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sunrise movement
Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to 'Billionaire-Backed Status Quo' in NYC
"The people of New York City proved that a movement powered by hope, courage, and working people can beat the money of billionaires," said one Mamdani supporter.
Jun 25, 2025
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani prevailed in Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary in New York City after running a grassroots campaign centered on delivering transformative change and lower costs in the expensive metropolis.
Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was backed by prominent national Democrats and an unprecedentedly deep-pocketed super PAC funded by billionaires and corporations, conceded defeat after it became clear that Mamdani's lead was insurmountable. With 93% of the votes tallied, Mamdani led Cuomo 43.5% to 36.4%.
Mamdani's primary win, a stunning upset, is expected to become official after the ranked-choice tally next week. In his victory speech, Mamdani said that his campaign and its supporters "made history."
"In the words of Nelson Mandela, 'It always seems impossible until it is done,'" he added. "My friends, we have done it."
Affordability was a key focus of Mamdani's policy platform and messaging, with the Democratic state assemblymember calling for an immediate rent freeze for all of the city's rent-stabilized tenants, the creation of a network of city-owned grocery stores focused not on profits but on "keeping prices low," and free childcare.
Mamdani proposed funding those and other priorities with a higher tax rate on corporations and city residents earning more than $1 million per year—fueling the backlash his campaign faced from the ultra-wealthy.
Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement—whose local chapter knocked on over 20,000 doors for the race—said in a statement that "the people of New York City proved that a movement powered by hope, courage, and working people can beat the money of billionaires."
"This is what it looks like to take back power," said Shiney-Ajay. "Pundits, billionaires, and the political establishment said it couldn't be done. But this campaign shattered that belief."
On Friday night, we walked the length of Manhattan, from Inwood Hill to Battery Park.
New Yorkers deserve a Mayor they can see, hear, even yell at. The city is in the streets. pic.twitter.com/gbOLz78Fta
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) June 23, 2025
Shiney-Ajay, like other progressives, argued that Mamdani's campaign should serve as a model for the rudderless Democratic Party as it tries to recover from its devastating loss to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in last year's election.
"Zohran Mamdani is the future of the Democratic Party," said Shiney-Ajay. "This kind of campaign and vision is what the party needs to rebuild trust with young voters and working-class voters, so we can defeat Trump and his allies."
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution—a national progressive advocacy group that endorsed Mamdani—said that the democratic socialist's win "has shaken the political establishment and proven that a united grassroots movement can take down even the most entrenched, powerful forces."
"This race was a showdown between the billionaire-backed status quo—which poured tens of millions into pro-Cuomo super PACs—and a new generation ready to crush corporate greed and deliver real results for working people," said Geevarghese. "The demand for people-powered change is loud, clear, and unstoppable."
While the winner of New York City's Democratic mayoral primary would typically be considered the heavy favorite going into the general election, "this fall's contest promises to be unusually volatile," The New York Times observed, noting that it will "include Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent."
Despite conceding defeat in Tuesday's primary, Cuomo left open the possibility of running as an independent in November.
"Mamdani faces an enormous responsibility—not only to his immediate constituency but also to a broader progressive movement."
Following his win, Mamdani supporters pointed to his broad support and successful coalition-building as reasons to be optimistic about his general-election prospects.
"The results make clear that his voting base wasn't limited to young, college-educated voters most engaged by his campaign," Bhaskar Sunkara, the president of The Nation and founding editor of Jacobin, wrote Wednesday. "Notably, Mamdani succeeded in neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park, and Brighton Beach—all areas that swung rightward in the 2024 presidential election."
"Mamdani has undoubtedly delivered a major victory in America's largest city," Sunkara added. "But we must be sober about the challenges ahead. Electoral wins are meaningful only if they translate into tangible improvements in people's lives, and political momentum can dissipate quickly if governance falls short. Mamdani faces an enormous responsibility—not only to his immediate constituency but also to a broader progressive movement watching closely from across the country and the world."
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'End the Oligarchy': Sunrise Launches Campaign to Confront Trump, Fossil Fuel Barons
The youth-led group is seeking to mobilize its millions of members to elect climate champions and partner with unions for an eventual general strike.
Jun 18, 2025
In response to a wave of increasingly authoritarian actions by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the Sunrise Movement is launching a sweeping new campaign to challenge him.
On Wednesday, the youth-led climate group announced the "End the Oligarchy, Save Our Futures" initiative, which aims to mobilize millions of people against the Trump administration and its backers in the fossil fuel industry. The campaign will begin with a virtual event Wednesday at 8:30 pm ET.
In an op-ed for Common Dreams, Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, described the urgency of the campaign.
" Donald Trump and his cronies are waging war on the American people," she said. "Trump deployed the National Guard to aid his mass abduction of undocumented immigrants. A U.S. senator was handcuffed and thrown to the ground for asking the Trump regime a basic question. Meanwhile, as the Atlantic hurricane season kicked off, Trump gutted climate rules and announced his intention to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency."
Sunrise's campaign comes on the heels of a weekend of nationwide "No Kings" protests, which mobilized millions of Americans against Trump's military parade and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s lawless behavior in Los Angeles. With more than 4 million active members, Sunrise will hope to build on that momentum to "villainize Big Oil for knowingly fueling the climate crisis while raking in billions in profit."
They will campaign for states to pass "Polluters Pay" laws, which require fossil fuel companies that have fueled the climate crisis to contribute to superfunds that pay for disaster recovery and clean energy infrastructure. New York and Vermont have passed these superfund laws and at least 10 other states have had them introduced. However, an executive order signed by Trump at the urging of the fossil fuel industry in April ordered the Justice Department to halt their enforcement.
