The Democratic Socialists of America are celebrating Zohran Mamdani‘s New York City mayoral election win as a “decisive mandate” for their affordability agenda.
Mayor-elect Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa on election night Tuesday, garnering about 50.4% of the vote as Cuomo earned 41.6% and Sliwa took 7.1%.
“Our movement is at the heart of Zohran’s campaign. This overwhelming victory is a clear mandate for a democratic socialist agenda to make New York City one that people can afford,” the co-chair of New York City’s chapter of the DSA, Gustavo Gordillo, said in a statement.
Gordillo noted that Mamdani, a socialist, referred to the chapter as his “political home” throughout his campaign.
“MAGA billionaires spent millions to prop up Andrew Cuomo and try to stop this movement, but we’ve proved once again: they have money, but we have power,” Gordillo said.
Mamdani has begun preparing to implement his campaign agenda this week, forming his transition team, led by the trust-busting Lina Khan, former Federal Trade Commission chairwoman under President Joe Biden.
Gordillo’s co-chair, Grace Mausser, said the DSA is “already preparing” to organize New Yorkers to deliver Mamdani’s affordability agenda.
“New York has become a playground for the rich, where everyday people are priced out of the city we built,” Mausser said. “This affordability crisis is in overdrive as the real estate industry, banks, corporations, and their allies in the corrupt political establishment put profits over people. We are now in a position to reclaim our dignity as working people by building an economy that works for the working class.”
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The national DSA chapter also put out a statement following Mamdani’s win, declaring it “the most monumental electoral victory for the US socialist movement in the last century.”
Democratic socialism catapulted into the modern national political discourse among younger people on the Left when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) ran as a democratic socialist on the Democratic ticket against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also identifies with the movement.