A quick look at the establishment frontrunners in the New York City mayoral election would have you think that Eric Adams’ appointment of a rat czar had accomplished nothing.

Andrew Cuomo, despite having had to dishonorably resign from his position as governor in the face of massive COVID deaths in nursing homes and mounting sexual assault allegations, currently holds a commanding lead in the Democratic primary, according to recent polls. This is despite ongoing efforts on the part of nonprofits, activists, and even the Working Families Party to slow him down through campaigns like ABC (asking voters in the ranked choice voting primary to rank “Anyone But Cuomo”).

Cuomo’s re-emergence reflects the global reaction against social mobilizations such as #MeToo and the feminist movements of the 2010s and the lack of a decisive victory for Black Lives Matter and other anti-oppression movements. This trend is clear throughout the US and shows its face in the rise of right-wing forces across the world. During the past decades, despite these historical movements and a rise in socialist ideas and organizing, the most prominent forces on the left refused to decisively break from the Democrats and build an independent socialist and working class party. Instead, they have blurred the line between socialist candidates and toothless Democratic progressives, failing to present a strong alternative to establishment pro-businesses figures like Cuomo. These failures are a major factor in giving an opening to the right.

Standing in contrast to the corrupt corporate politicians is Zohran Mamdani of the Democratic Socialists of America. His platform is strong in that it makes bold demands for the kind of reforms New Yorkers desperately need. He calls for a $30/hour minimum wage by 2030, freezing rent in rent-stabilized units, free buses, free child-care, city-owned grocery stores with price caps, and the seizure of properties from the most negligent slumlords. He is also the only candidate calling himself a democratic socialist.

These demands have inspired many New Yorkers and working people in other parts of the country. Not only was Mamdani the first candidate to meet the city’s 8-to-1 campaign fund matching limit, but he has also narrowed the gap between himself and Cuomo. Emerson polling shows that while Cuomo still maintains a 13 point lead in round one of the ranked choice voting system, in simulated ranked choice polling the lead reduces itself down to fewer than 9 points. That narrows to 51-49 in favor of Cuomo for those who said they were “very likely to vote” in the primary. A recent poll even shows Mamdani leading the race.

The fact that a real leftist is posing such a serious challenge in the primary demonstrates both the frustrations that still exist against Cuomo’s corrupt politics and the excitement that exists for calls that better New Yorkers’ standard of living in the face of a crisis-riddled economy. It also shows that people want a real alternative to the do-nothing Democratic establishment in the fight against Trump’s authoritarian power grab. As the National Guard occupation of LA shows this is a fight in every city as well as at national level.

The Democratic Party: A Dead-End For Change

Socialist Alternative enthusiastically supports the demands Zohran is running on. We also have to stop and ask, how do we actually win substantial reforms like these in the face of New York’s powerful capitalist class and their political representatives? As a global financial center, what happens in New York affects national politics, as well as major global investments and financial ties. Billionaires the world over will do everything they can to stop any significant policies favoring working-class New Yorkers.

Our own experience helping to lead the fight for the first $15 minimum wage in the country, a historic Amazon Tax on big business in Seattle to fund affordable housing and Green New Deal projects, landmark renters rights, and other major victories through our independent socialist Seattle City Council office provided clear lessons on how change can be won. 

Over ten years in office, Democrats on the Seattle City Council opposed every pro-worker reform we fought for. Even the “progressive” Democrats were consistently unwilling to do what it took to actually win, fearing upsetting the status quo and confronting big business interests. Every single battle we won was due to mobilizing working people and socialists to rallies, protests, and City Hall public comment, forcing the Democrats to choose: either vote for working-class demands or vote to protect big business interests—with everyone watching. 

Alongside fighting for working-class reforms, we consistently called for a new party to elect representatives across the country who would build movements and actually fight for working people, unlike the Democrats and Republicans. This kind of emphasis on mass mobilizations coupled with the call and initiative of a new working-class party are noticeably missing from Zohran’s and other DSA campaigns.

