Less than two months before election day, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani joined his political hero Senator Bernie Sanders at an energetic town hall at Brooklyn College on Saturday, as the senator chided what he sees as the rising threat of oligarchy in the United States.
Sanders, who was raised in Midwood and attended Brooklyn College for a year, has been hosting his Fighting Oligarchy tours across the nation where he has been supporting and recruiting progressive candidates to run for office.
“Zohran’s campaign is about an understanding that today we are living in an unprecedented moment in the modern history of our country and we have got to fight back in an unprecedented way,” Sanders told the crowd, spurring a round of cheers and thunderous applause.
Mamdani, who has received vocal support from U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, joined Sanders in condemning President Donald Trump’s policies.
The 33-year-old Democratic socialist criticized Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which he says will directly harm working class Americans.
“That is the fight we are seeing taking place – the interconnectedness of an attack on working people all to enrich those same millionaire donors that gave us Donald Trump’s second term,” Mamdani said. “That is the fight that unites us across this country, a fight where we make clear that this is a city where we will choose our own mayor.”
Mamdani has received staunch criticism from conservatives because of his promises to freeze rent, implement free bus fares and raise taxes for affluent New Yorkers. But some supporters say Mamdani’s platform allows them to get behind policy stances that directly impact their livelihood, such as affordability.
“It’s really nice to see a socialist campaign that speaks to something that everyone could really agree on,” said 34-year-old Upper West Side resident Chris Stone.
Despite his growing support, Mamdani has also endured attacks from Trump, who has reportedly offered New York City Mayor Eric Adams a position in his administration in an attempt to remove him from the race and consolidate the field against Mamdani.
Still, top New York City Democrats, including Governor Kathy Hochul, Senator Chuck Schumer and U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, have been slow to publicly support Mamdani.
“I find it hard to understand how the major Democratic leaders of New York state are not supporting the Democratic candidate,” Sanders said. “If a candidate started at 2% in the polls, gets 50,000 volunteers, creates enormous excitement, gets young people involved in the political process, gets nontraditional voters to vote, Democratic leaders would be jumping up and down!”
The pair made a powerful match, and Mamdani said the Vermont senator inspired the language of democratic socialism that now defines his campaign.
“And when Bernie Sanders walked out to Back in Black by ACDC, those who were there remember, we felt as if possibility was a fact of life,” Mamdani said. “And his campaign continued to inspire many of us.”
When Mamdani later ran for state assembly, he said he continued to look to Sanders’ vision as the “compass” for the work he wanted to accomplish in public office.
The weekend event, which drew a rousing crowd of about 1,700 people, seemed to similarly inspire a sense of unity.
“I think for everyone, just being with a bunch of your fellow New Yorkers and supporting the same ideas, it was really nice to have,” said Zack Ranieri, a 35-year-old Bed-Stuy resident.
On Friday, the Mamdani campaign reached the city’s $8 million spending cap (bolstered by the 8-to-1 matching program), where donations were primarily fueled by small-dollar contributions of just $25.
