Last weekend, just days before the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani visited the Harlem headquarters of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network hoping to gain the support of Black voters.
In his remarks to the civil rights organization, he focused on his plans to solve the city’s ills by making it a cheaper place to live and work.
On Saturday, Mr. Mamdani returned to the organization triumphant, appearing to have vanquished former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a well-known figure in Harlem, in Tuesday’s primary.
“What does morning look like in this city?” he asked the crowd, with Mr. Sharpton and the director Spike Lee sitting behind him.
“It must be a morning where the worker comes first, a morning where a New Yorker does more than just struggle,” he said. “It must be a morning where they know if they live in that rent-stabilized apartment, they will pay the same rent next year as well, and a morning where they know that child care will be universal.”
Saturday’s event underscored how some prominent Democrats in the city, including Mr. Sharpton, were beginning to rally around Mr. Mamdani. (Neither Mr. Sharpton nor Mr. Lee have officially endorsed the assemblyman.)
But it also obscured an uncomfortable truth: Mr. Mamdani’s dominant performance in the election circumvented the usual Democratic coalition that politicians rely on to win elections in cities like New York — a coalition powered by Black voters.
Black voters helped both Mayor Eric Adams and his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, prevail in past primary elections. And on Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo dominated in precincts where at least 70 percent of residents were Black, more than doubling Mr. Mamdani’s support, 59 percent to 26 percent.
But the turnout in those areas was too low to counter the coalition created by Mr. Mamdani, who won by large margins in voter-rich communities in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
The assemblyman also ran up the score in progressive strongholds like Astoria, the East Village and Bushwick, while turning out Asian voters in huge numbers. Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, would be the city’s first Muslim mayor if elected in November.
In the days after the primary, Black leaders noted how the stark economic reality that Mr. Mamdani’s campaign had focused on was pushing out growing numbers of the city’s lifelong Black residents. They fear this exodus will reduce the political influence of New York’s Black voters.
“Nobody should take us for granted.” Mr. Sharpton told attendees before Mr. Mamdani arrived on Saturday. “No one person delivers the Black community,”
Mr. Sharpton joked with the audience about how he had only just learned how to pronounce Mr. Mamdani’s name, before saying how excited his young grandson was about the assemblyman’s success.
Despite Mr. Mamdani’s relative lack of support among Black voters, Mr. Sharpton credited him for coming Saturday and speaking to voters.
“We should give credit that this man has energized our young voters, has brought in new voters and has made the city have to deal with some issues,” Mr. Sharpton added after Mr. Mamdani arrived.
“We all ought to thank him and listen to what he has to say.”
Mr. Mamdani sought to mollify concerns Saturday that he was not focused on the priorities of Black New Yorkers, telling attendees that his focus on economic fairness transcended race and ethnicity.
Mr. Mamdani cited Scripture, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and David Dinkins, New York’s first Black mayor, while insisting that the city must be a place where workers can exist with dignity, not just a playground for the rich.
Though he might not agree with his audience on every issue, Mr. Mamdani said, he promised never to hide from them.
“When you feel hurt, I will seek to heal you,” Mr. Mamdani said. “When you feel misunderstood, I will seek to understand you, because ultimately I serve you. That is what public service has to be.”
Alyah Horsford-Sidberry, a local Democratic leader who supported Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, in the primary, said that Mr. Mamdani’s speech was electrifying and that it reminded her of former President Barack Obama.
She appreciated his optimism but was concerned that he would not be able to translate his ambitious agenda into concrete results — and that he would let down voters in the process. Mr. Mamdani’s populist proposals include plans to provide free bus service, free child care and city-owned grocery stores.
Ms. Horsford-Sidberry said she believed that Mr. Mamdani’s struggles with Black voters stemmed from his newness on the political scene. Visiting Harlem this Saturday, she said, would help.
“The more he’s out here and community members get to know him, the better he will be received,” she said. “They’ve just got to get to know him and see him at more events like this.”
“What’s important, though, is that his concerns are the community’s concerns,” she added.
Despite the generally positive reception he received Saturday, some of New York’s most powerful Democrats still have not fully embraced him.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, along with Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House, congratulated Mr. Mamdani on his apparent primary victory but declined to endorse him or say they would campaign with him.
On Friday, two powerful local labor unions that had supported Mr. Cuomo in the primary abandoned him and endorsed Mr. Mamdani. Despite his poor performance, Mr. Cuomo has not closed off the possibility of running on an independent ballot line in November’s general election.
After speaking to the crowd, Mr. Mamdani met privately with Mr. Sharpton, Mr. Lee and a larger group of influential pastors who had come to the event. Their support is not a given in the fall election.
Last week, Mr. Mamdani posted a selfie on social media with Mr. Lee and Brad Lander, the progressive city comptroller who ran for mayor and later backed Mr. Mamdani. The photo of the three of them was seen by some as a tacit primary endorsement of both candidates from Mr. Lee.
Mayor Adams, who will be on the ballot in November as an independent, still retains the support of many of the leaders with whom Mr. Mamdani met, as well as the parishioners they represent.
In the meeting, Mr. Mamdani told the attendees that he knew their support was not a given and that it would require more visits to their churches and community centers.
The Rev. Larry Camp, who leads a Baptist church in East New York, in Brooklyn, said he came away impressed with the assemblyman but was still unsure if he or his congregants would support Mr. Mamdani.
He described how members of his family and his community were regularly discriminated against when they applied for loans, and he said that the line at his church’s food pantry regularly stretched around the block.
“There didn’t seem to be any resentment that was going on in the meeting,” Mr. Camp said. “But there is a concern that even though people will say what people want to hear, while they are running for an office, that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to complete it.”
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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