Overview:
NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani began the first weekend of early voting with a tour of Brooklyn’s Little Haiti, meeting Haitian and Caribbean community members before joining Bernie Sanders and AOC for a major Queens rally on Sunday.
By The Associated Press | Additional editing and reporting by The Haitian Times
NEW YORK – On the first day of early voting in New York City on Saturday, Oct. 25, mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani toured Brooklyn’s Little Haiti and surrounding Caribbean neighborhoods, meeting with residents and local leaders to discuss housing, public safety, and immigrant community concerns. Joined by Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, and City Councilmembers Rita Joseph and Farah Louis, Mamdani visited cultural landmarks and small businesses before heading to a major rally in Queens on Sunday.
There, Mamdani took the stage at a small stadium alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—two of the nation’s most prominent progressives—to rally supporters and pitch his campaign as a force to take on billionaires and “oligarchs” backing his opponents. The crowd erupted in chants as Mamdani called the campaign a “movement of the masses.”
“When you insist on building a coalition with room for every New Yorker, that is exactly what you create: a tremendous force,” Mamdani said. “This, my friends, was your movement, and it always will be.”
As the crowd chanted his name, Mamdani reiterated plans to hire thousands of new teachers, renegotiate city contracts, freeze rent increases for the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments, build more affordable housing and provide universal child care.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, center, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appear on stage during a rally, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
With early voting underway ahead of Election Day on Nov. 4, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is in an increasingly caustic race with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who campaigned Sunday in Queens.
Cuomo has sought to cast Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblymember, as a naive candidate whose agenda would damage the city. In a radio interview Sunday morning, Cuomo argued that he is the real Democrat in the race while saying Mamdani’s democratic socialism would result in an exodus of residents and businesses.
“The socialists want to take over the Democratic Party. That’s what Bernie Sanders is all about. That’s what AOC is all about,” Cuomo said, adding, “He wins, book airline tickets for Florida now.”
Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations that he denies. Mamdani has often pressed Cuomo over the allegations, and on Sunday he told the crowd that it is time to leave behind the former governor’s “playbook of the past.” But he urged supporters not to take his lead in the polls for granted and to turn out to vote.
“We cannot allow complacency to infiltrate this movement,” Mamdani said.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have supported his campaign for months including before the Democratic primary in June. On Sunday they cast Mamdani as an antidote to what they called the creeping authoritarianism of President Donald Trump’s administration.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani takes the stage for a rally, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes Queens, said a victory for Mamdani will send a message nationally that a progressive message can prevail.
“It is not a coincidence that the very forces that Zohran is up against in this race mirrors what we are up against nationally … an authoritarian, criminal presidency fueled by corruption and bigotry, and an ascendant right-wing extremist movement,” she said.
Sanders said a Mayor Mamdani would represent “not the billionaire class” but working families.
“In the year 2025, when the people on top have never, ever had so much economic and political power, is it possible for ordinary people, for working class people, to come together and defeat those oligarchs?” Sanders said. “You’re damn right we can.”
Under the slogan “New York Is Not For Sale,” the rally featured rousing speeches from religious and labor leaders along with state elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The event was emceed by Sarah Sherman of “Saturday Night Live.”
Mamdani recently received an endorsement from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a moderate New York Democrat. Jeffries, in a statement, said he has disagreements with Mamdani but supports him as the nominee, adding that the party should unify against Republicans and Trump.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams abandoned his reelection campaign and endorsed Cuomo.
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