The union roots of Mamdani’s primary victory

Jack Lundquist is a District Council 37 Local 375 delegate and a member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America.

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the mayoral Democratic Party primary is a case study in effective coalition-building. How did Mamdani accomplish the impossible, going from 2-percent support in early polling to a decisive victory just six months later? Many factors played a part, but one came early in the campaign, at District Council 37’s endorsement forum in February. Mamdani was received with rapturous applause. "The energy in that room when he was on the stage was absolutely remarkable," Mamdani’s campaign manager, Elle Bisgaard-Church, said in an interview with The New York Times. "I remember sitting in the front row and feeling completely overwhelmed by it. That was a major sign to me of the breadth of this campaign's resonance."

DC 37 joined Mamdani’s coalition, but their support was not guaranteed. DC 37’s historic decision to endorse a ranked slate for mayor, including Mamdani, was the product of rank-and-file organizing cohered through “DC 37 for Zohran,” a group of Mamdani supporters who work for the city. The story of DC 37 for Zohran shows us how the left can build a movement, organization and consciousness in support of our program. Rank-and-file formations like DC 37 for Zohran can organize activists and the politically disengaged, moving the labor-liberal establishment towards the left’s candidates and demands while building the mass organizations necessary for the political struggles to come.

Just like the Mamdani campaign, DC 37 for Zohran is a coalition in its own right. The group was formed from a cadre of public sector union activists. I was a member of this initial group. Some of us are members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), some are members of other socialist organizations, and some are unaffiliated. We share a goal of transforming DC 37 into a democratic, member-driven and politically progressive union. 

What united us most was the trust built through years of organizing together. Those who formed DC 37 for Zohran organized together in our workplaces and locals. We also had experience with citywide interventions: around pandemic-era working conditions, 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, and the divestment of our pension from Israel. For this campaign, our goals were to organize public sector workers in support of the Mamdani campaign and to push DC 37 to endorse Mamdani.

To build support, DC 37 for Zohran hosted a public town hall. Attendees heard from Mamdani and had the chance to ask him about issues important to city workers. We organized canvassing shifts and held organizing meetings for supporters to join and get involved in the group’s strategy and administrative work. 

These efforts helped cohere a city worker support base for Mamdani, which extended far beyond the initial reach of the core organizing group. We were creative in building a list of supporters, reaching out to other city worker activists, coworkers who may have been previously politically inactive, and identifying leads using publicly available data on Mamdani campaign contributors. This expanded our reach, allowing us to mobilize a large number of supporters and identify new organizing leaders to support the campaign and our long-term union reform efforts.

One of our first tests was a campaign calling on DC 37 to endorse Mamdani and not his primary competitor, Andrew Cuomo. We brought a large contingent to the mayoral forum hosted by DC 37 to demonstrate members’ support for the campaign, and followed that up with countless emails, calls and texts to union leaders asking them to endorse Mamdani. The campaign was a success, and DC 37 leadership voted to include Mamdani on their endorsement slate. 

While DC 37’s field and media efforts in the primary were focused on the union's number-one-ranked candidate, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Mamdani supporters joined DC 37’s field operation and pushed from within to focus the union’s efforts on Mamdani. Further, as Harper Freeman wrote in The Chief, “the union showed up for Mamdani in other ways,” adding, “Shaun Francois, who heads Board of Education Employees Local 372, spoke in support of Mamdani at a campaign rally… and Maf Misbah Uddin, the union’s treasurer, spoke enthusiastically in support of Mamdani... [h]e was also a presence at rallies for the candidate with South Asian labor leaders.” This helped legitimize Mamdani outside the activist left.

DC 37’s support for Mamdani was a victory of rank-and-file organizing. It shows that we can dislodge the power of the Democratic Party's power brokers and shift labor unions towards a more progressive agenda. But the long-term success of this work hinges on the left organizing with the political independence necessary to promote its platform and organize its base.

Winning the mayoral race is one thing; delivering on campaign promises is another. The mayor can try to appoint political allies to key administrative positions, but faces pressure to rely on experts with the status quo political beliefs gained from a career within the city’s revolving door of private and nonprofit leadership (such as NYPD police commissioner and billionaire heiress Jessica Tisch, who Mamdani is considering retaining). The mayor can try to raise taxes, but will need support from the council. And much of the city’s budget is out of the city’s control, since it comes from state or federal sources.

Mamdani’s city worker supporters have no illusions. We do not support Mamdani because we believe he will wave a magic wand and solve our problems. We support him because he is the candidate most conducive to our goals. After Mamdani wins the election in November, we will continue the fight for wages that keep up with inflation, for an end to wasteful outsourcing of public sector work, for fully funded city agencies that are responsive to community needs, and for divesting our pension to end the city’s complicity in Israel’s genocidal project of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. 

On some of these issues, Mamdani is a clear ally. He has already expressed an interest in funding city agencies and auditing the city’s private contracts. On others, the Mamdani administration may side with city leadership in calling for moderation. Ultimately, we will work with the mayor’s office when we can, and against them when we must. Rank and file organizing can power leftist politicians to victory, but their organizations are the only vehicles that can ensure politicians continue to support our program, even after taking power and facing heavy pressure to compromise. 

The purpose of independent working class organizations (and parties like DSA) is not just to help candidates win campaigns but to keep them sharp and honest, as we continue to build consciousness and support for our own programs and organizations.