Sanders: NYC Race Is a Message for Democrats

If Zohran Mamdani's underdog victory in New York's Democratic mayoral primary race is any indication, the Democratic Party needs to start backing progressive candidates now, according to Bernie Sanders. Older, establishment-oriented Democrats "have a lesson to learn," here, the independent Vermont senator who endorsed Mamdani tells Politico. He says Andrew Cuomo lost despite drawing support from billionaires and "all of the old-time establishment candidates and politicians." Mamdani, on the other hand, ran "a strong grassroots campaign around the progressive agenda" with a focus on affordability. "It tells me that the future of the Democratic Party is around a progressive agenda," says Sanders.

"Instead of taking money from billionaires and putting stupid ads on television ... you mobilize thousands and thousands of people around the progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of working-class people and you go out and you knock on doors," says Sanders. If Kamala Harris had done the same, "she would be president of the United States today." Referencing Mamdani's criticism of Israel, Sanders says the party needs to recognize that "the overwhelming majority of Democrats, and the majority of the American people, do not want to continue to give billions of dollars" to Israel as it is "starving Palestinian children."

Mamdani, a fellow democratic socialist, credits Sanders as "the single most influential political figure in my life." "What Mamdani and I and others are talking about is the kind of change that benefits the working class of this country and is prepared to take on the billionaire class that has never, ever had it so good," says Sanders. "That's how you win elections." Will the "out of touch" Democratic leadership heed the lesson? "Probably not. They're probably more willing to go down with the Titanic than to move in a new direction," says Sanders. According to Axios, some establishment Democrats see Mamdani, who affronted Jewish voters and called for defunding police, as "politically toxic for a party whose national success depends on its ability to attract votes in less progressive places nationwide."