How Voters In Trump Districts Helped Mamdani Win The Gothamist

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 26, 2025, 3:14 PM

how voters in trump districts helped mamdani win the gothamist

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2025. Donate today Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations A week after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani was on Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Road in the Bronx — microphone in hand — searching for working-class... Affordability was a driving factor in their decision, according to a video the then-nascent mayoral candidate posted of his visit to the neighborhood. “Rent is expensive.

Foods are going up. Utility bills are up,” one person Mamdani interviewed said. A week after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani was on Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Road in the Bronx — microphone in hand — searching for working-class... Affordability was a driving factor in their decision, according to a video the then-nascent mayoral candidate posted of his visit to the neighborhood. “Rent is expensive. Foods are going up.

Utility bills are up,” one person Mamdani interviewed said. Those voters became a key part of a strategy that led to his stunning victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this week’s Democratic primary. Eight months after Trump made significant gains among New York City’s working-class and immigrant communities, the city’s Democrats have chosen a self-described democratic socialist as their presumptive nominee. And Mamdani said his strategy of wooing Trump voters on affordability will continue into November’s general election. “ What comes next is an ever-expanding coalition that is going to speak both to the New Yorkers that voted for this campaign,” Mamdani told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer in his first interview after winning...

Forwarded this email? Sign up for free to have it sent directly to your inbox. NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI ON ELECTION NIGHT. (MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO VIA GETTY IMAGES) The Democratic primary was on June 24, and — it looks like we could have a socialist mayor.

We need to talk about that. Thanks for reading! The Democrats have spoken: Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist Assemblymember from Queens, will be their nominee in November’s mayoral election—a result made clear when former governor Andrew Cuomo conceded on election night. City Comptroller Brad Lander, emerging from the party’s progressive technocrat wing, was the only other significant candidate left, his base overlaps and his mutual endorsement with Mamdani ensures an easy majority for the frontrunner... Greetings from rural northern Michigan, where I spent many summers as a kid and am now visiting family. Our timing couldn’t be better - we flew into a cool early summer with not too many mosquitoes or tourists (yet).

In between trips to Moomers and Cherry Republic I’ve been thinking a lot about Zohran’s Mamdani’s stunning primary upset and the second MAGA era. And, like most of Substack, reading too many Takes on both. Two big things I keep waiting to see: 1. More recognition that New York City is not the United States of America. But it’s often covered like that by national media because those journalists work/live in NYC, and so over-focus on their specific, local issues without that fairly obvious context.

Mamdani ran on hyperlocal issues like MTA funding, child care costs, and rent stabilization, all of which have unique NYC applications. Any attempt to map What Mamdani Means For the Future of the Democratic Brand, even in good faith, is inherently flawed from inception. Mamdani worked hard to stay focused on local issues (in contrast to Cuomo, who obviously considered Gracie Mansion a pit stop on the way to the White House), and there are zero indications that... The lesson here seems less “Dems should embrace DSA-style socialism or policies” and more “be authentic and consistent as you hyperfocus on local issues.” Elissa Slotkin probably couldn’t win the New York mayoral primary,... Insofar as policy matters in an election, candidates win by focusing local and having a vision that speaks to what voters feel about their daily lives.1 2.

NYC went far more for Trump in 2024 than even the most MAGA-pilled pollster could have predicted, but eight months later anointed a 33-year-old Muslim socialist who wants city-run grocery stores. Huh? His affordability-focused message resonated in districts where the GOP gained ground last year. A week after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani was on Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Road in the Bronx — microphone in hand — searching for working-class... Affordability was a driving factor in their decision, according to a video the then-nascent mayoral candidate posted of his visit to the neighborhood. “Rent is expensive.

Foods are going up. Utility bills are up,” one person Mamdani interviewed said. Those voters became a key part of a strategy that led to his stunning victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this week’s Democratic primary. Eight months after Trump made significant gains among New York City’s working-class and immigrant communities, the city’s Democrats have chosen a self-described democratic socialist as their presumptive nominee. And Mamdani said his strategy of wooing Trump voters on affordability will continue into November’s general election.

How Voters In Trump Districts Helped Mamdani Win The Gothamist

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