Mamdani stood firm in his support of Gaza. The Democratic party could learn from him

[BeyondGeography]

As the ballots were counted on Wednesday in the Democratic primary election for mayor in New York City, a young candidate with little national name recognition, Zohran Mamdani, stood atop a slate of candidates including the runner-up, and favorite, Andrew Cuomo. There are several reasons why Mamdani was able to pull off this remarkable victory, putting him on track to compete favorably in the mayoral election in November, and many of them have implications for elections outside New York City.

But one area where the contrast between the candidates could not be clearer was on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Mamdani, for his part, stood with protesters, demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, and called out Israel’s war crimes. Mamdani even pledged he’d have the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal, arrested if he came to New York City while he was mayor. Cuomo, on the other hand, volunteered to be part of Netanyahu’s legal defense team before the international criminal court.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has tanked already waning support for Israel in the US, particularly among Democrats. Polls show that for the first time, fewer than 50% of Americans have a favorable view of Israel. And while there is some movement among Republicans in this direction, the biggest driver of this trend is among independents and, especially, Democrats. Democrats sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis by a 3-to-1 margin. That is a massive gap and it also speaks to one of the most important ways a candidate’s politics on Gaza affects the way they are perceived by the electorate.

Democrats increasingly feel their party leaders are old and out of touch with where Democratic voters are. About 62% of Democrats say their party needs new leaders. Few issues highlight how out of touch with their party leaders are than the issue of Palestine. While opinion polls are clear and consistent about Democratic voters’ disgust with Israeli policies toward Palestinians, Democratic party leaders like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are stalwart defenders of Israel. Increasingly, a candidate’s politics on Gaza is a litmus test for authenticity and whether the candidate actually cares to represent the voters. Cuomo was not interested in representing voters on this issue, he was content instead to accept major contributions from billionaire backers of Donald Trump and Israel like Bill Ackman.

More at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/26/zohran-mamdani-mayoral-race-gaza?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Polling data on trends in Democratic attitudes toward Israel and Palestinians:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/657404/less-half-sympathetic-toward-israelis.aspx

[vanessa_ca]

1. They could and they should, but the old guard won't. It refuses to even acknowledge this.

Cuomo, Adams, Dershowitz and the likes tried to smear Mamdani as an antisemite. It backfired spectacularly and now they have to decide between the voters and their billionaire donors.

Link to tweet

The nerve of people trying to smear him as an antisemite!

Link to tweet

[BeyondGeography]

2. Nadler was quick to endorse him for the November election

The endorsement of Nadler, one of the most prominent Jewish leaders in New York City, comes after Mamdani faced repeated questions during the primary about his forceful criticisms of Israel and its war in Gaza. Some have accused him of antisemitism, a statement that Mamdani has emphatically rejected.

“I’ve spoken to him today about his commitment to fighting antisemitism, and we’ll work with all New Yorkers to fight against all bigotry and hate,” Nadler said, according to the Times.

https://thehill.com/homenews/5369733-mamdani-nyc-mayor-nadler-endorsement/

Schumer and Jeffries are, true to form, dithering.

[vanessa_ca]

4. Thank you Rep Nadler! I was pleased to see Elizabeth Warren congratulate him too -eom

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. They're smearing Zohran the way they smeared Bernie... it's not gonna work this time!!

[karynnj]

9. It didn't work against Bernie

Not in Vermont, where he has long been the most popular elected officials. Not easy considering Leahy was a very well liked respected institution.

Not really in the rest of the country. Even in VT, few thought he would be the nominee in 2016 even as he won the state in the primary as a favorite son. The shock was that he did as well as he did.

As a Democratic socialist, he won elections to be mayor of Burlington, Congressman and Senator. Living in Burlington, I know many people here when he was mayor. But, unfortunately, the rest of the country is not Vermont.

[AZProgressive]

12. I paid close attention to the polls in 2015-2016

I didn't think he'd win but did know once more people got to know him the better he did in the polls but I still saw Hillary Clinton as the favorite even though he came close it wasn't enough but still significant considering Hillary Clinton had much more name recognition.

