Downwardly Mobile Elites Love #ZohranMamdani
Urban millennials who are worse off than their parents embrace the mayoral candidate’s zero-sum politics. But are those voters the future of the #DemocraticParty?
By Reihan Salam (#WSJ)
July 24, 2025 5:30 am ET
["zero-sum politics"? I don't think so.]
How Zohran Mamdani Stunned #NewYork and Won the Primary for Mayor
Mr. Mamdani’s victory upended city politics and reverberated nationally. He relied on a memorable message, charisma and a strong ground game.
from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
[gift article - link expires in 30 days.]
July 1, 2025 Updated 3:58 p.m. ET
"Where Mr. Cuomo lectured from a distance, Mr. Mamdani took his campaign to the streets and asked questions. When other #progressives traded 10-point plans, Mr. Mamdani offered simple, concrete ideas for a city buckling under spiraling costs: free buses, child care and a rent freeze. He may have been outspent on TV and dismissed by newspaper editorial boards, but he turned his candidacy into something closer to a movement that jumped from social media to an army of volunteers."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/nyregion/how-mamdani-won-campaign-mayor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TE8.5k5Z.Cb-lHlUq3z-x&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
#USA #US #USPolitics #AndrewCuomo #NYC #NewYorkCity
#DemocraticParty #DemocraticSocialist
#news #press #politics #DSA #AOC
It’s Official: Mamdani Defeats Cuomo
Three lies the election shattered (I believed them)
from #KenKlippenstein
Jul 01, 2025
"In a paragraph, let’s review: A machine politician, former governor and scion of a political dynasty lost to a 33-year-old #Muslim, #immigrant, and #socialist who is unapologetically critical of #Israel. The political ruling class and the news media assumed #AndrewCuomo, but more than that, they dismissed the people’s choice, assembling their pipe dream on the it’s-the-party-elder’s-turn proposition.
I didn’t expect #ZohranMamdani to win. I thought the Party machinery was unbeatable. I was wrong. I’ve learned some mind-bending lessons.
* Money Doesn’t Decide.
* Young People Do Vote.
* Saying Controversial Things is Okay"
#USA #US #USPolitics #NYC #NewYorkCity #DemocraticSocialist
#news #press #politics
The irony is if the Twitter Nazi splits the Republican Party in two to make a National Republican Party to counter #TheAmericanFascist Republicans “Big Beautiful Bill” then that could open up more room for the Democratic Socialists to make their own party split from the Democrats and all of a sudden the USA could have 4 viable parties. Imagine that. A multiparty system! The most democratic shift in the US Congress since 1776?! Initiated by a 21st Century Fascist.
But of course… that’s way too optimistic…
If the billionnaires refuse to share a little to care for the whole, then we will take their power over us away and share it amongst ourselves.
I mean really, how is that not a better outcome than a few people hording 99% of the capital in the world?
#democraticsocialist
https://mastodon.world/@verdantsquare/114773640916904003
And THIS is one of the reasons why I'm a #DemocraticSocialist!
#Unions and Community Unite for #MayDay: Lessons for the Fight Ahead
Posted by #ToddChretien | Jun 16, 2025 |
This article is reprinted from the Socialist Forum, a publication of #DSA. It was authored by Todd Chretien, who serves both on DSA’s Editorial Board as well as Pine & Roses’ Editorial Collective. It was originally published on May 30, 2025.
What happened?
"Hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied on May Day, making it the largest International Workers Day since 2006 when two million immigrant workers left work and marched to demand their rights. Protests were organized in 1300 locations, large and small; no doubt the first May Day protest in many places. Broadly speaking, there were three different levels of mobilization. First, as in 2006, Chicago stood out with some 30,000 marching, organized by a mass coalition of labor and immigrant rights organizations. Second, cities like Philly, New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, Oakland, Burlington, and #PortlandME mobilized between two and fifteen thousand. Third, hundreds of cities and towns turned out crowds from a couple dozen to hundreds, including smaller cities like Davis, California. This ranking is not intended as a judgement on the organizers. In fact, some of the smaller rallies included higher percentages of the population than the largest. For instance, in the town of #WayneME — population 1,000 — seventy-five people turned out for both morning and evening rallies.
