As people crowded into Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights, eager for a glimpse of the mayoral candidate, one name rang clear: “Zohran.”
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani joined hundreds of volunteers to get out the vote at a rally in Jackson Heights, Queens, last Saturday. The rally came one day before the final date to vote early for the upcoming mayoral primary elections.
The rally was hosted by community groups CAAAV Voice, DRUM Beats, and New York Communities for Change (NYCC). Each group had endorsed Mamdani since he began his mayoral bid in October 2024.
“We came together, we interviewed a number of candidates, and together, our organization, our membership, came together and decided to endorse Zohran,” said DRUM Beats Political Director Jagpreet Singh.
Mamdani supporters gathered to listen to members of the organizations and community speak about their experiences and reasons behind their support for the candidate. Assemblymember Steven Raga of District 30 was among one of the many speakers at the rally.
“We have a few more days. Let it all out there, because we, at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, don’t want to regret a minute,” said Raga.
Community members voiced their concerns and expressed their support for Mamdani’s proposed policies, specifically emphasizing rent freeze, displacement, and the ongoing threat of deportation of immigrants as their rationale for supporting Mamdani.
“The only way we can protect New York City now is by voting for a mayor who will pass a rent freeze and stand up to Trump and ICE,” said Polly Gong, a Chinatown resident with CAAAV Voice.
Mamdani’s speech focused on upholding the policies he has campaigned around and the importance of voting: “I stand here ready to freeze the rent for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants, to make the slowest buses in the country fast and free, and to deliver universal childcare.”
After the rally, volunteers began to canvass around the neighborhood, garnering support for Mamdani as they urged members of the community to rank Mamdani first on the ballots.
“Many of our communities have been disenfranchised from the political process forever, but especially as of recent, there’s just been no reason to go out and vote, so we saw a need to really be able to bring our community back into the process to show that they have power and strength,” said Singh when asked what the greatest challenge canvassing has presented.
Fahd Ahmed, director of DRUM Beats, mirrored Singh’s concerns. “The response is not to then become more conservative, to win some of those people back over, [but] to actually provide a clear alternative that is centered on the material needs of working-class people’s lives.”
With the election a day away, new polling showed Mamdani beating Andrew Cuomo, who held the lead for the Democratic vote in the primary race. The poll is a testament to the advocating and canvassing the volunteers have been doing, according to Singh.
“We just wanted to rally our volunteers, our members, our supporters, to show how far we’ve come in this campaign, all the way from where he was back in October to in some polls, even leading the race, and other polls being neck and neck,” said Singh.