Sunrise is also looking to longer-term goals of building the political power of the U.S. environmental and labor movements.
Another goal is to campaign for a new generation of legislators who recognize the severity of the climate crisis to take office in 2026. Sunrise has not yet released its endorsements for the coming election cycle, but past names have included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Greg Casar (D-Texas).
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a proponent of ending taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil, will be among the speakers to kick off the virtual campaign on Wednesday.
"Climate disasters are devastating working people around the country—destroying homes and pushing people into crushing debt. It’s far past time that Big Oil be held accountable," Khanna said.
Sunrise's campaign will also include "climate strikes" in response to key events throughout the next four years. They hope to align their campaign with the timeline laid out by Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, who has urged other unions around the country to align their contracts with UAW's in preparation for a national general strike on May 1, 2028.
"We intend to make sure millions of students are ready to join workers in demanding an overhaul of our political and economic system so that it finally works for everyday people," Shiney-Ajay said. "It’s a bold plan, but if we pull it off, it will change the course of history. It’s going to require all of us stepping up."
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This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like—and How We Fight Back
Sunrise is launching a new campaign to end the oligarchy and save our futures.
Jun 18, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump and his cronies are waging war on the American people. This was on full display last week. Trump deployed the National Guard to aid his mass abduction of undocumented immigrants. A U.S. senator was handcuffed and thrown to the ground for asking the Trump regime a basic question. Meanwhile, as the Atlantic hurricane season kicked off, Trump gutted climate rules and announced his intention to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But, to be honest, this week has made me feel hopeful. It feels like the tides are turning in our direction. In LA, Angelenos refused to let Trump’s raids deter them and mobilized to protect their city. Millions of people turned out on Saturday for the No Kings protests.
And I’m seeing thousands of people get ready to launch Sunrise’s new campaign, End the Oligarchy, Save our Futures. We’re building a mass movement of young people that can disrupt business as usual so that we can end Big Oil and bring down the oligarchy that’s letting Trump hold onto power. We’re launching the campaign Wednesday night—I hope you’ll join me.
If students disrupt business as usual, if workers walk off the job, if government workers don’t cooperate with Trump, the system grinds to a halt.
People are mobilizing because they’re starting to see through Trump’s facade. He claims the popular will while representing billionaires. He claims a mass movement while barely being able to fill the stands of his parade. Trump’s approval rating continues to drop as his draconian policies come into full display. And his chaotic attempts to hold on to power reek of desperation.
You don’t deploy the National Guard if you’re not afraid of what protests might grow into. You don’t shove a senator to the ground for asking a question if you have a good answer to his question. You don’t cancel town halls and shut down debate in Congress on legislation unless you are afraid of people realizing that you’re decimating Medicaid, killing clean energy jobs, and taking food stamps away from millions of people.
The way I see it is, we are living in a turbulent time—a ton is possible, for good or bad. Yes, the oligarchs are in formation, but we, too, are getting in formation. And, there are many more of us than there are of them. There are millions of us who are sick and tired of the status quo, who want good jobs, healthcare, lower rent, a four-day work week, and a stable planet. Critically, this system depends on our cooperation to function. If students disrupt business as usual, if workers walk off the job, if government workers don’t cooperate with Trump, the system grinds to a halt.
Throughout history, that’s how working people across race, religion, and borders have organized to bring down authoritarians and oligarchs and win the world we deserve. That too, must be the playbook of our generation and of our time.
That’s what Sunrise’s new campaign is all about. We’re taking aim at one of the key pillars of Trump’s oligarchy: Big Oil billionaires. Three of the top seven donors in the 2024 election are oil billionaires. Those three donors alone spent $360 million helping Trump and the GOP win.
Big Oil could be Donald Trump’s Achilles' heel. Climate and environment are consistently one of the issues where Trump is least trusted. In authoritarian countries across the world, it’s often issues of corruption and infrastructure failure that are the last straw for millions of people. And this summer, we will be putting Donald Trump’s corruption and failure to govern on full display.
This year, like every year, climate disasters will ravage our country. Heatwaves will be longer and hotter, hurricanes stronger, fires will burn faster, and floods will spread further. And while that happens, Donald Trump will be defunding government services like FEMA that are meant to help people, and protecting his oil billionaire friends. He certainly won’t be willing to tell the truth about the climate crisis, or willing to send money.
We will be there to put his hypocrisy and corruption on full display. And if we’re successful, then this could be our equivalent of the bridge collapse that led Prime Minister Milos Vukevic to resign in Serbia or the corruption scandal that doomed President Yoon Suk Yeol in South Korea. It could be a turning point in public opposition to Trump, laying the groundwork for the type of mass movement we need to kick him and his cronies out of power.
That’s our plan. We’re organizing young people around the country to strike from school and disrupt business as usual. We’re making sure millions of people know what Big Oil and Trump are doing to our communities. We’re demanding politicians stand up to Big Oil and make polluters pay for the costs of climate disasters.
We’re building up to May 1, 2028, when the United Auto Workers and other unions are aligning the expiration of their contracts. It could be the most impactful wave of action from working people in generations, and we intend to make sure millions of students are ready to join workers in demanding an overhaul of our political and economic system so that it finally works for everyday people.
It’s a bold plan, but if we pull it off, it will change the course of history. It’s going to require all of us stepping up. Whether you join us on Wednesday or not, I hope to see you in the streets for the fight ahead.
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