Mamdani Supporters Want Him to ‘Meet the Movement’ — Will He?
Democratic mayoral primary winner Zohran Mamdani addresses supporters at Bryant Park on June 14. Photo/Joe Maniscalco
By Joe Maniscalco
Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic Party mayoral primary with 56 percent of the vote in large part because younger New York City voters are sick and tired of the Democratic Party Machine and it’s fossilized goon squad of neoliberal freaks who’s sole purpose in life is to neuter working class power.
In officially endorsing the Mamdani mayoral campaign this week, the New York City Central Labor Council representing a coalition of 300 labor unions acknowledged that Mamdani’s campaign “inspired New Yorkers, brought new voters into the democratic process, and mobilized thousands of volunteers.”
Maybe these new Democratic Party voters are delusional about their ability to blow up the Democratic Party from the inside out and reconstituting it into a potent force capable of actually confronting the fascist assault gripping the country.
But they’ve had it with the Clinton and Cuomo crowd and probably figure Mamdani—short of taking the next necessary step of organizing themselves into a new working class party truly independent of the sold-out duopoly in service to Wall Street and the corporate elite—is their best shot at exerting real political power.
Mamdani told supporters after his convincing primary victory over disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo that he will “govern our city as a model for the Democratic Party—a party where we fight for working people with no apology.”
And that is exactly what he needs to do…fight—and win—for working class New Yorkers with no apologies.
Friendly memo to the campaign: the big money forces arrayed against Zohran’s ascent, whether inside the Democratic Party or without, will continue painting him as a foreign Communist insurgent bent on corrupting everything anybody ever thought was good about America—no matter what he does.
Mob Boss President Donald Trump is already calling Mamdani a “radical left-wing lunatic” and warning NYC that anyone we elect mayor had better “behave themselves.” It’s like the 1990s again and we’re all watching John Gotti scold John Miller on WNBC TV.
Mamdani could channel the spirit of Ronald Reagan tonight—adopt trickle-down economics, and call for expanding the NYPD threefold—and they would still try to dismiss him as a soft, silly pinko nut-job. And probably an Iranian op, too. Whatever dumb, bigoted nonsense that sticks to the wall.
And so folks, please do not try to appease any of ‘em or move a millimeter to the right. You do that, and you’re done—all of the good working class energy you’ve amassed during this victorious mayoral campaign will immediately disappear into the ether as if it never existed. You’ll also inflict a helluva lot of damage to the cause of class struggle socialism along the way, too.
Take a look at Bernie Sanders if you want to know what that looks like—it ain’t pretty, Zohran, and you’re only 33-years-old with too many decades of life ahead of you to relegate yourself to that kind of empty political existence.
This moment calls for resurgent working class power the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early 1930s. And the hard-pressed working class New Yorkers who delivered the Democratic primary to you need you to start channelling at least some of the spirit FDR had when he was trying to save capitalism from its intrinsic rapaciousness and working class people scored some of their most significant achievements ever.
For you, Zohran, that means becoming Traditional Medicare’s official champion in New York City. You know that the closest thing we’ve ever gotten to socialized medicine in this country is under fierce attack from the forces of privatization who want to burn Traditional Medicare to the ground and replace it with profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance—a Wall Street scheme that makes its money denying necessary care to seniors and over-charging the government.
You also know that errant labor leaders like District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido—the head of the union that endorsed you as its No. 2 pick for mayor—are helping them do it. It’s time—now is the moment—for you to go beyond pledging to “reject” Medicare Advantage on your website and actually pledging to support Intro. 1096—long languishing New York City Council legislation that actually does what you say you would do as mayor.
New York City is the place where the biggest battle for Traditional Medicare is being fought today. This is the place where retired 9/11 first-responders—Ground Zero’s “Never Forget” heroes—are being purposely tossed down a memory hole due to “financial decisions.” What ultimately happens in NYC will reverberate throughout the rest of the country.
Mayor Eric Adams’ recent decision to abandon the Medicare Advantage push in New York City was a welcome win for the courageous municipal retirees who have spent the last four years battling both him and his predecessor Bill de Blasio—but it hasn’t assuaged the anxiety and fear retirees continue to experience.
Pledging today to be Intro. 1096’s champion—as well as signing onto sister legislation in the New York State Assembly—would finally ameliorate a lot of that anxiety and fear. New York City’s working class heroes who spent their civil service careers helping to pull the Big Apple through one calamity after another —deserve that peace. And they deserve it now.
It will also help you convince people to, you know, actually come and work for the City of New York when—and if—you become mayor.
New York City home health aides still being subjected to mandatory round-the-clock shifts and institutionalized wage theft in the industry also need to know that you will champion and finally help pass “No More 24” legislation in the City Council. As Assembly Member Ron Kim observed last year in Brooklyn, the Democratic Party’s ongoing failure to stand up for working class people is the reason it keeps “losing ground” to the right.
While you’re doing that, you can also cement your working class bona fides by signing onto A1494—Assembly Member Phil Steck’s legislation to finally rescind the New York State Stock Transfer Tax Rebate. Those who ultimately owe their fealty to Wall Street and fear the working class power you’ve tapped into this summer are already having a field day deriding your calls for truly transformative measures like city-owned grocery stores, tuition-free CUNY, fare-free bus transit, and a rent freeze.
Aren’t you fed up with hearing them howl, “How are ya gonna pay for it all, Zohran?” They’re just getting warmed up, and they’re not going to stop. But you could shut them up quick by backing the campaign to rescind the New York State Stock Transfer Tax Rebate and using some of the ensuing $13 to $20 billion in annual revenues to help cover the cost of a lot of your proposals.
The New York State Stock Transfer Tax was in effect from 1905 to 1981—it’s time to finally bury the rebate in the dust bin of history and quit kicking it back to Wall Street—and you should be the guy who helps lead the fight to get it done.
“Fight for working people with no apology,” indeed.
After dispatching disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Party primary, it looks like the establishment players will take all their money and bet it on Mayor Eric Adams 2.0. The devil you know still carries a lot of weight in contentious times, and at the end of the day, the current mayor is gonna enter the general election this fall as the guy who put the brakes on the Medicare Advantage push.
And unless you meet the movement the way struggling working class New Yorkers want you to, you’ll just be the guy who vaguely talked about “rejecting” it, while at the same time accepting the endorsement of Henry Garrido—one of Medicare Advantage’s chief architects in New York City.