Boost to socialist NYC mayor hopeful as the Big Apple's most conservative borough swings his way

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has received a huge boost as Democratic leaders in even the city's most conservative borough publicly backed the controversial nominee.
Staten Island Democrats announced this week they are supporting the 33-year-old in the general election after previously backing his moderate rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during the primary in June.
The former governor is now running in the general election on an independent along with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, while Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa runs on the Republican line.
Explaining why the Staten Island Democratic Party has swung for Mamdani, Chairwoman Laura LoBianco told the New York Post: 'Zohran is the Democratic nominee. The voters have spoken.'
'We want to work together. I want to make sure Staten Island has a seat at the table,' she added.
The announcement comes weeks after Brooklyn Democrat chairwoman Rodneyse Bichotte, who also endorsed Cuomo during the primary election, shared her support for the '100 percent communist' following his primary victory.
Mamdani has also been in contact with party leaders in Queens, particularly those who represent black neighborhoods that largely went for Cuomo during the primary.
'While Zohran builds real support across all five boroughs, Cuomo's campaign is withering as New Yorkers learn he stands for absolutely nothing but his own ambition, dogged by scandal, corruption and a record of sexual harassment and humiliation,' a spokesperson for Mamdani's campaign has said.
Mamdani has campaigned on a series of woke policies that would drastically reshape the City that Never Sleeps.
He has said he wants to raise taxes on millionaires and corporations by $9 billion to subsidize his plans for fare-free buses, free child care and housing.
Mamdani, who is currently serving in the New York State Legislature, also wants to spend $65 million on transgender care and has pushed populist ideas including grocery stores that would be owned by the city.
Additionally, the controversial figure has advocated for defunding the city's police department - but vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to set foot in the Big Apple.
Mamdani seemed to double down on those remarks by expressing his support to 'globalize the intifada' - and defending the controversial phrase, which many see as a call for violence against Israeli and Jewish people around the world.
Yet LoBianco Sword said Mamdani's messaging is clearly getting through to the public as she praised the socialist candidate for bringing new voters into the Democratic Party.
She then went on to argue that Mamdani has correctly identified the problems plaguing the city, claiming that whether or not voters agree with his plan for government-run grocery stores it is evident that there are 'food deserts' in the city.
When she was then asked about Mamdani's plans to raise taxes, LoBianco Sword said she agreed that the wealthy 'should pay their fair share.'
In an effort to further his base, Mamdani is now planning a large general election campaign launch on August 17 on Staten Island.
He is apparently hoping to close the gap between him and the former governor, who narrowly beat Mamdani in the primary - with 46.5 percent of the vote compared to 37.5 percent during the initial round of ranked-choice voting.
But Staten Island Republican Chairman Michael Tannousis said he still does not see the island going for Mamdani in the general as he blasted the Democrat's support for the socialist candidate as a 'shotgun wedding.'
Instead, Tannousis said he believes many moderate Democrats will vote for Sliwa, who won 65 percent of the vote in the borough against Adams in 2021, when Adams ran as a Democrat.
'There is no appetite for socialism and the socialist agenda,' he argued.
'Curtis will win Staten Island,' the state assemblyman added. 'He may get a bigger vote than four years ago.'
'Staten Islanders will have a choice: either the Mamdani socialist Democrats or the Republican ticket.'
Sliwa also told the Post: 'If I lose Staten Island, shame on me. It's a real battleground but I've been there forever.'
He then went on to suggest Staten Islanders would never forgive current Mayor Eric Adams for bringing migrant shelters into the borough and argued that Cuomo is running on his legacy - making him the only viable rival to Mamdani.
Meanwhile, a representative for the Cuomo campaign called Mamdan the second coming of former Mayor Bill de Blasio - and not in a good way.
Spokesman Rich Azzopardi said the socialist 'reeks of insecurity' and has a 'history of anti-cop, anti-capitalist rhetoric that will go over as well on Staten Island as Bill de Blasio eating pizza with a fork and a knife.
'Ladies and gentlemen: Bill de Blasio 2.0,' he argued.
But late night host Bill Maher has seemed to suggest Mamdani may be worse, as he warned that the Democratic Party is headed for collapse if it continues to appease radical leftists like the New York City mayoral hopeful.
Speaking during the Overtime segment of his show Real Time with Bill Maher on YouTube, the comedian said Democrats are gripped by an 'identity crisis' and running out of time to choose a side.
'The world is a complicated place and it's not just about oppressor and oppressed,' Maher argued.
'They have a thought in their head that white people did some very bad things and white people did some very bad things, BUT so did everybody else in the world.
'But they don't know that, they see the world through this one prism. And until they do, I don't think you're going to get them off this issue and I don't think the Democratic Party is going to go forward until they make a decision: whose side are you on here?
'Are you on the side of Western civilization and Western values or are you on the side of the terrorists?'
He then pointed to Mamdani as an example of how extreme the party's fringe has become.
'There's a lot of opposition [to Mamdani] because we've never had someone this radical,' Maher said. 'Some of the things he says, you know he quotes Marxists, "each according to their need." I mean, that's straight up communism.'
Maher was backed in his argument by his guest, Secret City author and columnist James Kirchick, who accused Democratic leaders of showing 'cowardice and spinelessness' by failing to denounce Mamdani.
He likened their silence to how Republicans failed to stop Donald Trump's rise.