Zohran Mamdani is trying to build a new NYC Democratic primary coalition

When you talk with Zohran Mamdani, you can tell he’s tired. He knows the clock is ticking, and he is trying to be everywhere at once.

Since the Queens Assembly member launched his mayoral campaign in late October, he has ridden every subway line, knocked on hundreds of doors across neighborhoods historically overlooked in citywide elections, attended over 500 events, made countless fundraising calls while fasting for Ramadan (something he hopes never to do again), joined his fellow candidates onstage at over 30 forums, and trooped back and forth between New York City and Albany via Amtrak at least 20 times, missing only a day of the legislative session. In each appearance, each meeting, each rally and interview, Mamdani’s message is consistent: The cost of living is crushing working-class New Yorkers, and it’s the job of city leaders to fix it.

“We can’t just hope and pray that people come to us,” Mamdani told City & State as he leaned across a table at Qahwah House in the West Village. It was a sunny Saturday in mid-April, peak spring – the sort of day where freshly fallen cherry blossoms speckle the sidewalks like confetti and everybody flocks outdoors. “We have to go to the mosque, to the church, to the synagogue, to the subway platform, to wherever New Yorkers are with the same message.”

Mamdani’s goal to meet New Yorkers where they are has been central to his efforts to stitch together an unprecedented coalition of Democratic primary voters. He’s betting that his unyielding focus on the cost of living and his targeted outreach to Muslim and South Asian voters will inspire people disillusioned by the political status quo and those long ignored by citywide candidates to flock to the polls. If he’s successful, the many different groups uniting behind him will have challenged the rules about which political coalitions wield power in the city.




https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/05/zohran-mamdani-trying-build-new-nyc-democratic-primary-coalition/405008/?oref=csny-category-lander-featured-river