"It’s worth noting that the crowds were not as large as the #April5 day of protest initiated by #Indivisible; however, participants were noticeably more #multiracial, younger, and #radical with widespread support for #TransgenderRights and opposition to the genocide of #Palestinians in #Gaza. Though an important step in the process of building working-class unity against the billionaires and capitalist class, these efforts have a long way to go. For instance, although multiracial, at the national level, the marches did not entirely reflect working-class diversity. And if immigrant rights organizations were critical in many cities, Trump’s reign of terror against immigrant workers suppressed turnout from this community in many places.
[...]
New York City
"On the day, NYC-DSA turned out some 500 members, many of whom marched with their unions. They did so while keeping up with other work—DSA member #ZohranMamdani is running for mayor—with #NYCDSA labor organizers having advanced a month-long Build to May Day campaign. Organizers called on committees and working groups across the chapter to make May Day a priority, turning out members and volunteer marshalls. The chapter is now in a stronger position to discuss next steps with the broader coalition and consolidate a layer of new members and allies. There’s more pain ahead, but May Day helped gather working-class forces together for action and to take the temperature of the most active and militant layer of trade unionists and community activists. As NYC-DSA Labor Working Group member David Duhalde suggests, 'The New York City May Day rally and march from Foley Square to the iconic Wall Street Bull statue was a microcosm of the shift in energy in labor during Trump’s second term.' How far that shift goes can only be tested in practice.
[...]
Portland, Maine
"Maine DSA’s Labor Rising working group decided to focus on May Day in December, laying the basis to help initiate an organizing meeting open to all community groups and unions. Maine AFL-CIO leaders and UAW graduate students participated in a preliminary meeting to brainstorm ideas, and more than 70 people attended an April 12 meeting in the South Portland Teamsters’ Hall, where the group democratically planned Portland’s May Day. Working groups took up all aspects of the action, and we took all important decisions back to the coalition for votes. Running a long a related track, Maine Education Association and Maine AFL-CIO leaders called for actions across the state, amplifying the Chicago May Day Strong call and dramatically broadening what the Portland coalition could organize.
"Nearly 2,000 people turned out in Portland, starting with a rally at the University of Southern Maine to back UAW graduate students’ demands for a first contract and then marching to the Post Office to hear from postal workers. Members of the Portland Education Association and a trans student poet headlined the stop at Portland High School and a librarian union rep spoke in Monument Square before the final rally that heard from the president of the Metal Trades Council at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, a rep from the Maine State Nurses Association, members of the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine, an organizer from #LGTBQ+ community group #PortlandOutright, a local immigrant rights group called Presente! Maine, and others. It was a great demonstration and showed the thirst for a broader coalition. Twenty-five other towns held actions, bringing the total number of Maine participants to over 5,000, the largest Maine May Day anyone can remember.
"It would be shortsighted to overstate the power and stability of this fledgling coalition. Large doses of patience and understanding will be necessary to foster bonds of trust. Sectarian pressures to draw 'red lines' that exclude workers new to political activity and organizations who have various programs and interests represent one danger. A narrow focus on the midterm elections represents another. Fortunately, there’s a lot of room for creativity between those two extremes.
Long road ahead
"May Day was the first test of strength for the left and working class against #Trump, #MAGA, and forty-plus years of #neoliberal rot. We face a long, complex problem where political pressures to return to passivity will be strong, but May Day 2025 constitutes a small step towards healing deep wounds in the American working class, the divide between organized and unorganized, immigrant and US born, etc. If brother Fain’s call for 2028 is to grow strong, then 2026 and 2027 must be practice runs. If 2026 and 2027 are to be real demonstrations of strength, they must grow out of tighter bonds between labor, community, and the left, more active membership participation in all of those forces, and a combination of defensive struggles we are forced to fight and battles we pick on our own terms. As Sarah Hurd, co-chair of DSA’s National Labor Commission, spells out, 'This year’s May Day actions showed the power of what we can accomplish just by setting a date and inviting people to take action together. It has also highlighted what work we need to do to scale up our level of organization in the next three years.'