Zohran’s platform is very positive, but winning demands like rent freezes and substantially higher wages will necessarily mean a direct confrontation with the 144 billionaires that call New York (one of) their home(s). One weakness in Zohran’s campaign is the promise that as mayor he will be able to enact his platform’s reforms. While the mayor of New York has a high degree of executive power, the ruling class will simply not allow a socialist mayor to be as free to act on their promises, as they do with their pro-business politicians. This highlights the need to rely on mass mobilizations, not on what the legal system currently allows mayors to do. 

If elected, Zohran will need to be a bullhorn for renters rights movements, anti-oppression struggle, and New York’s unions. Only a working-class movement could overcome the level of opposition he would be facing in an effort to undermine and end his platform. The campaign’s ability to reportedly sign up over 26,000 volunteers is a clear sign of the potential that exists.

Socialist Alternative strongly disagrees with Zohran’s decision to seek the Democratic Party endorsement. The campaign has actively pushed voters back into the party through the “Will You Be My Democrat?” campaign to build primary support. This comes at a time when the Democratic Party’s popularity is at its lowest in decades due to their role in inflation, genocide, and being doormats for Trump’s extreme right policies. Trying to rebrand or “take over” the party at this stage goes beyond just a mistake or a misstep—it’s a decision that actively works against working-class New Yorkers.

The pitfalls of operating within the logic of the Democratic Party for even the best intentioned candidates were on display at the mayoral debates. Under the constant pressure from Cuomo and others about Zohran’s support for the call to defund the police, during the June 12 debate Mamdani clarified his support for the police as a necessary institution that shouldn’t be defunded and has withdrawn from one of the main demands during the Black Lives Matter movement in an unprincipled manner. The NYPD budget now exceeds $11 billion annually, by far the biggest police department budget in the country—cutting significantly from this bloated budget and investing in community services like mental health would do more to reduce crime and violence than hiring hundreds of officers.

Additionally, the corporate media and the establishment have been completely unashamed to launch attacks of accusations of antisemitism and pro-Hamas sentiments against Mamdani for his support of the people of Gaza. Confronted about whether he agrees that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, Mamdani attempted to evade the questions by weakly affirming that Israel has the right to exist in general and that he would be more focused on the needs of New Yorkers.

But for the anti-war protesters facing consequences on the city’s college campuses like Mahmoud Khalil, for the Palestinian diaspora, and for millions of Jewish New Yorkers it is imperative for socialist leaders to be confident to oppose the genocidal war. Mamdani should explain clearly and confidently why the working class and labor unions should more broadly take up this issue, all the while exposing the role that the Democratic Party has played in actively funding and promoting war.

Can Zohran Win The Primary?

The Democratic Party is structurally committed to the interests of its wealthy backers, which means that it stands on the side of Wall Street banks, genocidal warmongers, and real estate lobbyists. What Zohran’s platform puts forward stands in opposition to these interests and we should not underestimate how forcefully they would move to shut him down.

In 2021, DSA-backed India Walton ran for mayor of Buffalo as a democratic socialist. She stunned the political establishment by winning the Democratic primary against incumbent Byron Brown. Like Zohran, Walton had the backing of DSA and the Working Families Party, with a support base of activists. However, with the backing of establishment figures like Andrew Cuomo, Trumpists, and both the Republican and Democratic Parties, Brown began a write-in campaign against Walton. 

Instead of fully calling this out as an attempt to undercut her win, India Walton went on the defense, emphasizing her Democratic Party connections, such as her endorsement from Chuck Schumer. As stated in our article on India Walton’s loss, “The stark reality is that these tactics — collusion with the right-wing to cut across the left, vitriolic personal attacks, backroom deals, corporate money — are the tried and true methods of the Democratic Party… Far from a shortcut to electoral success, Walton’s run within the Democratic Party left her facing sabotage from the inside out every step of the way.”  