I felt he had a better chance of winning in 2020 but the party did a good job of finding a candidate (Biden) and coalescing behind that candidate which is similar in the ways they tried to stop Mamdani but RCV is a different story--cross endorsing with Lander really helped Mamdani win.

[mountain grammy]

21. I still believe if she had chosen Bernie

As her VP she would have won even bigger.

[snot]

23. Didn't Bernie win the 1st six or so primaries?

The DNC really had to exert itself to head him off.

That said, Mamdani's proposals seem less thought-out than Bernie's.

[karynnj]

27. Not surprising Bernie had already been mayor, Congressman and Senator

Now Burlington is probably smaller than Mandani's district, but Bernie was a good mayor and obviously learned how to get things done.

If Mandami becomes mayor, I hope that he pulls in people like Lander, who cross endorsed him and who has a very strong record.

Although obviously not a Democratic Socialist, Mamdani might be more like Obama. In 2008, Obama had been a Senator for 4 years, but he was brilliant and a visionary and knew how to put a good team together. Mamdani has yet to prove he has all these qualities, but we KNOW Adams, Cuomo, and Sliwa don't.

[Samael13]

5. I feel its too early to go around saying the democratic party needs to learn from him

This was a democratic party primary not a general election. If it was the general he won I'd be completely on board with these type of posts.

[BeyondGeography]

6. It was already clear that many Dems do not label anything short of unconditional support of Israel anti-Semitic

And that there is a strong market for principled opposition to Netanyahu and supporting Palestinian rights particularly among younger Dem voters. Mamdani’s victory confirmed what the data was already saying. You don’t need to wait until November to understand that.

[newdeal2]

14. New Yorkers like to think they are the center of the universe

This story is getting so much play because the media is mostly based in NYC.

How it applies to the places we need to win in, like Florida and Texas, I don’t know. And I don’t think anyone will be thinking about this a year from now.

[AZProgressive]

16. I think his campaign strategy such as knocking on a lot of doors

focusing on economic issues while not abandoning social issues and various things I think the party can learn from especially if they want to win young voters in the future. Also you need to be a bit of an orator to have success and he has that as well.

The party spent a lot of money to try to appeal to young men and Mamdani did well with them but in cities where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a lot the Dem primary is usually the real election but Coumo & Eric Adams are likely to be on the ballot for the general election and I remember what happened in Buffalo 4 years ago so he's not officially mayor yet but do feel the party can learn a lot from his campaign when it comes to turnout & appealing to young voters.

[Celerity]

7. Exposing the Smears: DoorDash, Bloomberg and Ackman Really Behind Anti-Mamdani Mailers

https://substack.com/home/post/p-166574179

A Flood of Misleading Mailers...

As the June 24, 2025, voting deadline looms in New York’s mayoral race, a series of striking political flyers have surfaced, targeting Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. These flyers, emblazoned with headlines like "Zohran Mamdani's Dangerous Agenda" and "Zohran Mamdani: The Wrong Choice," criticize Mamdani for advocating to defund and dismantle the police, being deemed unfit for mayor by The New York Times, and allegedly failing to condemn the Holocaust amid rising antisemitism. They contrast him with Andrew Cuomo, labeled the "best choice for mayor," and urge voters to "Reject Mamdani" and "Vote Cuomo by June 24."

But there’s a key detail that cuts through the noise: these flyers weren’t created or paid for by Mamdani’s opponent or Mamdani himself. Instead, they were funded by Fix the City Inc., a billionaire-backed super PAC, with top donors including Michael Bloomberg, DoorDash, and hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman—none of whom are official participants in the race.



Fix the City Inc.: Who’s Paying to Influence the Race…

Fix the City Inc. is the entity responsible for distributing the barrage of mailers attacking Mamdani. According to the disclaimers on the flyers, these messages are “not expressly or otherwise authorized or requested by any candidate or the candidate’s committee or agent.” That means Cuomo didn’t commission them, and Mamdani certainly didn’t approve them. So who did?

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of NYC, has contributed over $8.3 million to Fix the City.

DoorDash, the Silicon Valley food delivery company, has contributed $1 million, part of a broader $5 million DoorDash pledged to support “pro-local economy candidates” in the NYC elections, per Bloomberg News (May 5, 2025).

