In one of the scariest moments in modern history, we're doing our best at ScheerPost to pierce the fog of lies that conceal it but we need some help to pay our writers and staff. Please consider a tax-deductible donation.
By Theodore Hamm / The Indypendent
Mamdani won the primary without support from most of the major institutional players in the local Democratic Party. I’m referring primarily to unions and Democratic county organizations.
A few days after June 24, two major unions—representing hotel workers (HTC) and building staffers (32BJ SEIU)—shifted their endorsements from Cuomo to Mamdani.
Major unions that had not backed any candidate in the primary then followed suit, with public school teachers and aides (UFT), nurses (NYSNA), health care workers (1199), and city government staffers (DC 37) joining Mamdani’s camp.
Both active and retired members of these large unions helped Zohran gain over a half-million more votes than he received in round one of the June primary.
Like 32BJ and HTC, county Democratic leaders Keith Wright and Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn quickly shifted their support from Cuomo to Mamdani after he became the nominee. Rep. Greg Meeks, the Queens party boss, did not back the Astoria assemblymember’s bid. Zohran nonetheless carried most of the precincts in Meeks’ Southeast Queens turf.
Meeks’ counterparts in Manhattan and Brooklyn are far less ideological—and could easily spot the groundswell of support for Mamdani in their terrain. Although she had been elevated to her current position by former Brooklyn party boss Frank Seddio and his sidekick Frank Carone, Bichotte Hermelyn—previously a foe of reformers—split from the two by backing Zohran. Seddio stuck with Cuomo and Carone worked for both Adams and Cuomo.
Attorney General Tish James is very popular with older Black Democrats in the city. The Brooklyn figurehead endorsed Mamdani right before the primary. After the DoJ announced its indictment of James on what appears to be a very flimsy mortgage fraud case in early October, Zohran quickly declared his solidarity with Tish.
Cuomo, who holds a grudge against James because of the sexual harassment scandal that caused him to resign as governor in 2021, did not defend her.
Meanwhile, James and Zohran have done numerous campaign events together during the last few weeks, including a visit to a large Brooklyn church on Nov. 1 and an early-morning march over the Brooklyn Bridge on the day before the primary.
In addition to the unions and party organizations, the Tish-Zohran alliance helps explain why Mamdani received significant support from older city Democrats. The Mamdani campaign’s massive voter outreach operation also helped reach those same people directly.
In the Crown Heights portion of assemblywoman Phara Souffrant Forrest’s district, Mamdani scored much larger numbers than he did in the primary. The Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights areas that the NYC-DSA legislator represents also helped yield the second-largest total of Zohran votes of any assembly district (with roughly 36,000 at the moment).
Jo Anne Simon’s Brooklyn Heights-Park Slope district provided Mamdani’s top vote total, which currently approaches 47,500. While Simon joined the Brooklyn Bridge march on November 3, area Rep. Dan Goldman sat out the race.
Meanwhile, since the June primary, over 134,000 new voters enrolled as Democrats. It’s a safe bet that a large percentage of the newcomers backed Mamdani.
After Cuomo carried the Bronx in the primary, Democratic boss Jamaal Bailey and other party leaders helped Mamdani prevail in the borough by approximately 25,000 votes on Tuesday. An enormous cross-section of Democrats thus helped propel Zohran to victory. In sum, Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Hakeem Jeffries, Greg Meeks and Dan Goldman do not command the New York City Democrats.
Editor’s Note: At a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our independent journalism by contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send a check to our new PO Box. We can’t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.
You can also make a donation to our PayPal or subscribe to our Patreon.
Theodore Hamm
Theodore Hamm is the author of Bernie’s Brooklyn: How Growing Up in the New Deal City Shaped Bernie Sanders’ Politics. He covered Mamdani’s mayoral campaign for The Indypendent and Drop Site News.