As New Yorkers cast their ballots in the city\u2019s mayoral race, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani sent a message to voters Sunday, asking them not to choose \u201csettling for the lesser of two evils,\u201d warning his supporters to not take his double-digit lead in the polls as a guarantee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Donald Trump\u2019s donor billionaires think they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses,\u201d Mamdani said to a roaring crowd.<\/p>\n
Mamdani took the stage at a raucous rally alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, where thousands of people chanted Mamdani\u2019s name and repeated in unison his signature proposals to freeze the rent, make buses fast and free, and provide universal child care.<\/p>\n
The rally was part closing argument, part rallying of the troops ahead of the November 4 election, with Mamdani casting the race as a choice between democracy and oligarchy and Sanders and Ocasio Cortez touting Mamdani\u2019s campaign as the vanguard of a progressive movement itching to push back on the second Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking to you, Donald Trump,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez declared, saying that \u201cin nine short days we will work our hearts out to elect Zohran Kwame Mamdani as the next mayor of the great city of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders, speaking in the Brooklyn accent he\u2019s never shed, told the crowd Trump and \u201cthe rest of the world\u201d were watching the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cA victory here in New York will give hope and inspiration to people throughout our country and throughout the world,\u201d the Vermont senator said. \u201cThat is what this election is about, and that is why Donald Trump is paying attention to this election.\u201d<\/p>\n
After walking out to a roaring crowd and thumping Desi beat, a beaming Mamdani credited Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders, in particular, for inspiring the progressive movement<\/a> that\u2019s become the backbone of his campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cI stand before you tonight, only because the senator dared to stand alone for so long. I speak the language of democratic socialism, only because he spoke it first,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cAnd when we win on November 4 and then govern from City Hall with dignity as the foundation of our politics, it will be because of the movement that Bernie built.\u201d<\/p>\n The trio of leaders repeatedly nationalized the high-stakes New York mayoral contest, with Sanders remarking that \u201cthese are not normal times, this is not a normal election.\u201d Each threaded calls to action against Republicans with critiques of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Donald Trump\u2019s billionaire donors think that they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cNo longer will we allow the Republican Party to be the one of ambition. No longer will we have to open a history book to read about Democrats leading with big ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n Ocasio-Cortez argued that \u201cthe very forces that Zohran is up against in this race mirrors what we are up against nationally, both an authoritarian criminal presidency, fueled by corruption and bigotry and an ascendant right-wing extremist movement.\u201d<\/p>\n The New York representative castigated the \u201cinsufficient, eroded, bygone political establishment, this time in the form of Andrew Cuomo.\u201d<\/p>\n The rally, though, reflected efforts to form a bridge between the upstart progressives and a wary Democratic establishment. Mamdani was also joined by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul \u2014 who endorsed his campaign<\/a> just last month \u2014 as well as State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a show of support in the closing stretch of the divisive race.<\/p>\n \u201cAny person who wants to the mayor of the city in New York, to have three people you probably have to work with the most\u201d showing support gives Mamdani \u201cmomentum into trying to achieve his agenda,\u201d Heastie told CNN at the rally.<\/p>\n Addressing the crowd, Hochul echoed that sentiment. \u201cThe three of us can\u2019t do it alone. We need a fighter in City Hall, who wakes up every day, ready to punch and fight for the working people of the city, and that person is Zohran Mamdani,\u201d she said, repeatedly interrupted by chants of \u201ctax the rich.\u201d<\/p>\n Hochul has said she opposes Mamdani\u2019s plan to tax the wealthy. With her own election next year, Hochul will be under pressure to deliver for Mamdani if he wins, but also to keep taxes from increasing. As the shouts continued through her speech, Mamdani came onstage and embraced her before the two walked off together.<\/p>\n Hochul also praised Mamdani for showing \u201cgrace, and courage and grit\u201d during his campaign and criticized \u201cIslamophobia and bigotry and hate-filled speech\u201d directed his way.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of bullsh*t doesn\u2019t belong in New York,\u201d the governor told the fired-up crowd.<\/p>\n The rowdy atmosphere was underscored by New York Comptroller Brad Lander \u2014 a former primary rival of Mamdani who quickly threw his support behind the upstart progressive \u2014 reprising a rousing condemnation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who\u2019s running as an independent, and the anti-Mamdani coalition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to send that corrupt, abusive bully Andrew Cuomo back to the suburbs. I said it on election night and I can\u2019t wait to say it again next Tuesday \u2014 good f**king riddance!\u201d Lander said.<\/p>\n The rally\u2019s slogan, \u201cNew York Is Not for Sale,\u201d was a dig at the vocal wealthy New Yorkers, including Bill Ackman and John Catsimatidis, who have been speaking out in opposition<\/a> to Mamdani\u2019s candidacy, and in many cases donating to the super PAC aligned with Cuomo.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the same billionaires who funded Donald Trump\u2019s campaign funding Andrew Cuomo\u2019s, 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,\u201d Mamdani told CNN in an exclusive interview Sunday.<\/p>\n He noted the rally\u2019s slogan was a callback to Sanders\u2019 own mayoral campaign in Burlington, Vermont, three decades ago.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said when he was running to be the mayor of Burlington, that Burlington is not for sale,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cIt continues to be the rallying cry for working-class people across this country, and for us, it\u2019s that New York City is not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n The rally came amid a surge in early voting turnout, with more than five times as many New Yorkers voting during the first weekend of early in-person voting for this year\u2019s mayoral election compared with four years ago.<\/p>\n Data released Sunday by the New York City Board of Elections<\/a> shows 164,190 people voted this weekend. During the first weekend of early voting in 2021 \u2014 the first mayoral election where it was an option \u2014 only 31,176 people voted<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.<\/p>\n CNN\u2019s Ethan Cohen contributed to this report. <\/p>\n