"What did May Day teach us? Fittingly, the last word goes to Kirsten Roberts, a rank-and-file Chicago teacher, 'The most important element of #MayDay2025 is the explicit entry of organized and unorganized labor into #resistance to Trump. Trump’s attacks are aimed directly at dividing the working class and turning ordinary people against one another while the billionaires rob and plunder us all. An agenda for working class unity can be built when we stand up for those most victimized and vilified by the right-wing bigots AND when we stand together to fight for the things that the billionaire class has denied us—the fight for healthcare, education, housing, and good-paying jobs for starters. For decades, we’ve been told by both parties that funding war, incarceration, and border militarization are their priorities. May Day showed that working people have another agenda. Now let’s organize to win it.”
https://pineandroses.org/reports/unions-and-community-unite-for-may-day-lessons-for-the-fight-ahead/
#ZohranMamdani Delivers Progressive Win Over Democratic Establishment
Tuesday's victory by the self-described 'proud #DemocraticSocialist' signals a seismic shift in the balance of power between entrenched political institutions and a new generation demanding #progressive change.
from #CommonDreams [reprinted from #Pressenza]
David Andersson
Jun 25, 2025
"But the establishment’s machine was no match for the momentum behind #Mamdani, who worked closely with Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Their progressive political movement, deeply rooted in democratic socialism, has been steadily gaining ground—election after #election, neighborhood by neighborhood—through tireless grassroots organizing, door-to-door campaigning, and small-dollar donations.
“This is a victory for every New Yorker who has been told they don’t have a voice,” Mamdani said in his victory speech. “It’s proof that organized people can beat organized money.”"
#ZohranMamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to 'Billionaire-Backed Status Quo' in #NYC
"The people of #NewYorkCity proved that a movement powered by hope, courage, and working people can beat the money of billionaires," said one Mamdani supporter.
from #CommonDreams
Jake Johnson
Jun 25, 2025
"#Affordability was a key focus of #Mamdani's policy platform and messaging, with the #Democratic state assemblymember calling for an immediate rent freeze for all of the city's rent-stabilized tenants, the creation of a network of city-owned grocery stores focused not on profits but on "keeping prices low," and free childcare.
Mamdani proposed funding those and other priorities with a higher tax rate on corporations and city residents earning more than $1 million per year—fueling the backlash his campaign faced from the ultra-wealthy."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/zohran-mamdani-wins-primary
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #NewYork #Cuomo #election #progressive #DemocraticSocialist
#news #press
“It really represents the excitement that I saw on the streets all throughout the City of New York. I haven’t seen this since Barack Obama ran for president,” said New York attorney general #LetitiaJames
Oligarchs 'Terrified' #DemocraticSocialist Mamdani Might Win #NYC Mayoral Primary
"This is a tale that we're seeing across this country, where it's a battle of organized money versus organized people," #ZohranMamdani said on the eve of the election.
from #CommonDreams
Brett Wilkins
Jun 24, 2025
[Since this article was written, #Mamdani has won the Democratic primary.]
"The prospect a Mamdani victory is deeply worrying to many of the Wall Street bankers, corporate executives, real estate developers, mega-landlords and others who are bankrolling #Cuomo... Backers include billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg; financiers Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb; Wall Street titans Blair Effron, Steve Rattner, and Antonio Weiss; Palantir founder and co-CEO Alex Karp; and former President Bill Clinton."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/billionaires-fear-mamdani
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #AOC #Bernie #BernieSanders #Muslim #Islamophobia #SouthAsian #Indian
#news #press
Cuomo is in first place, however...
#DemocraticSocialist candidate #ZohranMamdani emerging as a serious contender for #NYCMayor: poll
Story by Carl Campanile
"He’s coming out of left field.
"Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist candidate running for New York City mayor, is emerging as a serious contender, a new poll claims.
"The survey of likely Democratic voters conducted for Tusk Strategies shows the state assemblyman from Queens — the #DSA candidate — in second place with 12% support."
Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democratic-socialist-candidate-zohran-mamdani-emerging-as-a-serious-contender-for-nyc-mayor-poll/ar-AA1zK83H
#USPol #NYC
Those MUST be paid actors, right?!!
