Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The big news from Zohran Mamdani’s electoral sweep in New York City is not just that his grassroots campaign drubbed Andrew Cuomo, a clueless and graceless Republicrat. Most significantly, the 34-year-old Mamdani—running on a straightforward, proudly progressive populist program of, by and for working class families—thrashed Wall Street’s imperious billionaires.
The moneyed elites were shocked when this “nobody,” outsider, Muslim and (OMG!) democratic socialist won the Democratic Party nomination in June. Panicked by the very thought of Mayor Mamdani, Wall Street royals issued a call to arms to save the city’s established order. Instead of pitchforks, of course, the Billionaire Brigade fired cannons of money.
Lots of it. More than $40 million poured into PACs for Cuomo, coming from such powerhouse corporatists as Michael Bloomberg, hedge-fund huckster Bill Ackman, cosmetic mogul Ron Lauder, casino kingpin Steve Wynn, and Walmart heiress Alice Walton. They wailed that Mamdani’s campaign was an “existential threat”—a charge that he cheerfully accepted, saying: “They are right. We are an existential threat to billionaires who think their money can buy our democracy.” Indeed, his working class coalition bested Wall Street’s money with over 50% of the vote.
One more essential money factor was New York City’s longstanding public-financing system. Municipal candidates who rely on small-dollar donations can get matching money from a public fund, allowing those without fat cat backers to run competitive campaigns.
Stay tuned for more on this alternative funding option in the coming weeks, but for now, check out Brennan Center for Justice’s excellent work on public campaign financing.
A postscript from Deanna for you, too:
I grew up in rural upstate New York, but I’ve lived in New York City for almost 30 years now. Because of the ruthless machinery of normal Democratic Party politics here, I’ve never seen or experienced a canvassing operation like Mamdani’s, and not just one focused on telling people who to vote for. It was a campaign that focused on listening and incorporating the needs of the people they spoke to. As a lifetime leftist organizer, they ran the campaign—at every level, it seems!—the way we have been crying out for electoral campaigns to be run. We’re now shifting into gear here to hold Mamdani’s feet to the fire, and help him accomplish as many of the policies he’s laid out, but for today, you can feel the city buzzing with hope and fire again.
