Dave Reid, Socialist Party National Committee
Nearly half a million New Yorkers have voted for Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), to be the Democrat candidate for the Mayor of New York in November. He shocked the American political establishment by beating the pro-business, ex-governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Mamdani won 44% of the near one million first round ranked choice votes in the city at the heart of global capitalism, standing as a self-proclaimed socialist on a programme of significant reforms for working people.
Mamdani’s victory is an indication of the huge desire for change in the United States and the potential for building a mass workers’ party, many of those who voted for him did so in rejection of the old two-party big business political elite that used to dominate US politics and the city of New York. Trump has been able to tap into this disillusionment with right-wing populism but, in the cities especially, there is a growing radical movement to support radical reforms and to resist Trumpism.
Mamdani mobilised 50,000 supporters to campaign for him and follows on from the virtual uprising in Los Angeles to resist the deportation of immigrant workers by government agency ICE, the millions on the 14 June ‘No Kings’ rallies against Trump and the huge ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ rallies called by self-declared socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). It also marks another significant blow to the old big business Democrat establishment. Cuomo was its candidate, backed by a $25 million ‘super PAC’ and endorsed by Bill Clinton and hedge fund billionaires, but those endorsements if anything undermined his support, so unpopular is the billionaire ruling class in American society.
Mamdani’s programme promises reforms that are hugely popular: a rent freeze, building public housing, a $30-an-hour minimum wage by 2030, free buses, free child care, city-owned grocery stores with price caps, and increasing taxes on the rich. He has also been a prominent opponent of the Israeli state’s genocidal war on Gaza. Significantly he won the votes in some districts that voted for Trump in last year’s presidential election, indicating the potential for socialist candidates to cut across support for Trump in the working class. Trump described him on X as “a 100% Communist Lunatic”. However, when asked about Trump’s criticism, Mamdani stressed that he stood for equality and called on billionaires to help in achieving this, rather than challenging capitalism itself and arguing for a socialist alternative.
But there is a long way to go before the reforms can be won. The capitalist establishment including the Democrats and Trump will do all in its power to prevent a radical reformer winning control of the biggest city in the US, the seat of all the main capitalist institutions – Wall Street and the financial centre. One of Cuomo’s backers, billionaire Bill Ackman, thundered, “Socialism has no place in the economic capital of our country.” On the night of the election, a big business representative said: “This is a capitalist city that has a historic relationship with Israel… He’s going to have to deal with that. Or there will be a serious surge to try and prevent him from becoming mayor.”
Two thirds of registered party supporters in New York are registered Democrats, just 10% are Republicans. Mamdani might be the official Democrat candidate, but the grandees of the party will do everything in their power to stop him. They will pull on every available lever to confuse and cut across Mamdani’s vote. They will throw their weight and tens of millions of dollars on propaganda and to back independents to stop him winning the election in November. Cuomo has already declared that he will stand as an independent against Mamdani and also Eric Adams, the current mayor, will be used. And a spoiler, a radical-appearing campaigner, may be promoted to split Mamdani’s vote.
Mamdani’s vote was highest amongst white people, men, those earning higher incomes, and who had been to college. On the other hand Cuomo had a significant lead amongst Black voters and poorer workers making under $50,000, while leading Mamdani amongst those did not go to college. Partly this was due to the Cuomo campaign mobilising the Democrat machine plus the influence of community spokespersons and union leaders linked to the Democrat city establishment. Socialists would counter this with a determined campaign addressing the issues and which challenged the role of the Democrats, however it is unlikely that Mamdani would fully go down this road as it would mean breaking with the Democratic Party.
It is also possible that Trump could use ICE to create a provocation against immigrant workers in New York in the same way that he did in Los Angeles, as a pretext for sending in the National Guard again to create chaos to frighten voters prior to the election.
And if Mamdani does win he will face the obstruction of New York city officials, big business and the courts, the state government and the New York City Council to prevent him carrying out his programme. This could only be resisted by mobilising working people around a new party.
Support erodes for main parties
The erosion of support for the two main parties of US capitalism is an indication of the growing social crisis in the United States. The Republican Party has been captured by the MAGA movement, it is in effect a Trumpist party, no longer a reliable instrument of the American ruling class. And the old Democrat leadership is in a deep crisis, its traditional support within the mass of the working class eroded. Despite widespread opposition, Trump was able to win his second election because of the rejection of the Biden-Harris presidency.
But it would be a mistake to follow the strategy of the DSA and Mamdani, of working through the Democratic Party to fight for radical change. The Democrats cannot be captured by socialists in the same way that the Republicans have been by MAGA. In fact, the Democrats always strive to capture movements to ensure that they do not develop towards a working-class party that can challenge the system and, using ‘lesser evil’ arguments, turn such movements into adjuncts of the Democratic Party.
Currently the party leadership might be down in New York but it is not out and is a significant barrier to change. While Cuomo will be supported by the Democrat capitalists, sections of the party leadership will also try to co-opt Mamdani, suck him into the machine and soften his programme.
He will come under enormous pressure to compromise his programme before and after November’s election. Some of his demands are a bit softer than they appear at first. 200,000 public homes would be a step forward in New York’s housing crisis, but they are promised over ten years. The demand for a $30-an-hour minimum wage is over five years. Inevitably the ruling class will mobilise all its levers of power to obstruct and delay those reforms to frustrate the working class. Only a democratic workers’ party organising the thousands of volunteers into a party of activists can provide the necessary support to prevent Mamdani buckling to the pressures of big business and also build on his victory to build a national challenge to Trump and the Democrats.
The victory of Kshama Sawant in Seattle in 2013 and 2015, then a member of the Committee For a Workers’ International (CWI), standing as a socialist, showed the potential for socialists to win elections as part of new parties. Had Bernie Sanders stood as an independent socialist against Hillary Clinton, he would have cut across Trump’s support in the 2016 presidential election.
The victories of Mamdani in New York could be used to launch a real challenge to Trump. As AOC and Bernie Sanders have pointed out, the politics of the current Democratic Party leadership are incapable of defeating Trumpism, but they refuse to draw the conclusion that a new mass workers’ party can be formed building on the huge appetite for social change across the US. At most, Sanders now supports some independent candidates standing but says that, if elected, they should follow his example and work with the Democrats rather than attempt to build a new party. This is the trap which needs to be avoided if a socialist alternative to the capitalist parties is going to be built.
