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'Hope Is Alive!' Mamdani Victory in NYC Seen as Historic Turning Point
"If there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump. It is how we stop the next one."
Nov 05, 2025
Zohran Mamdani was elected the next mayor of New York City on Tuesday in a victory he and his supporters say reflects the hope of a city—and a nation—ready for a new kind of politics that puts the needs of working people at the center after decades of failed leadership that put corporate interests and the desires of the wealthiest first.
Withstanding a barrage of negative ads and fearmongering by the city's elite, the democratic socialist candidate secured 50.4 percent of the vote in a three-way race that saw disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mandani, nab 41.6 percent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa just over 7 percent.
"Hope is alive," declared Mamdani in his victory speech from the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn after most major networks called the victory his shortly after 9:30 pm local time.
"While we cast our ballots alone, we chose hope together," said Mamdani. "Hope over tyranny. Hope over big money and small ideas. Hope over despair. We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible. And we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do."
"This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt." —Zohran Mamdani
Mamdani, a member of the New York State Assembly who ran a campaign focused on making life more affordable for the workers who make the nation's largest city run and thrive, said that while the campaign's unifying and inspiring spirit meant his supporters could express a collective sigh of relief after the election day win, the hard work will now be making that shared vision for the city become a reality.
"This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt," he said. "Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiorello La Guardia: an agenda that will freeze the rents for more than two million rent-stabilized tenants, make buses fast and free, and deliver universal child care across our city."
"Years from now, may our only regret be that this day took so long to come," he added. "This new age will be one of relentless improvement."
As progressives and Democrats nationwide took the victory in New York City as a sign of what a populist campaign focused on the needs of working people can accomplish, Mamdani also spoke to the underlying theme of Tuesday's elections across the country, where Democrats claimed major wins in various competitive races and ballot initiatives—outcomes seen as a resounding rebuke to President Donald Trump's scorched-earth second term.
"If we embrace this brave new course rather than fleeing from it," said Mamdani, "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him." pic.twitter.com/mvGcsN01Xt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 5, 2025
"If there is any way to terrify a despot," he added, "it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump. It is how we stop the next one."
That dynamic was front and center for many who heralded Mamdani's win as historic and called for the Democratic Party leadership to embrace his vision on economic issues and a more populist style of politics to displace the corporate stranglehold on the party.
Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, called Mamdani's victory "the turning point in this Democratic Party that our movement has been working towards for years: electing leaders with the moral courage to unite our voters to take on Republican authoritarianism, Democratic corporatism, and billionaire greed all at once."
"Zohran Mamdani has never backed down from standing up to Trump and the forces that threaten our democracy,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a pro-democracy advocacy group focused on the climate crisis. “This is the leadership our democracy, and the Democratic Party, needs to rebuild trust with working people and fight for a future that works for everyone."
Michael Magazine, a campaigner with the group's local NYC affiliate, echoed that sentiment. "Tonight, the people of New York City showed up in force and reminded the world that grassroots power can beat big money," he said. "This is more than a win for Zohran. It’s a win for the movement and for democracy itself. We’ve proven that a bold, people-powered vision can overcome the status quo, and this is just the beginning."
"The oligarchy came out in full force against Zohran Mamdani's fight for a more affordable NYC," said former labor secretary Robert Reich following Tuesday night's victory. "It didn't matter. Let his victory in the face of Big Money serve as a reminder that people have the power."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who proudly endorsed Mamdani, also championed the win.
"Starting at 1% in the polls," said Sander, "Mamdani pulled off one of the great political upsets in modern American history. Yes. We CAN create a government that represents working people and not the 1%."
And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of Mamdani's most prominent backers in the race, also heralded his victory as a major turning point, not just for New York City, but for the party.
In her remarks to MSNBC shortly after Mamdani's victory was declared, the New York Democrat said the campaign and the "heroic effort" of its supporters was not only a fight against Trump and Republican destruction but also a battle against the Democratic Party's "old guard," which "essentially led us to many of the perils of this moment."
Mamdani, she explained, "how a two-front war to win, which is what makes his win so deeply impressive" in a broader political context that should be a wakeup call for those in the party resisting the kind of policies and politics that his campaign championed and exemplified.
"We have a future to plan for. We have a future to fight for," Ocasio-Cortez said of the party from now on. "And we're either gonna do that together, or you're gonna be left behind."
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Sanders Warns Trump Will 'Accelerate Movement Toward Authoritarianism' If Dems Cave
"Does anyone truly believe that caving in to Trump now will stop his unprecedented attacks on our democracy and working people?" asked Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Nov 03, 2025
US Sen. Bernie Sanders over the weekend implored his Democratic colleagues in Congress not to cave to President Donald Trump and Republicans in the ongoing government shutdown fight, warning that doing so would hasten the country's descent into authoritarianism.
In an op-ed for The Guardian, Sanders (I-Vt.) called Trump a "schoolyard bully" and argued that "anyone who thinks surrendering to him now will lead to better outcomes and cooperation in the future does not understand how a power-hungry demagogue operates."
"This is a man who threatens to arrest and jail his political opponents, deploys the US military into Democratic cities, and allows masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to pick people up off the streets and throw them into vans without due process," Sanders wrote. "He has sued virtually every major media outlet because he does not tolerate criticism, has extorted funds from law firms and is withholding federal funding from states that voted against him."
If Democrats capitulate, Sanders warned, Trump "will utilize his victory to accelerate his movement toward authoritarianism."
"At a time when he already has no regard for our democratic system of checks and balances," the senator wrote, "he will be emboldened to continue decimating programs that protect elderly people, children, the sick and the poor while giving more tax breaks and other benefits to his fellow oligarchs."
