(2025-09-06) Bernie Sanders Assails Democrats For Not Endorsing Mamdani

Bernie Sanders Assails Democrats for Not Endorsing Mamdani. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Saturday assailed Democratic leaders for their refusal to support Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayor’s race and called him the “future of the Democratic Party.”

Speaking at an evening town hall in Brooklyn, Mr. Sanders said the party leaders’ reluctance to back Mr. Mamdani after his decisive win in the Democratic primary showed how deeply disconnected they had become from voters. (DNC)

“So we’ve got another fight on our hands,” Mr. Sanders said. “And that is the future of the Democratic Party.”

Mr. Mamdani joined Mr. Sanders on the latest stop on his national Fighting Oligarchy tour, the town hall feeling like a passing of the torch from Mr. Sanders, who turns 84 on Monday, to a new generation of leaders like Mr. Mamdani, 33, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35.

Mr. Mamdani has also faced pressure to distance himself from the Democratic Socialists of America to appeal to a broader audience.

Many Democrats in New York have not yet endorsed him, among them Gov. Kathy Hochul, as well as Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the minority leaders in the House and Senate.

*Mr. Mamdani’s populist proposals, Mr. Sanders said, were “not radical ideas.”

“We’re the richest country in the history of the world,” he said. “There’s no excuse for people not having affordable housing, good quality, affordable, decent transportation, free transportation.”*

Mr. Mamdani praised the D.S.A. at the town hall

He also weighed in on a host of local issues, including expressing support for faculty members and protesters on college campuses who support Palestinians

*When Mr. Mamdani was asked about Mr. Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to the city, he said: “We have to prepare for the inevitability of that deployment.”

Mr. Mamdani said that elected officials in California had worked together to oppose Mr. Trump’s incursion and cast doubt on whether his closest mayoral rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, could work with Ms. Hochul and others to stop him.

“Why would he fight back when it’s Donald Trump that is trying to get him elected right now?” he said.*

Mr. Sanders said that wealthy Americans had too much power and that the mayor’s race was a “test case of whether or not democracy can prevail.”

Mr. Trump has said that he wants two of the mayoral candidates to drop out so that one of them can beat Mr. Mamdani in a head-to-head competition

Mr. Mamdani added that the initial canvassing effort for his first State Assembly run in 2019 had taken place outside a Sanders rally. “He was a mayor who ran with a message that Burlington is not for sale,” Mr. Mamdani said of Mr. Sanders, who served four terms as the mayor of the Vermont city early in his career

Mr. Mamdani has embraced Mr. Sanders’s message, criticizing his mayoral opponents’ reliance on large campaign donations from billionaires and political groups backed by corporations. In contrast, Mr. Mamdani has relied on smaller donors and announced on Friday that he had hit the $8 million fund-raising cap in the race.

Mr. Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent, was endorsed on Saturday by the Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and was greeted warmly by some New Yorkers on the labor parade route.

Mr. Trump won more votes in New York City in 2024 than in 2020, in part over concerns about immigration and crime.

While Mr. Cuomo and Eric Adams have concentrated their message on public safety, Mr. Mamdani has sought to keep his focus on another issue — affordability — and his plans to tax the wealthy to provide free buses and child care.

Mr. Mamdani, who has a healthy lead in the polls, said the race was not over and urged his supporters to canvas for his campaign