The Real Problem with Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Far-Left’ Mayoral Candidacy
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani addresses supporters at Bryant Park on June 14. Photos/Joe Maniscalco
By Joe Maniscalco
“We deserve a mayor who will meet this moment,” Assembly Member and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani [D-36th District] told supporters ahead of New York City’s massive “No Kings” march down 5th Avenue on Saturday.
But many working class New Yorkers being crushed under the weight of decades of stultified establishment politics have a problem with Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. It’s the same problem they have with supposedly independent figures like U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the rest of the so-called “squad” in the House.
While outlets like the New York Post enjoy casting Mamdani in the role of the dangerous “far-left” democratic socialist candidate all sober and sane New Yorkers must guard against—his actions in the real world show that his mayoral candidacy running on the Democratic Party line ain’t all that revolutionary.
In the real world, and not the staged political theater starring the competing wings of the same old duopoly, Mamdani has backed away from explicitly supporting truly transformative legislation that would fundamentally improve the lives of countless New Yorkers on day one of their passage into law.
If enacted today, Intro. 1096—sponsored by City Council Member Chris Marte—would stop current Mayor Eric Adams from stripping all current and future municipal retirees of their Traditional Medicare benefits and herding them into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance scheme that makes huge profits delaying and denying necessary care.
Mamdani, however, has thus far refused to pledge his support for Intro. 1096 if elected mayor in the fall—and is actually being out-lefted by right-wing figures like City Council Members Inna Vernikov and Frank Morano, and mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa who have.
Last year, Mamdani served up some really weak tea when Work-Bites first asked him if he would support Intro. 1096 as mayor.
“The spirit of the legislation’s one that it’s only required if the mayor continues to oppose these rulings,” Mamdani told Work-Bites. “So, I support the spirit of it right now, and as the next mayor it would not even be required given what my polices would be on the issue.”
Uh-huh. And what about the mayor that comes after you, Zohran?
There’s also sister legislation to Intro. 1096 in the New York State Assembly where Mamdani represents Queens constituents from Astoria, Astoria Heights and Ditmars. But Mamdani isn’t signed onto that bill either.
Then there’s Assembly Member Phil Steck’s bill in the New York State Assembly seeking to repeal the Stock Transfer Tax Rebate and using the ensuing $13 to $20 billion in annual revenues to fund things desperate working class people need like healthcare, education, and transportation.
New York State had been collecting the Stock Transfer Tax from 1905 to 1981 and used it to fund everything from Mitchell-Lama housing to the State University of New York and the City University of New York. As Michael Kink, executive director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition, says, “All the good things that were built in mid-century New York were funded in significant part by this small sales tax on Wall Street stock trades.”
But Assembly Member Mamdani isn’t on that bill either.
Why? Work-Bites has repeatedly reached out to the Assembly Member for clarification, but has so far been unable to get a response.
Mayoral candidates Brad Lander and Zohran Mamdani cross-endorsed each other on June 14, ahead of the “No Kings” march on 5th Avenue.
There’s more reason to doubt that Mamdani is actually “meeting the moment.” Last winter at a rally in support of New York City home care workers fighting mandatory round-the-clock shifts and institutionalized wage theft in the industry, Assembly Member Ron Kim [D-40th] took the opportunity to take his own party to task for failing those workers, saying “When Democrats and progressives are losing ground, this is why.”
Democratic District Leader and Downtown Independent Democrats member Vittoria Fariello, meanwhile, told home care workers she was “embarrassed and angry at a Democratic administration that has closed investigations into wage theft.”
Mamdani was at that rally, too, and spoke out in support of home care workers fighting to recover their unpaid wages and advocating passage of “No More 24” legislation in the New York City Council, also sponsored by Council Member Christ Marte. But Mamdani declined when asked to comment on the criticism both Kim and Fariello leveled at their own party for failing those workers.
“The Democratic Party is where all the good intentions go to die a horrible death,” former Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant recently told the hosts of “Due Dissidents”.
Sawant served as the only socialist in the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024, where she fought for and won the highest minimum wage of any big city in the nation, an Amazon Tax to fund affordable housing, and legislation strengthening renters’ rights. She’s now running an independent campaign for a seat in the U.S. Congress from Washington State as “the Socialist that money can’t buy.”
“In this day and age,” Sawant continued on "Due Dissdents,” “after all the betrayals by ‘the squad,’ by AOC specifically, by the fact that Bernie Sanders had no hesitation at all endorsing a genocider-in-chief in [Joe] Biden, and then uncritically supporting [Kamala] Harris…after the way the Democratic Party completely crushed Bernie Sanders’ campaign twice, not just once—after all this, if you’re still going to run as a Democrat it really begs the question how serious you might be. Even with all the good intentions in the world, how serious are you—strategically—to achieve any of the campaign platform that Mamdani is talking about?”