Bill Ackman, a hedge fund billionaire with publicly acknowledged ties to Donald Trump, has contributed $250,000 to the effort.

This funding paints a clear picture of a top-heavy campaign fueled by ultra-wealthy individuals and corporate entities, not grassroots civic concern.

DoorDash’s Interests: More Than Just Deliveries...

snip

[Nixie]

20. This is very top heavy on propaganda and cliches. Anything "corporations"

is all that’s needed for the generic smears, but in reality, it just looks like the standard political maneuvering that any campaign employs. Plus Bloomberg is Jewish. Is he supposed to promote anti-Israel propaganda?? Realism is badly needed.

I thought all the young people were getting news from social media like TikTok?? Young people making videos .

That’s where I saw videos of Mamdani. TikTok. I didn’t care for his anti-Israel words. But I saw it on some young persons TikTok, not “corporations”.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. What Mamdani (and by extension, the Democratic Party) has to do is:

separate the clumped spaghetti of issues and make each issue comprehensible to the public.

Gaza: Supporting Gaza is not supporting HAMAS. Palestinians are neither (necessarily) pro-HAMAS nor Israeli. They are their own culture. And they have been victims of both HAMAS and Israel. Especially the sick, the elderly, and the children.

Israel: Not supporting Israel in its military incursions into Gaza is not equivalent to being anti-Israel, anti-Zionist. Supporting Gaza and human rights is not demanding the destruction of Israel.

Supporting Gaza and not supporting Israeli intentions of depriving Gaza of its land is not a ruse for justifying antisemitism. It's not Jew-hating.

It's possible to support Judaism, Israel, and Gaza simultaneously and should be encouraged.

The prospect of Mamdani as Mayor of New York City has as much impact on resolving the complexities of Israel and Gaza as when then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani had Yasser Arafat ejected from a concert by the New York Philharmonic held for world leaders attending the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in 1995. (Giuliani pointedly did not invite Arafat to the concert, but another delegate gave him his ticket.) The political stunt didn't move the needle a bit.

[JT45242]

10. He won because he had a good positive message - make NY affordable against a bad human

Cuomo is an asshole with a ton of baggage.

Mamdani stayed on his economic platform that responded with new Yorkers. Period.

Trying to make a mayoral race about foreign policy was ridiculous racism. The MAYOR of NYC does not now not will they ever determine foreign policy as mayor.

It was a dirty tactic by a serial sexual harasser, and potential assaulter, who had no good economic message.

[Emile]

11. Chuck Schumer ever call him to congratulate him on his primary win?

[Oopsie Daisy]

13. Who cares? I doubt that Mamdami worries about such trivial matters. Why would anyone?

What difference would it make one way or the other? Frankly, it just looks like a peevish and petty way to take cheap-shots at Schumer. But, to each their own. Mamdami has other more pressing concerns than worrying about his own ego and "keeping score" of who called and who didn't. Wouldn't you agree?

[Emile]

15. So yesterday you gave the excuse he was in

the hospital. Who cares you ask, the party. We should want party leaders who back democratic candidates.

[Oopsie Daisy]

17. Again, jumping to conclusions that are unfounded. It's silly to assume Schumer does not "back democratic candidates" *

* simply because you're unaware of any personal call or other private exchange that may or may-not have taken place. This is just petty sniping and cheap shots for no good reason. Shitting on Democrats and our Democratic leadership serves no good purpose. Why do it?

[themaguffin]

18. The only thing to learn is to pivot to call out trump & the gop - Every. Time. Not Gaza.

[David__77]

19. It also means defending New Yorkers like Mahmoud Khalil from political persecution.

[themaguffin]

22. that's a separate issue. I'm referring to the narratives and the battle in reply to the OP article

[AZProgressive]

25. He didn't send any weapons to Netanyahu

So I would say he didn't hurt them by advocating for them and if I were in their shoes I would appreciate those who were in more powerful positions to speak up for them.

[AZProgressive]

28. Mamdani isn't responsible for the conditions residents of Gaza are facing

Mamdani can't overrule what major western powers are enabling.

Biden & Trump did send weapons to Israel which is the immediate concern as well as a lack of humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza though I do think a Democratic administration would have responded to international pressure & likely would have done more than Trump to allow aid into Gaza.