New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani and two of his most prominent supporters, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, framed their election as a one-on-one battle against President Donald Trump and his administration at a raucous rally in Queens on Sunday.
Speaker after speaker at Sunday’s rally, which drew thousands to a tennis stadium, said electing Mamdani would essentially serve as an opening salvo in a fight to take back the country from Trump and his allies.
“We gather here today at a dangerous time for our country,” said Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. “And on the verge of hope for our city.”
He said electing Mamdani would “send a strong message” to Trump, adding that opposition to Mamdani, a state lawmaker, in the election “reflects what we face nationally,” condemning “an authoritarian and criminal presidency fueled by corruption and intolerance.”
“There was a day before his presidency,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And there will be a day after.”
Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate, rallied his supporters alongside Sanders, I-Vt. and Ocasio-Cortez after early voting in the mayoral race began on Saturday, and with less than 10 days until the Nov. 4 election. The rally was billed as “New York is not for sale,” echoing the approach Sanders has used at rallies he has held across the country this year.
Taking the stage after Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders, Mamdani spoke of his unlikely path to the Democratic nomination, saying that at one point he was tied in the polls with “someone else” at 1%.
“As we stand on the precipice of taking this city back from corrupt politicians and the billionaires who fund them, may our words ring so loud tonight that Andrew Cuomo can hear them in his $8,000-a-month apartment,” Mamdani said, adding that he hoped Cuomo’s “puppeteer in the White House” could hear them, too.
“We rose in the polls faster than Andrew Cuomo could dial Donald Trump’s number,” he added. “People started being able to pronounce my name.”
Cuomo, the former governor, is running as an independent in the general election.
Mamdani called for an end to “the era of government that sees a problem too small or a crisis too big.”
“Because we need a government that is as ambitious as our adversaries,” he said. “A government strong enough to reject the realities we will not accept and shape the future.
“We will no longer allow the Republican Party to be the party of ambition,” he continued. “We will no longer have to open a history book to read about Democrats leading with big ideas. My friends, the world is changing. It is not a question of whether that change will happen. It is a question of who will change it.”
Polls have consistently shown Mamdani, 34, with a 10- to 20-point lead over Cuomo in the three-way general election, which also includes Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Cuomo recently earned the endorsement of New York Mayor Eric Adams, who also ran as an independent before withdrawing last month. Influential Republican figures in the city have also joined Cuomo against Sliwa, believing he has the best chance of defeating Mamdani.
Sanders said in his speech: “This election is taking place when we have an administration in Washington that every day is moving us toward an authoritarian society, undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
“The reason this campaign has generated so much interest around the world and so much excitement is that people want to know the answer to a very simple question. And that is: in the year 2025, when the people at the top have never had so much economic and political power, is it possible for ordinary people, the working class, to come together and defeat these oligarchs? You are absolutely right, we can do it.”
Some Democratic leaders have been slow to support Mamdani, the former Democratic Socialists of America activist who is running on a platform of freezing rent in the city’s rent-stabilized units, enacting universal child care and providing free bus service, among other plans. His openly pro-Palestinian stance has also reinvigorated anti-Israel progressives amid the war in Gaza. At one point during warm-up speeches by progressive officials, the crowd began chanting “DSA, DSA, DSA” during a Democratic Socialists of America call and response.
Speaking at the rally, state Senator Julia Salazar spoke of how many democratic socialists have been elected in her state since her election in 2018 and earned loud applause when she denounced “the genocide in Palestine.”
“And now we are about to elect Zohran Mamdani to become our democratic socialist mayor right here in the largest city in the country,” he said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani last month and praised his focus on affordability. So did House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Friday.
Hochul spoke at Sunday’s rally flanked by Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie, the Democratic leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, respectively. She took aim at Trump, saying he is “destroying our own values, our people and our progress” and condemning the immigration raids in New York, Trump’s handling of the government shutdown and the federal indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, which Trump pressured prosecutors to pursue.
“If they can go after Tish James, they can go after any of us,” Hochul said.
He emphasized the three Democratic leaders’ need for Mamdani to be mayor of New York and called for a fighter to join them in pursuing their priorities.
“He doesn’t go outside like everyone else,” Hochul said. “He rises with grace, courage and determination.”
At one point, the crowd began chanting “tax the rich,” to which Hochul said, “I can hear you.”
“I have a plea for you,” he said. “I love seeing this energy and this passion… I’m very excited about what’s happening here… But take that energy, that passion and bring it to the 26th so we can take back the House of Representatives, so we can take back the Senate and we can take back our country.”
Trump has tried to influence the race, condemning Mamdani as a “communist” and threatening to withhold additional federal funds from the city if Mamdani wins. Mamdani, in turn, has promised to fight Trump’s efforts to subdue the city and has positioned himself as the candidate most open to fighting him.
In his speech, Mamdani noted that Trump won the presidency just days after announcing his mayoral campaign. The Bronx and Queens showed some of the most significant shifts to the right of any county in the country last November.
“No matter what article you read or channel you turned to, the stories seemed to be the same,” Mamdani said. “Our city was heading to the right. Obituaries were written about Democrats’ ability to reach Asian voters, young voters, and male voters. Time and time 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 had failed to address the needs of working-class Americans, but because we had spent too much time talking about bathrooms and sports teams,” Mamdani continued. “That was a time when it seemed like our political horizon was narrowing. And at that time, New York, you had a choice, the choice to retreat or fight… And the decision we made was to stop listening to those experts and start listening to you.”
The latest chapter in the heated mayoral race followed Mamdani’s emotional speech Friday condemning the “racist and baseless” attacks he has faced for his Muslim faith in recent days, some of them from his main rival in the race, he said. Mamdani would be the first Muslim mayor in the history of New York City.
“And I thought that if I behaved well enough or held my tongue enough in the face of racist and baseless attacks, and at the same time returned to my core message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,” Mamdani added, apparently excited. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is enough.”
In a radio appearance Thursday, Cuomo appeared to agree with a conservative host who said Mamdani would applaud if a terrorist attack occurred in the city. A spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign later told NBC News that Cuomo disagreed with the host, and Cuomo said at a news conference that he thought the comment was “offensive.”
“Zohran himself is the person who has created the tension with the Jewish community and the LGBT community and the Italian community and the black community, etc.,” Cuomo said. “He is not the victim, he is the criminal and it is a political tactic.”
At Mamdani’s rally on Sunday, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who also ran for mayor in the June primary, emphasized that Mamdani would “work to keep Jewish New Yorkers and all New Yorkers safe” and condemned the anti-Islamic sentiment Mamdani has faced in recent weeks. Lander was one of several Jewish and Muslim speakers who addressed the crowd.
Sanders said: “Let me tell you something else. At a time when Americans are extremely concerned about where we are as a nation, economically and politically, a victory here in New York will give hope and inspiration to people across our country and around the world.”
