the nation if he has a platform to speak to huge sums of individuals.”
The nationwide affect of the race is not misplaced on both main social gathering given what a Mamdani victory may imply for management of the U.S. Home within the 2026 midterms, the place Republicans are trying to defend a slim majority. Whichever social gathering holds the Home will seemingly play a significant function in how Washington capabilities within the closing two years of President Trump’s time period.
Reasonable Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York backed Cuomo late final month, saying in a social media submit, “I am a Democratic Capitalist, not a Democratic Socialist. I endorse Andrew Cuomo. I can’t again a declared socialist with a skinny resume to run probably the most complicated metropolis in America.”
As Democrats proceed to face questions on how the social gathering can recuperate and win again voters, Mamdani’s run for mayor could present a telling information of types for the form of genuine messaging and grassroots campaigning that the left has struggled to domesticate on a nationwide stage outdoors of Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential runs.
Talking on the late October Mamdani rally, Sanders stated “a victory right here in New York will give hope and inspiration to individuals all through our nation and all through the world.”
“That’s what this election is about. And that’s the reason Donald Trump is listening to this election,” Sanders stated.
