Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City by focusing on affordability. But he also took aim at wealthy New Yorkers who he argued were not paying their fair share of taxes.
On Saturday night, Mr. Mamdani will officially join the national Fighting Oligarchy tour, appearing at a town hall in Brooklyn alongside Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of his political heroes.
The event is meant to excite Mr. Mamdani’s base of progressive voters as he fends off attacks heading into the general election in November. It also shows the durability of the movement led by Mr. Sanders, who turns 84 on Monday and has sought to elevate younger leaders like Mr. Mamdani, 33, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35, during his barnstorm across the United States.
The town hall was billed by Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and democratic socialist, and Mr. Sanders as a moment to rally against President Trump’s second term agenda.
“When we stand together,” Mr. Sanders said, “we can defeat authoritarianism and create an economy that works for all our people, not just the privileged few.”
The event comes as Mr. Mamdani faces a series of challenges during the final stretch of the race: a push by Mr. Trump and others to narrow the field to stop Mr. Mamdani, resistance from prominent Democrats over endorsing him and pressure on Mr. Mamdani to distance himself from the Democratic Socialists of America to appeal to a broader audience.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Sanders joined a cast of politicians, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, to lead a Labor Day parade in Manhattan. Labor support, which had previously been split among the field of candidates running in the June Democratic primary, has now almost exclusively lined up behind Mr. Mamdani.
Before the parade kicked off, Mr. Mamdani moved among union floats greeting throngs of supporters who rushed toward him seeking selfies and hugs.
As Mr. Mamdani passed members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, one member began playing “Hail to the Chief” on the trombone. Surrounded by members of the United Federation of Teachers, Mr. Mamdani smiled when an older woman said he was cute. Soon after he laughed when someone yelled, “I’m voting for you, Zamani!”
On Friday night, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Mamdani dined together at an Indian restaurant in Manhattan. Before the parade the next morning, Mr. Mamdani explained to reporters that watching Mr. Sanders’s insurgent 2016 presidential campaign had inspired him to become a democratic socialist.
Mr. Mamdani added that the initial canvassing effort for his first State Assembly run in 2019 had taken place outside a Sanders rally.
“He was a mayor who ran with a message that Burlington is not for sale,” Mr. Mamdani said of Mr. Sanders, who served four terms as the mayor of the Vermont city early in his career.
“We are running with a message that New York City is not for sale,” Mr. Mamdani added. “There are echoes and parallels, and an inspiration in the work that he has done.”
The appearances on Saturday were a homecoming for Mr. Sanders, who grew up in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn and still holds a grudge against Walter O’Malley for moving the Dodgers to Los Angeles. Despite representing Vermont in Congress for decades, his local accent has never faded and his forceful denunciations of economic disparity have made him a popular figure in New York City.
A recent poll by a progressive think tank of Democratic primary voters in the city found that Mr. Sanders was the most popular elected official among those listed on the survey, with 79 percent having a favorable view of him. The second most popular was Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from Queens who, like Mr. Sanders, endorsed Mr. Mamdani in the primary.
Mr. Mamdani has embraced Mr. Sanders’s message, criticizing his mayoral opponents’ reliance on large campaign donations from billionaires and political groups backed by corporations. In contrast, Mr. Mamdani has relied on smaller donors. On Friday, he announced that he had hit the $8 million fund-raising cap in the race and urged his supporters to stop donating.
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent after losing to Mr. Mamdani in the Democratic primary, is backed by a super PAC that raised close to $25 million to support his primary campaign.
Some business leaders have been fretting over how to stop Mr. Mamdani’s rise. On Friday, The New York Times revealed that Trump advisers had been putting together a plan for Mayor Eric Adams to be nominated ambassador to Saudi Arabia to remove him from the race.
Despite the swirl of rumors, Mr. Adams said Friday that he was not going anywhere and called Mr. Cuomo “a snake and a liar.” Mr. Adams, like Mr. Cuomo, is running as an independent.
Mr. Sanders’s Fighting Oligarchy tour has drawn huge crowds across the country, channeling fury on the left over Mr. Trump’s first months back in office.
But Mr. Mamdani’s opponents have argued that the progressive wing of the party has hurt Democrats and is out of step with most Americans. Mr. Trump won more votes in New York City in 2024 than in 2020, in part over concerns about immigration and crime.
While Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams have concentrated their message on public safety, Mr. Mamdani has sought to keep his focus on another issue — affordability — and his plans to tax the wealthy to provide free buses and child care.
“It is an honor to welcome Senator Sanders to New York City as we fight against the corporate greed, billionaires and corrupt politicians responsible for the affordability crisis,” Mr. Mamdani said.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
The post Bernie Sanders Stumps for Mamdani as Part of Fighting Oligarchy Tour appeared first on New York Times.