Drawing huge crowds, #BernieSanders steps into leadership of the #AntiTrump #resistance
By STEVE PEOPLES
Updated 12:03 AM EDT, March 10, 2025
WARREN, Mich. (AP) — "Bernie Sanders is standing alone on the back of a pickup truck shouting into a bullhorn.
"He’s facing several hundred ecstatic voters huddled outside a suburban Detroit high school — the group that did not fit inside the high school’s gym or two overflow rooms. The crowd screams in delight when he tells them that a combined total of 9,000 people had shown up for the rally.
"'What all of this tells me, is not just in Michigan or in Vermont, the people of this country will not allow us to move toward oligarchy. They will not allow Trump to take us into authoritarianism,' Sanders yelled. 'We’re prepared to fight. And we’re going to win.'
"At 83 years old, Sanders is not running for president again. But the stooped and silver-haired #DemocraticSocialist has emerged as a leader of the resistance to Donald #Trump’s second presidency. In tearing into Trump’s seizure of power and warning about the consequences of firing tens of thousands of government workers, Sanders is bucking the wishes of those who want Democrats to focus on the price of eggs or 'roll over and play dead.'"
https://apnews.com/article/bernie-sanders-democrats-trump-c213d5ae42737c956d46f6f7f17e5abd
#ResistFascism #ResistDOGE #USPol
RAWWRRRR! GLOVES OFF: #BernieSanders drops BOMB on #ElonMusk
February 12, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txe2Zu3QbNU
#StillSanders #DemocraticSocialist #FuckOligarchy
#WWJD versus #WWRJD! Jesus was a #DemocraticSocialist! #MAGAJesus #ChristoFascists
I did it! I'm an official card-carrying #Socialist! If I'm going to be rounded up and sent away with everyone else, I want to make sure TPTB know which side I'm on (as if there was any doubt). I always figured if I were alive during #McCarthyism, I'd be targeted for being a "Commie pinko weirdo", so fuck it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism
#MaineDSA #DemocraticSocialist #DSA #CommiePinko #CommiePinkoWeirdo #WeirdAndProud
@mckra1g Oooooh...! What a great resource! It seems the #MaineDSA is quite active these days. I may have to switch back to being a #DemocraticSocialist again. I'm not seeing this kind of community building and solidarity with the Maine Greens, which is disappointing...
And yes, my next door neighbor is also a #DemocraticSocialist and loves #BernieSanders. And we provide mutual aid to each other and our community, because that's what is needed -- especially these days.
After having a wonderful conversation with my next door neighbor, I just wanted to remind folks that I am a lifelong #DemocraticSocialist and #GreenParty member. I plan on voting for a #Democrat to keep #Trump from implementing #Project2025. But I am fully aware of Harris's flaws, and that she will probably not appoint anyone I like as her Veep [actually, she did appoint someone I liked -- Tim Walz]. But I will still vote for her. And I hope she wins. And I will give her administration a hard time and will push for REAL CHANGE. But I DO NOT appreciate any #VoteBlue folks trying to bully people into voting for their candidate -- never have, and never will. Don't get me started on #DNC shenanigans when #BernieSanders was running. Anyhow, if you feel the need to #RedScare or #GreenScare or whatever the blue folks want to call it, just lay off. Seriously... Everyone knows what's at stake -- and it's not just the 2024 election!
#ClimateCatastrophe #Polycrisis
Though I consider myself a #democraticsocialist, one of the dumbest ideas in #communism & #socialism is that once things are perfect, the state will somehow just disappear and everyone will live in a socialist utopia. No, people don't work like that. Fairness, #socialjustice, and properly exercised authority is a constant struggle. Perfection doesn't exist. Oh and #tankies are the worst, "just a little more oppression and death is justified because everything will be awesome, eventually". Stupid
Confession: My first experience with #Socialism was at the age of 15, when I read #HGWells' biography. I considered myself a #UtopianSocialist until I saw how humanity had been co-opted by corporate interests. My dreams of Utopia seemed like just dreams, so I became a #DemocraticSocialist and #GreenParty member. I still hold true my ideals, but now I'm a realist... But also optimistic -- despite everything that's going on (prepare for the worst, and hope for the best?). @OccuWorld @egalitaire @paninid