Sanders' op-ed came as the shutdown continued with no end in sight, with Democrats standing by their demand for an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits as a necessary condition for any government funding deal. Republicans have so far refused to negotiate on the ACA subsidies even as health insurance premiums skyrocket nationwide.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, is illegally withholding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding from tens of millions of Americans—including millions of children—despite court rulings ordering him to release the money.
In a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday, Trump again urged Republicans to nuke the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate to remove the need for Democratic support to reopen the government and advance other elements of their agenda unilaterally. Under the status quo, Republicans need the support of at least seven Democratic senators to advance a government funding package.
"The Republicans have to get tougher," Trump said. "If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want. We're not going to lose power."
Congressional Democrats have faced some pressure from allies, most notably the head of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to cut a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown and alleviate the suffering it has inflicted on federal workers and many others.
But Democrats appear unmoved by the AFGE president's demand, and other labor leaders have since voiced support for the minority party's effort to secure an extension of ACA subsidies.
"We're urging our Democratic friends to hold the line," said Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of the 185,000-member Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ.
In his op-ed, Sanders asked, "Does anyone truly believe that caving in to Trump now will stop his unprecedented attacks on our democracy and working people?"
"If the Democrats cave now, it would be a betrayal of the millions of Americans who have fought and died for democracy and our Constitution," the senator wrote. "It would be a sellout of a working class that is struggling to survive in very difficult economic times. Democrats in Congress are the last remaining opposition to Trump's quest for absolute power. To surrender now would be an historic tragedy for our country, something that history will not look kindly upon."
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Sanders Demands Trump 'Obey the Law' and Fund SNAP as GOP Rejects Standalone Bill
"Do not go down in history as the first president to manufacture a hunger crisis in the richest country on Earth," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Release these funds."
Oct 30, 2025
Senate Democrats on Wednesday accused the Republican Party of "weaponizing hunger" after Senate Majority Leader John Thune blocked an effort to pass a standalone bill to keep federal food assistance funded through November, and as the Trump administration showed no signs of listening to demands that officials release billions of dollars in emergency funding to keep 42 million people from going hungry.
With the government shutdown in its 30th day, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is set to lapse on Saturday unless lawmakers pass legislation to keep it funded.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) on Wednesday introduced legislation Wednesday to direct the US Department of Agriculture to release about $5 billion in emergency funding for SNAP, which Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has claimed the USDA can only legally do in cases of disasters like hurricane and flooding—after the administration previously said the emergency funds could be used.
On the Senate floor, Thune (R-SD) suggested the only way to ensure SNAP benefits go out on November 1 is for Democrats to join the GOP in voting for the continuing resolution that they rejected at the end of September because it would allow the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies and raise healthcare premium prices for millions of people.
"This isn't a political game," said Thune on the Senate floor, attacking Democrats for voting against the government funding bill 13 times. "These are real peoples' lives that we are talking about and you all have just figured out 29 days in that, 'Oh there might be some consequences, that people are running out of money."
Thune has also rejected a standalone SNAP funding bill proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—who voted earlier this year for the largest SNAP cuts in history—saying the government should be reopened instead of lawmakers funding specific programs.
The GOP leader accused Democrats of picking "winners and losers" by pushing to fund SNAP as the shutdown continues, though Republicans have supported continuing to pay the military without reopening the government.
"The Trump administration has the authority and the funds to keep SNAP running during this shutdown," Luján said in response to Thune's comments. "Any failure to do so right now falls squarely on the Trump administration and Republicans."
BREAKING: @SenatorLujan went to the Senate floor to pass his Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act so 42 million Americans can continue to get food aid during a shutdown
Republican Leader Thune and Senate Republicans blocked it.
Because of Trump and Republicans people will go hungry. pic.twitter.com/Rk47mDRzf0
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) October 29, 2025
More than two dozen Democratic-led states have sued the USDA for withholding the contingency funds.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) were among several members of the Democratic caucus who held a press conference demanding that the White House release the emergency funding.
As they refuse to ensure SNAP recipients get their benefits after October 31, said Sanders, Republicans are also refusing to negotiate with Democrats on healthcare in order to get the 60 votes they need to pass the continuing resolution.
While rejecting talks over the ACA subsidies and Medicaid cuts they included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act over the summer, said Sanders, President Donald Trump and the Republicans are "prepared to let millions and millions of children and their parents and grandparents go hungry, because he sees that maybe there is a political gain in that."
"We are here today to send a very loud and clear message to President Trump," he added. "Obey the law...Do not let children in America and their parents and grandparents go hungry. Do not go down in history as the first president to manufacture a hunger crisis in the richest country on Earth. Release these funds."
Trump is illegally blocking over $5 billion to feed hungry kids.
Mr. President: Release the funds. Don’t give tax breaks to billionaires while children in America are on the verge of going hungry. https://t.co/YSo4JzsEsy
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 29, 2025
On Thursday, organizers with the No Kings Alliance—the rapid response arm of the No Kings movement that held two nationwide protests against Trump's agenda—said it would begin organizing mutual aid efforts across the country to help feed hungry families and urged people who are able to donate funds to their local food banks; support community shelters by contributing food, clothing, and other essentials; or host a local food or supply drive.
"Join us this weekend as we provide mutual aid and care to our neighbors hurt by the Republican government shutdown," said organizers. "We’re showing up in solidarity, not just in protest, but in care."
Sanders on Wednesday emphasized that several members of Thune's caucus have signed on to support Hawley's bill, while every Democrat is prepared to vote to keep SNAP funded.
"I say to Senator Thune, when you have 11 Republicans and every member of the Democratic caucus in support, that bill should get to the floor immediately," said the senator. "No child in this country should be forced to go hungry,’”
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