Andrew Cuomo has already launched an independent ballot line that positions him to be able to run through to November even if overtaken in the primary. It is a big problem that the two leading corporate candidates are willing to launch independent campaigns while the declared socialist candidate committed himself to the Democratic Party. The platform that Zohran is campaigning on needs to be featured in November.He is currently the rank one endorsement for the Working Families Party and it is possible that if he loses the primary then they would endorse him through to November in order to cut across Cuomo. We would welcome that development, though it would be much stronger if the decision to run outside of the Democrats was on political principle and used as a step to build a new working class party in New York.

As for the rest of the crowded Democratic field, the progressive slate and the “Anyone But Cuomo” campaign only serve to blur the line between toothless “progressive” politics and the only openly-declared socialist candidate. If the progressive candidates and their supporters in nonprofits and NGOs were actually serious about confronting Cuomo, they would be building for the widest vote for the candidate with the strongest left platform and the backing of important labor unions like UAW region 9A and Teamsters Local 804.

The endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has the potential to give Zohran’s campaign a boost going into the primary. AOC herself began her political career on a swell of excitement around progressive demands such as a Green New Deal. But her track record as a voice for an outside, grassroots opposition to the establishment agenda has been damaged beyond repair by her commitment to operating within the logic of the capitalist Democratic Party. She went from claiming that she and Joe Biden do not belong in the same party, to defending Biden in 2024, calling Nancy Pelosi “mama bear,” and most recently fighting to repair the image of the Democratic Party itself. Despite decades of trying, not a single progressive politician has ever been able to change the corporate Democratic Party from the inside—the party changes them, instead. 

Cuomo has held the lion’s share of support from Black voters at 74 percent, which has the potential to be decisive on election day. Whereas Mamdani’s largest bases of support are fixed on the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in the city, engaging more confidently with working class Black and Latino native New Yorkers could make or break the campaign. Even if Zohran were to win the election on the current trajectory, winning his demands would require an active base of support within the working class communities that keep this city running. Socialists need to openly and confidently debate our ideas against the Democratic establishment line in the churches, the union workplaces, and at the block parties.

Building The Strongest Fight Against Trump

The Trump administration is seeking to enact its viciously reactionary agenda across the country and is more than willing to go forcefully over the heads of liberal state governments to do so, as we’ve witnessed in Los Angeles. Attacks on universities have led to more intense crackdowns against campus protestors in New York and closer cooperation with the State Department. Current NYC Mayor Eric Adams has spent years laying the groundwork for further attacks on immigrants, attacks which have only heightened since the presidential election. Multiple major New York City hospital networks withdrew care from trans minors in response to Trump’s executive orders. Federal workers across the city are facing real threats against their jobs and unions.

What working-class New Yorkers need is a unified and bold fight against the Trump administration’s right-wing billionaire agenda that speaks to the needs of all. We need a movement that stands confidently for the rights of undocumented, transgender, Black, and all oppressed people in the face of “anti-woke” attacks. We need to defend the right to protest of public sector workers and of college students opposing both parties’ support for genocide. This kind of fight would benefit greatly from being organized around clear demands that speak to the rising cost of living, ever advancing gentrification, and the need for free health care on demand for all.

The Zohran Mamdani campaign has the potential to be a bullhorn for such a movement, but that potential is unfortunately limited by the strategy being taken. Socialist Alternative calls on Zohran and the DSA to break decisively from the Democratic Party and to run through the general election as an independent candidate. The campaign should play a more active role in struggle, calling for rallies alongside public sector unions, LGBTQ organizations, and immigrants rights groups. These rallies should focus on working class neighborhoods throughout the city and pose forward-thinking demands that speak to the crises facing working people in New York and around the country, and a strategy to win them.

At the end of the day, we can’t rely on “Anyone But Cuomo,” which at best leaves the field wide open for a candidate with a progressive face but an unwillingness to stand up to powerful corporate interests, and at worst opens the door for Cuomo himself. We need an independent, working-class campaign that serves as an organizing center for ordinary New Yorkers to fight for the things we desperately need in the face of a billionaire onslaught. Zohran has the potential to build just that.