New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani entered the final stretch of the closely watched race with a packed Sunday rally featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and several state leaders, including Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, as early voting totals shattered records.
Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani last month, broadly praised the candidate's focus on affordability and his push for universal childcare.
But during the governor's remarks, chants of "tax the rich!" rang out—an apparent criticism of her stated opposition to Mamdani's call for wealthy New York City residents and corporations to pay more in taxes to fund universal childcare and other proposals.
"Oh, this crowd is fired up," Hochul said in response to the chants. "I can hear you."
Polling indicates that Mamdani—a 34-year-old democratic socialist whose campaign has focused on offering bold solutions to the city's worsening inequality and cost-of-living crisis—is the clear frontrunner heading into the November 4 contest, with disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa trailing significantly.
But Mamdani implored his supporters to ignore such data and "go into the last eight days of this election assuming you are five points behind."
"While Donald Trump's billionaire donors think that they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses," Mamdani told the crowd of around 13,000 gathered in Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. "No longer will we allow the Republican Party to be the one of ambition. No longer will we have to open a history book to read about Democrats leading with big ideas."
"No longer should we think about our political process as settling for the lesser of two evils," he said. "We can demand a greater good."
Sanders (I-Vt.) also zeroed in on the billionaire forces arrayed against Mamdani, a group that includes hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and casino mogul Steve Wynn.
"Ordinary people get one vote. Billionaires get the opportunity to spend as much as they want to elect the candidates they want," Sanders said, decrying the influence of super PACs that can accept unlimited political donations. "That is the context in which this election is taking place."
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, cast the race as one that "mirrors what we are up against nationally, both an authoritarian criminal presidency, fueled by corruption and bigotry and an ascendant right-wing extremist movement," as well as the "insufficient, eroded, bygone political establishment, this time in the form of Andrew Cuomo."
"Both of these challenges," said Ocasio-Cortez, "are fueled and funded by the same billionaire class whose apparent greatest fear is an equitable, affordable, and prosperous nation and city for all, not just the very few."
