Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani (D) at a weekend rally in Queens, evoking the city’s immigrant roots and calling on supporters to reject claims that their movement is “crazy” or “outlandish.”
Ocasio-Cortez, a longtime ally of Mamdani, took the stage Sunday to rally voters ahead of next month’s general election, framing New York City’s diversity and resilience as a foundation for the progressive movement’s platform.
“This city was built by the Irish escaping famine, Italians fleeing fascism, Jews escaping the Holocaust, Black Americans fleeing slavery and Jim Crow,” she told the crowd. “Latinos seeking a better life, Native people standing for themselves, Asian Americans coming together in Queens, in Brooklyn, in the Bronx, in Manhattan, in Staten Island, in this country, in a vision to build the freest, toughest and greatest city on earth.”
Democrat Party leadership has shifted in response to the growing influence of figures like Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani. On Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) formallyendorsed Mamdani after months of internal division in the party, writing that Mamdani had “explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers.” The endorsement came months after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) backed Mamdani, calling him “the best choice for NYC mayor” and praising his “grass-roots movement fueled by everyday people.”
In her speech, Ocasio-Cortez urged voters to stay firm in their convictions, saying, “We must remember in a time such as this, we are not the crazy ones, New York City. We are not the outlandish ones, New York City. They want us to think we are crazy. We are sane.”
Polling from this summer suggests that Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani maintain strong favorability among Democrat primary voters. A July survey commissioned by a pro-Palestinian group found that 68 percent of respondents viewed Mamdani favorably, with 75 percent expressing a positive opinion of Ocasio-Cortez. The same poll showed widespread support among Democrats for enforcing an international arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and withholding American weapons from Israel—positions central to Mamdani’s platform.
Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has benefited from an electorate increasingly open to socialist ideas. A September survey funded by the Democratic Socialists of America Fund found that a majority of Democrats now identify more closely with socialism than capitalism, with 74 percent expressing that democratic socialism best represents their views.
Mamdani’s rise has drawn attention beyond New York politics. On HBO’s Real Time in August, host Bill Maher pointed to Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren as examples of Democrats who have become major figures in the party’s left wing but “won’t come on” his show. Maher said he has repeatedly invited them, along with Bill and Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris, but all have declined, despite the fact that he “voted for them.” He contrasted their absence with Republicans who, he claimed, “show up and take their beating like a man.”
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