WASHINGTON
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic frontrunner in New York City’s mayoral race, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge before sunrise Monday in a symbolic gesture to mark what he called a “new day” for the city ahead of polls opening on Tuesday.
Accompanied by supporters carrying a banner saying “Our Time is Now,” Mamdani led the early morning march from the outer borough of Brooklyn to City Hall.
“This walk reflects the story of the movement that we have built over this last year. Just like this campaign when we launched on October 23 over a year ago, I began with only a few people by my side, but the banner we carried told a story that we have always known to be true, even when we were polling at 1%, (that) our time is now,” he told the crowd.
“Let City Hall, with our compassion, our conviction and our clarity, be the light that our city and our nation so desperately need,” he added.
‘Impossible for working people to live lives of dignity’
Mamdani also addressed President Donald Trump’s endorsement of his main rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“Andrew Cuomo received Donald Trump’s endorsement — if elected as mayor, our city will only descend deeper into a darkness that has forced too many of our neighbors to flee and made it impossible for working people to live lives of dignity,” Mamdani said.
In a Sunday television interview, Trump said that he would back Cuomo, saying, “If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time.”
Mamdani, an avowed socialist, does not endorse key pillars of communism, such as a centrally controlled economy and the abolition of market forces.
Obama phone call
On a supportive weekend phone call from former President Barack Obama, Mamdani also said he appreciated Obama’s “support for the movement that we have created” and “the importance that he shared about the vision that we have and the fact that we have to deliver that vision.”
“I also shared with him that it was his (2008) speech of A More Perfect Union all those years ago that was in part the inspiration for the speech that I shared outside of the mosque not too many Fridays ago,” Mamdani told reporters. “I appreciated his words. I appreciated his time.”
According to numerous media outlets, Obama called Mamdani on Saturday, praising his campaign and offering to serve as a “sounding board” in the future. The roughly 30-minute private call — their second conversation since the June Democratic primary — focused on the challenges of building a new administration and delivering on Mamdani’s affordability agenda, it reported.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics poll average, Mamdani leads the race with 45.8%, holding a 14.7-point advantage over independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, who stands at 31.1%, and a 28.5-point lead over Republican Curtis Sliwa at 17.3%.
If Mamdani wins, he would become the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor of America’s largest city. He defeated Cuomo for the Democratic nomination in June, winning by a significant seven-point margin.