Zohran Mamdani said during a rally Sunday that his NYC mayoral campaign specifically reached out to communities that voted for Donald Trump. “The Bronx and Queens saw some of the largest shifts to the right of any counties in our country. No matter what article you read or channel you turned to, the story seemed to be the same: our city was headed to the right.,” Mamdani said. “Again and again, we were told that if we had any hope of beating the Republican Party, it would only be by becoming the Republican Party.” “These New Yorkers were far from the caricature of Trump voters,” he said. “They told us they supported Donald Trump because they felt disconnected from a Democratic Party that had grown comfortable with mediocrity and gave its time only to those who gave millions. They told us that they felt abandoned by a party beholden to corporations – a party which asked them for their votes after telling them only what it was against, rather than presenting a vision of what it was for. They told us they didn’t believe in a system anymore that didn’t even pretend to offer solutions to the defining challenge of their lives.” “Trump, for all his many flaws, had promised them an agenda that would put more money in their pockets and lower the cost of living,” he said. “Donald Trump lied.” “It is up to us to deliver for the working people he left behind.” “Over the eight months of the primary, we told New Yorkers how we intended to address that very same affordability crisis.”

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: We spoke with one voice: New York is not for sale. And now, as we stand on the precipice of taking this city back from corrupt politicians and the billionaires that fund them, let our words ring out so loud tonight that Andrew Cuomo can hear them in his $ 8,000-a-month apartment. Let them ring so loud that he can hear us even if he’s in Westchester this evening. Let them ring so loud that his puppet master in the White House hears us. New York is not for sale. Thirteen days after we announced our candidacy, Donald Trump won the presidency once again. [Applause] The Bronx and Queens saw some of the largest shifts to the right of any counties in our country. No matter what article you read or channel you turned to, the story seemed to be the same: our city was headed to the right. Obituaries were written about Democrats’ ability to reach Asian voters, young voters, male voters. Again and again, we were told that if we had any hope of beating the Republican Party, it would only be by becoming the Republican Party. Andrew Cuomo himself said that we had lost – not because we failed to speak to the needs of working-class Americans – but because we had spent too much time talking about bathrooms and sports teams. [Applause] This was a moment where it seemed our political horizon was narrowing. And in this moment, New York, you had a choice – a choice to retreat or to fight. And the choice that we made was to stop listening to those experts and to start listening to you. We went to two of the places that saw the biggest swings to the right – Fordham Road and Hillside Avenue. These New Yorkers were far from the caricature of Trump voters. They told us they supported Donald Trump because they felt disconnected from a Democratic Party that had grown comfortable with mediocrity and gave its time only to those who gave millions. They told us that they felt abandoned by a party beholden to corporations – a party which asked them for their votes after telling them only what it was against, rather than presenting a vision of what it was for. They told us they didn’t believe in a system anymore that didn’t even pretend to offer solutions to the defining challenge of their lives – the cost-of-living crisis. Rent was too expensive. So were groceries. So was child care. So was taking the bus – and working two or three jobs still wasn’t enough. Trump, for all his many flaws, had promised them an agenda that would put more money in their pockets and lower the cost of living. Donald Trump lied. It was up to us to deliver for the working people he left behind. Over the eight months of the primary, we told New Yorkers how we intended to address that very same affordability crisis. We did not do it alone. This was a movement powered by tens of thousands of everyday New Yorkers who knocked doors between twelve-hour shifts at work and phone-banked until their fingers were numb. People who had never voted before became die-hard canvassers. Community formed. Our city got to know each other – and itself. This, my friends, was your movement, and it always will be. As the snow melted and the frost thawed, this campaign began to grow faster than anyone ever imagined possible. So many small donors chipped in that we had to ask you to stop donating. Please stop. We climbed the polls faster than Andrew Cuomo could dial Donald Trump’s number. People started to learn how to pronounce my name. And the billionaires got scared – or, as The New York Times would describe it, The Hamptons was basically in group therapy about the mayoral race. Andrew Cuomo and his corporate cronies did everything they could to make this campaign one of fear and smallness. Hell yeah. Obviously, they pumped millions into this race, artificially lengthened my beard to make me seem menacing, painted our city as a dystopian hellhole, and worked night and day to divide the people of New York. [Applause] They failed. When I walked the length of Manhattan just a few days before the election, hundreds of New Yorkers marched alongside me. And when we strode into Times Square – under a billboard with betting odds that showed Cuomo’s chances of winning at nearly 80% – we knew that the so-called experts were set to get it wrong yet again. Andrew Cuomo was supposed to be inevitable. And then, on June 24th, we shattered that inevitability. We won by 13%. With the most votes in any citywide primary in New York City history. Some of those New Yorkers had voted for Trump. Many others had never voted before. And when Andrew Cuomo called me to concede at 10:15 that night – he said over the phone that we had created a tremendous force. When you insist on building a coalition with room for every New Yorker, that is exactly what you create – a tremendous force. That force has only grown over these past four months.

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