NYC Mayor Mamdani, Sanders team up at a Brooklyn progressive rally
Democrats divided on progressive moves as Mamdani defends far-left House candidate
Political strategists Meghan Hays and Luke Ball discuss the Democratic Party’s perceived shift toward the progressive left. They analyze Senator Bernie Sanders’ significant influence on the direction of the party, including his support of socialist candidates such as Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose controversial social media posts sparked controversy. The discussion highlights potential impacts on upcoming midterm elections.
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A year after Zohran Mamdani sent political shockwaves across the country with his New York City Democratic primary victory en route to winning the mayoral election of the nation’s most populous city, he is testing the limits of political power as he undertakes his party founding.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor, longtime progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential candidate runner-up Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and are meeting at a get-out-the-vote rally in New York City’s Brooklyn borough on Thursday, less than a week before the crucial primary elections.
Mamdani and Sanders aim to increase the number of candidates the mayor supports, including two running against Democratic incumbents, as part of their efforts to build a more progressive party.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hugs Rep. Bernie Sanders during a speech marking Mamdani’s first 100 days in office at the Knockdown Center in New York on April 12, 2026. (Andres Kudacki/AP)
Left-wing candidates backed by Mamdani include political organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is running a primary challenge against Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in New York’s 13th U.S. House District, which covers the northern third of Manhattan and part of the Bronx. Espaillat is supported by several party leaders, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
The mayor is also backing former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who ran against Mamdani in a crowded primary field last year but has become one of her biggest supporters. Lander is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th Congressional District, which covers parts of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Goldman’s supporters include former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In New York’s 7th, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, socialist state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, backed by Mamdani, is challenging Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, backed by retired Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y.
The results of the races in which Mamdani weighs in will test whether his popularity among New York Democrats will come to the fore in the elections.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on June 14, 2026. (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
“This team. This is our year. It is all our responsibility to carry them to the finish line,” Mamdani said in a social media post highlighting Thursday’s rally. he emphasized.
The socialist has been a favorite of the far left for a year and a half. But six months into his term as mayor of New York, he may also see former critics within the Democratic Party, including Hochul, as allies. And it even received praise from President Donald Trump.
Trump repeatedly claimed last year that Mamdani was a “communist lunatic,” but at an Oval Office meeting in November that drew national attention, the president praised the then-mayor as a “very sensible person” who could do a “really good job.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani meets with President Trump at the White House in Washington DC on February 26, 2026. (Zohran Kwame Mamdani/X)
“It’s very clear that Mamdani understands power and how to leverage it,” longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.
“He remains incredibly popular, and it seems like he understands that may not always be the case. That’s why you’re seeing him flex his political muscle now. It’s smart politics,” added Caiazzo, a veteran of Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Mamdani’s support, which includes some candidates running for state legislative offices, mostly showcases the mayor’s platform of focusing on affordability in a city with one of the nation’s highest costs of living.
Sanders, a New York City native who attended rallies on Mamdani’s behalf last year and was sworn in as mayor at the January inauguration, emphasized on social media: “Now, more than ever, we need Congressional leaders who understand firsthand the struggles working people face.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., administers the oath of office to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as Rama Duwaji holds the Quran during the inauguration ceremony on January 1, 2026 in New York City. (Andres Kudacki/AP Photo)
Mamdani’s support for the trio of congressional candidates and his rally with Sanders on Thursday give Republicans who have long labeled the mayor a radical more ammunition to use him as a cudgel as they try to maintain their razor-thin majority in the House in this year’s midterm elections.
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“Zohran Mamdani’s socialist brand is as toxic as it gets,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) National Press Secretary Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital.
“And at a time when Democrats don’t have a leader or a message, he’s exactly the kind of bogeyman that we can use to really show the Democrats who is leading their party and the crazy policies they all support.”
