Queens Assemblymember Zohran K. Mamdani, this year’s Democratic mayoral nominee, is using momentum from his primary win to capture the hearts and minds of Black and Latino voters in Harlem, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.
Even though Mamdani earned more than 545,000 votes across the five boroughs, the most of any Democratic primary candidate in the past 36 years, the big question after his win in June is if other more traditional Democrats would support a socialist going into the general election in November.
“A little more than two weeks from the primary. Much has been written,” said Mamdani at a gathering in Washington Heights. “But when I have had to read the smears and the slander from Republican Congresspeople, I need not look far to find a leader who has had to endure the same. The same on the basis of his name, on the basis of where he comes from, on the basis of who he fights for.”
According to election map data from the primary, former Governor Andrew Cuomo won many majority Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. However, Mamdani dominated Central Harlem, East Harlem, and Washington Heights as well as several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.
“When we ran this campaign and continue to do so, in speaking about freezing the rent for more than 2 million rent stabilized units, about making buses fast and free, about delivering universal child care,” said Mamdani. “I will be a mayor for everyone in the City, and I am so excited at working together with everyone here at this stage, and everyone alongside us, in making that clear day after day, because this general election is also an opportunity to show what the next administration will look like.”
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who is the Assembly Majority Whip and Brooklyn County Democratic Party Boss, had originally been all in for Cuomo. But she was among the first to endorse Mamdani a few days post-election, and has been active on social media with his campaign as of late.
In the weeks since the primary, Manhattan’s most established Black and Latino Democrats, Manhattan County Democratic Party Boss Keith L.T. Wright and Congressmember Adriano Espaillat, decided to endorse Mamdani as well.
Wright and the Manhattan Dems voted on July 8 to endorse him to be the next mayor. His son, Assemblymember Jordan Wright, along with several churches and faith leaders in Manhattan, had backed Cuomo in the months leading up to the primary.
“The Manhattan Democratic Party’s Executive Committee was proud to endorse Assemblyman Zohran K. Mamdani for Mayor,” said Wright in a statement. “While Democratic Clubs across our borough made their own endorsements for the June primary, we are excited to come together as one party and support Assemblyman Mamdani’s vision for a Manhattan and a New York City that are affordable for those who keep our city running every day. We look forward to working closely to maintain the dramatic increase in voter engagement and turnout we saw this June and grow it for the November General Election.”
Congressmember Espaillat is the first Dominican American and the first formerly undocumented immigrant to be elected to serve in the U.S. Congress. Espaillat said that he and Mamdani bonded over their similar background. He added that it’s important to honor who the people have chosen as their nominee.
“This is a city that is at a tipping point, at a precipice, unlike ever before,” said Espaillat at a gathering at the grand United Palace Theater in Washington Heights he held to celebrate his endorsement of Mamdani on July 10. He was joined by members of the Northern Manhattan Dems for Change; Councilmembers Shaun Abreu and Carmen De La Rosa, and Councilmember-elect Elsie Encarnacion. “And so we need someone that will represent those tenants, those small business people, those families that are up against the wall.”
“Now we have had a robust primary. We had a tough primary,” Espaillat added. “The Democratic Party is a big tent party with different opinions, with different people from all over the world, with different subgroups that bring a lot of ideas to the table. That’s what makes us a strong party. The diversity of our membership. And I would be damned if I see the party go down. We gonna make sure we unite. A united Democratic Party cannot be defeated.”
Unity is key
Espaillat said that it is imperative that the Dem party stay united in the face of President Donald Trump’s “fundamentally un-American” mass deportation agenda regardless of differences.
Mamdani also spent the past weekend campaigning in the Bronx. He was endorsed by Councilmember Pierina Sanchez on July 10. Sanchez emphasized the urgent need for a shift in city leadership that centers the needs of working-class, immigrant, and low-income communities.
“Zohran’s campaign isn’t just inspiring — it’s bold, urgent, and rooted in the realities of neighborhoods like mine, where families are fighting to stay housed, fed, and hopeful,” said Sanchez in a statement. “Our city’s most vulnerable — Black, Brown, immigrant, and low-income New Yorkers — deserve more than survival.”
For voters like the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the shift towards accepting a socialist is unsurprising.
“When we do outreach, people do talk about socialism without using that specific term. If you ask people, ‘how would you fix this?’ They would say like free buses or neighborhood watch. When they have solutions, people speak about them taking the power or coming up with a plan,” said Rosanna Garcia of PSL, who is based in the South Bronx.
Garcia pointed out that social programs, like free school lunches, already exist in the U.S. but leftist ideologies associated with the Soviet Union and communism have been “demonized” from 1917 to the 1950s. “The Red Scare, I mean, ever since World War II, like, the U.S., unfortunately, has been attacking communism, socialism and just any socialist project out there has been shut down,” said Garcia. “They don’t want to see examples of what socialism can do for other people, so this is why there’s this pushback from the elite class right now with Mandani sharing this message.”
Former NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, ran on socialist ideals despite being Republican, and physically transformed the city’s landscape with public housing programs and transportation infrastructure. The city’s first Black mayor, the late David Dinkins also belonged to a socialist club, the now controversial Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Garcia said that the current issue of unaffordability in housing, rise of homelessness, and authoritarianism from Trump and federal agencies dictates a need for change. “At this point, it’s a requirement. It’s a must,” she said.
Mamdani’s currently facing Independent candidates Eric Adams, the incumbent and city’s second Black mayor, Andrew Cuomo, the former governor, and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
A recent poll from HarrisX, and even a conservative survey like American Pulse, still show Mamdani leading the fiercely competitive race. In a “four-way race,” Mamdani is just ahead of the pack with 26% of the vote, Cuomo 23%, and Sliwa 22%. Adams is trailing at 13% and 15 percent of voters are undecided, said HarrisX.
“These numbers show a volatile race still taking shape,” said Dritan Nesho, CEO of HarrisX. “While the progressive base is fueling Mamdani’s rise, Cuomo’s broad name recognition and moderate appeal make him a formidable general election challenger.”
