The last time Bernie Sanders headlined a rally in Queens it was 2019, he was trying to reenergize his presidential campaign after a heart attack, and Zohran Mamdani was asking attendees to sign petitions for his first assembly run.
On Sunday afternoon, the Vermont senator is expected to help fill a stadium in Queens for Mamdani in the hopes of powering him to a strong finish in his bid to be New York City mayor.
During his campaign, Mamdani has echoed the same working-class-focused message used by Sanders more than three decades ago when he first ran for mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
“He said when he was running to be the mayor of Burlington, that Burlington is not for sale,” Mamdani told CNN in an exclusive interview on Sunday. “It continues to be the rallying cry for working class people across this country, and for us, it’s that New York City is not for sale.”
The rally’s slogan, “New York Is Not for Sale,” is a dig at the vocal wealthy New Yorkers, including people like Bill Ackman and John Catsimatidis, who have been speaking out in opposition to Mamdani’s candidacy, and in many cases also donating to the super PAC that is aligned with Cuomo.
“We have the same billionaires who funded Donald Trump’s campaign funding Andrew Cuomo’s, and whether it be Bill Ackman or the Waltons, people who think they can look at a city like ours, they can appraise it and they can buy it,” Mamdani said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be at the rally, too, as Mamdani heads into the final week of this surprising campaign trying to emphasize the energy and firm rooting on the left that powered him from 1% in the polls in the spring to potentially winning city hall.
As he heads into the last stretch before the general election now that early voting in NYC has begun, Mamdani is also trying to signal a united front amongst Democrats – showing that his agenda has the backing of the three most powerful lawmakers in the state.
Mamdani will be joined on stage Sunday by Governor Kathy Hochul, marking the first time the two campaign together. Also on stage will be State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The trio of lawmakers are often referred to as “the three people in the room,” – a nod to their legislative, budgetary and executive power.
“It shows that this is not just an agenda that is principled, it’s not just one that’s popular, it’s one that’s possible,” Mamdani said.
Hochul has said she would not support raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for Mandani’s proposals, but she has embraced his universal childcare proposal and signaled she would find a way to fund the program without raising taxes.
Mamdani will need the trio’s legislative support to enact major parts of his agenda if he is elected in November, and while he referred to them as “partners,” Mamdani has not yet endorsed Hochul in her own race next year. The governor will likely face a challenge from Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who recently referred to Mamdani as a “Communist jihadist.”
“I have appreciated my relationship with the governor,” Mamdani said. “The governor hasn’t yet asked me for that endorsement, and what I’m focused on right now is these next 9 days running through the tape, and then building that relationship with the governor.”
When he takes the stage on Sunday, Mamdani is expected to keep hitting the three central themes of his campaign: freezing rents, making buses free and expanding universal childcare.
Mamdani is still trying to broaden his support across a party which remains divided on how to fight back against President Donald Trump. On Friday he welcomed the long-withheld backing of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader and Brooklyn congressman. Jeffries endorsed Mamdani while making it clear the two had political differences.
Jeffries told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday that he ultimately chose to endorse Mamdani because he believes the nominee matches the party’s values and said there is “alignment as it relates to the affordability crisis and the need to decisively deal with it.”
Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America said Sunday he “appreciated the work” Jeffries is doing around the government shutdown and trying to prevent millions of Americans from losing access to health care. He also stopped short of backing any challenge to the House Minority leader which Mamdani’s allies in DSA have called for.
“I am not having that conversation. I’m not thinking about that,” Mamdani said. “I appreciate the conversations with Congressman Jeffries as it comes back to affordability, our shared constituents, and the fact that in as much as we have to fight authoritarianism, we also have to fight for a democracy that New Yorkers see as being able to deliver on their material needs.”
The capacity of the theater where Mamdani held his last big rally two weeks ago was just over 3,000. In a sign of the Mamdani campaign’s confidence about his momentum, Forest Hills Stadium’s capacity, where Sunday night’s rally with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will be held, is 13,000. And just like that last rally, held in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, putting this rally outside the usual circuit of Manhattan venues is itself a representative choice of how Mamdani is pitching himself.
Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in June’s Democratic primary, has never held any kind of rally – nor has Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
CNN’s Alison Main contributed to this report.
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