Another troubling sign Mamdani may not be the “mayor to meet the moment” at a time when angst-ridden New York City municipal retirees continue their desperate fight to retain the health care benefits they earned on the job, and there is never enough money to support the needs of working class New Yorkers—is Mamdani’s mayoral endorsement from District Council 37 and Executive Director Henry Garrido.
Garrido remains the most strident supporter of the Medicare Advantage push and has made it abundantly clear that he will use his union’s significant resources to sink the electoral campaigns of anyone siding with municipal retirees advocating for passage of Intro. 1096.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Zohran Mamdani, and State Senator Zellnor Myrie are DC 37’s top three picks in June 24’s Democratic Party primary for mayor.
Regular Work-Bites readers already know all about City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ steadfast opposition to Intro. 1096 even getting a hearing on the floor of the City Council. All three were also no-shows at the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees’ Mayoral Debate held in April, and none of them have pledged their support for retirees urging passage of Intro. 1096.
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Mamdani recently updated his campaign website declaring he will “reject Medicare Advantage, and reject higher copays for inservice workers” and “partner with workers and their unions to take on the fragmented, for-profit healthcare system and lower costs for everyone.”
That declaration doesn’t say anything about retirees now being herded into profit-driven health insurance, however, and Mamdani still enjoys Garrido’s backing.
“One of the reasons New Yorkers take to the streets is when they feel that their voices are not heard by their leaders,” Mamdani further told supporters this past weekend in Bryant Park. “If you have leaders like [Mayor] Eric Adams, if you have leaders like Andrew Cuomo, or leaders like Donald Trump, you are made to feel as if you are invisible.”
NYCOPSR President Marianne Pizzitola, however, says “NYC retirees are invisible to Zohran.”
“We’ve been on the street for four years. He didn’t help us with the statewide bill, he hasn’t spoken with us since January,” Pizzitola told Work-Bites. “He won’t speak, meet, or sign our pledge. It further proves the three candidates DC37 endorsed were told if they support retirees they’d be un-endorsed. Zohran is owned by a special interest just like big developers and pharma own politicians instead of helping the elderly, disabled, 9/11 responders/survivors, line-of-duty widows and our disabled kids protect their earned Medicare benefits. We just aren’t important to him.”
Fellow mayoral hopeful Brad Lander and Mamdani cross-endorsed each other ahead of Saturday’s “No Kings” march in which they both urged voters to steer clear of disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo on the ranked-choice voting ballot. But unlike Mamdani, Lander has pledged to support New York City retirees in their fight to pass Intro. 1096 into law—and he also took part in NYCOPSR’s mayoral debate in April.
Noted union organizer and activist Ray Rogers, meanwhile, is heading up the “Greed v$ Greed” campaign to rescind the New York State Stock Transfer Tax Rebate. He points to economists who put the total dollar figure working class New Yorkers have lost rebating the Stock Transfer Tax since 1981 at more than $430 billion.
“They now estimate that ending the rebate to wealthy Wall Street speculators would recoup an estimated $13 to $20 billion annually to fund critical public services and infrastructure needs,” Rogers told Work-Bites. “Accessing such a revenue stream is crucial for New Yorkers especially in light of Trump's expected massive federal funding cuts.”
Along with Phil Steck in the Assembly, Senator James Sanders Jr. is the sponsoring S1237—the New York State Senate bill aimed at rescinding the Stock Transfer Tax Rebate. Mamdani reportedly pledged to sign onto the Assembly bill last month at an Upper West Side gathering of retired judges and lawyers. According to a Greed v$ Need volunteer who requested anonymity, Mamdani knew all about the New York Stock Transfer Tax and how it funded CUNY and was “very supportive” of rescinding the rebate.
“I still have hope that he will sign on,” the Greed v$ Need volunteer told Work-Bites.
Rogers says Mamdani’s “inaction to do so even after repeated reminders to his office, is being carefully monitored.”
“It should be noted that mayoral candidate Senator Zellnor Myrie [D-20th District] is a cosponsor of this legislation which is of dire importance to advance the wellbeing of all New Yorkers including millions of New York City voters. Andrew Cuomo, while governor, opposed ending the rebate,” Rogers said.
At the time of this writing, Mamdani’s mayoral campaign website says he backs raising the corporate tax rate in New York State to 11.5 percent—matching New Jersey and bringing in $5 billion in revenue, in addition to taxing the wealthiest one percent of New Yorkers—those earning above $1 million annually—with a flat 2 percent tax.
Senator Bernie Sanders announced his support for Mamdani’s mayoral bid just prior to this story’s publication on Tuesday.