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Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayoral frontrunner and Democratic nominee, joined the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in a rousing town hall in Brooklyn on Saturday evening where the two addressed the growing threat of oligarchic control across the US and how to fight it.
The event, held at Sanders’ alma mater Brooklyn College, drew an audience of about 1,700 people. Mamdani and Sanders co-hosted the town hall as part of Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy tour, which has included rallies in 20 states. Throughout the tour, the senator has been actively supporting and recruiting progressive candidates to run for office.
Speaking to the Guardian before the event, AjiFanta Marenah, vice-president of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, said “Zohran resonates with us because the policies he’s fighting for directly impact our communities”.
“We want a government that represents working people, low-income people. A government that’s going to fight for housing, justice and immigration … We don’t want a mayor that’s only going to work to represent billionaires.”
Inside the auditorium, Mamdani and Sanders were met with thunderous applause as they walked on stage, with students and older people alike standing and cheering. Mamdani opened his address by condemning the City University of New York’s decision to dismiss four professors, who said they were fired for their anti-war Palestinian solidarity. Immediately, the crowd began an energized chant: “Free, free Palestine!”
Mamdani, who has been backed by a slew of celebrities and lawmakers including Cynthia Nixon and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, went on to push back against capitalistic greed, saying “New York City is not for sale to Donald Trump’s billionaires … not for sale to corporations, it is not for sale to corrupt politicians” as the crowd erupted into applause.
He condemned what he called a nationwide “attack on working people”. “This is a fight where we make clear that this is a city where we will choose our name,” Mamdani said, before turning to Sanders and saying: “It is an honor to be here alongside an icon of our struggle.”
The 33-year-old Democratic socialist, who has been highly favored by progressives, has been a thorn in the side of the city’s billionaires as he vows to freeze rent prices, increase housing and raise taxes for New York’s richest 1%.
Echoing similar sentiments, Sanders hailed Mamdani’s campaign: “It is not ugly 30-second TV ads. It is a grassroots movement.” He called the campaign “a test case of whether democracy is still able to prevail” as he pointed to billionaire donors and tech and media oligarchs who have allied with Trump, including Bill Ackman, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk.
“What you are seeing now is an oligarchy with enormous economic power and political power in both political parties …[and] they are afraid of Mr Mamdani becoming an example of what can happen all over the country … They are scared to death,” Sanders said to rousing applause.
“What we are here tonight to say is, to hell with you. We are going to take you on!” he continued, bringing the crowd to its feet.
The senator also pointed to the fairly muted response from mainstream and centrist Democrats, including those of New York state, who have been slow to embrace Mamdani and his progressive policies.
“I find it hard to understand how the major Democratic leaders of New York state are not supporting the Democratic candidate,” Sanders said. “If a candidate started at 2% in the polls, gets 50,000 volunteers, creates enormous excitement, gets young people involved in the political process, gets nontraditional voters to vote, Democratic leaders would be jumping up and down!”
“We’ve got another fight on our hands, which is the future of the Democratic party,” Sanders added, as business owners and wealthy donors across New York City rally to fundraise against Mamdani and in support of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and current New York City mayor Adams, two Democrat turned independent candidates.
Mamdani and Sanders took a handful of questions from the crowd, including one on how Mamdani plans to defend immigrant communities who have come under attack by the Trump administration.
“One of the key things that we can do here in New York City is to actually start to provide legal representation to New Yorkers in detention,” said Mamdani, who moved to the US as a child from Uganda where he was born to parents of Indian descent. “To increase funding by tens of millions of dollars, to scale up this program such that we do everything in our power to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers are not living in fear.”
Sanders chimed in, calling the masked raids by federal agents in migrant communities “unspeakable” and “disgusting”.
With growing concerns over Trump’s threat to deploy national guard troops to New York City, Mamdani replied to a question on what he would do should such deployment happen: “The first thing is we have to prepare for the inevitability of that deployment, We cannot try and convince ourselves that because something is illegal, Donald Trump will not do it.
“Partnership is critically important in fighting back against Donald Trump. Can you imagine Andrew Cuomo working together with [New York attorney general Letitia] James to … fight back against the deployment? Why would he fight back when it’s Donald Trump trying to get him elected right now?”
Saturday’s event followed shortly after New York City mayor Eric Adams reaffirmed his plan to remain in the closely watched mayoral race. Adams’ decision came despite reports that Trump has been allegedly encouraging him to drop out of the race in order to help Cuomo beat Mamdani.
Mamdani emphasized the need to mobilize ahead of November’s elections, saying he aims to scale up the record-breaking 52,000 volunteers who rallied behind his campaign during the primaries to 90,000 volunteers this fall.
As Mamdani and Sanders prepared to head off stage, Sanders addressed the crowd one last time, pointing to the American oligarchy and saying: “They have wealth. They have the power. You know what we got? We have the people.”
