Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Saturday assailed Democratic leaders for their refusal to support Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayor’s race and called him the “future of the Democratic Party.”
Speaking at an evening town hall in Brooklyn, Mr. Sanders said the party leaders’ reluctance to back Mr. Mamdani after his decisive win in the Democratic primary showed how deeply disconnected they had become from voters. He said that Democrats in New York should be “jumping up and down” to support Mr. Mamdani after the excitement over his underdog campaign.
“So we’ve got another fight on our hands,” Mr. Sanders said. “And that is the future of the Democratic Party.”
Mr. Mamdani joined Mr. Sanders on the latest stop on his national Fighting Oligarchy tour, the town hall feeling like a passing of the torch from Mr. Sanders, who turns 84 on Monday, to a new generation of leaders like Mr. Mamdani, 33, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez met with Mr. Sanders and Mr. Mamdani earlier in the day and endorsed Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman, during the primary.
The trio are democratic socialists and have tried to push the Democratic Party to the left. But Mr. Mamdani has also faced pressure to distance himself from the Democratic Socialists of America to appeal to a broader audience.
Many Democrats in New York have not yet endorsed him, among them Gov. Kathy Hochul, as well as Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the minority leaders in the House and Senate.
Mr. Sanders said in an interview before the town hall that Democratic leaders were missing an opportunity by failing to embrace Mr. Mamdani.
“It’s no great secret that they’re way out of touch with grass-roots America, with the working families of this country, not only in New York City, but all over this country,” he said.
Mr. Mamdani’s populist proposals, Mr. Sanders said, were “not radical ideas.”
“We’re the richest country in the history of the world,” he said. “There’s no excuse for people not having affordable housing, good quality, affordable, decent transportation, free transportation.”
Mr. Mamdani praised the D.S.A. at the town hall, urging a mother who supported his universal child care plan to join the group when she asked how she could help.
He also weighed in on a host of local issues, including expressing support for faculty members and protesters on college campuses who support Palestinians. Elected officials have protested how four faculty members at Brooklyn College lost their jobs.
“No faculty member should be disciplined for supporting Palestinian human rights,” Mr. Mamdani said.
When Mr. Mamdani was asked about Mr. Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to the city, he said: “We have to prepare for the inevitability of that deployment.”
Mr. Mamdani said that elected officials in California had worked together to oppose Mr. Trump’s incursion and cast doubt on whether his closest mayoral rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, could work with Ms. Hochul and others to stop him.
“Why would he fight back when it’s Donald Trump that is trying to get him elected right now?” he said.
Mr. Sanders and Mr. Mamdani also took aim at Mr. Trump’s agenda and the wealthy donors who are trying to defeat Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Sanders said that wealthy Americans had too much power and that the mayor’s race was a “test case of whether or not democracy can prevail.”
“They’re afraid of Mr. Mamdani becoming an example of what can happen all over this country,” Mr. Sanders said.
Mr. Trump has said that he wants two of the mayoral candidates to drop out so that one of them can beat Mr. Mamdani in a head-to-head competition. The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump advisers had been putting together a plan for Mayor Eric Adams to be nominated as ambassador to Saudi Arabia as a way of removing him from the race and consolidating the field to help Mr. Cuomo’s chances.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Sanders marched in a Labor Day parade in Manhattan with elected officials, including Ms. Hochul.
Mr. Mamdani told 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.
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 and announced on Friday that he had hit the $8 million fund-raising cap in the race.
Mr. Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent, was endorsed on Saturday by the Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and was greeted warmly by some New Yorkers on the labor parade route.
“Andrew Cuomo has stood hand in hand with unions for decades,” said Christopher Erikson, the union’s business manager.
Mr. Adams, who is fourth in the polls, said Friday that he would not leave the race and called Mr. Cuomo “a snake and a liar.”
On Saturday, Mr. Cuomo dismissed Mr. Adams and said he had long ago stopped listening to him.
“I believe the Republicans want Mamdani to win the election,” Mr. Cuomo said.
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.
Mr. Mamdani, who has a healthy lead in the polls, said the race was not over and urged his supporters to canvas for his campaign.
“We have to beat Andrew Cuomo one more time, he said, adding: “The job is not done.”
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
Lisa Lerer is a national political reporter for The Times, based in New York. She has covered American politics for nearly two decades.
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