“Our Time Has Come” — But Zohran's Campaign Isn't Over
At a rainy rally in Washington Heights, thousands showed up to remind us that New York City’s greatest political power is working people — as long as we keep fighting.
Last night the likely next mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, organized a rally at the United Palace in Washington Heights under the banner “Our Time Has Come.” Despite the rainy weather, the line of attendees holding umbrellas in rain gear already stretched down the block an hour before the doors were scheduled to open.
Speakers included New York Attorney General Letitia James, making her first public remarks since her indictment by the Trump administration last week; City Council Member Chi Ossé; comedian Gianmarco Soresi, who emceed the rally; former head of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan; and WNBA player Natasha Cloud, whose remarks elicited chants of “Free Palestine” from the crowd.
Despite the big names and palpable excitement from the 3,200 supporters in attendance — arguably the most telling part of the night came when host Gianmarco Soresi called for everyone who had canvassed or phone banked for the campaign to turn their phone lights on. By the time Soresi had finished speaking, more than three-quarters of those in attendance (by my eye count) had their cellphones lit and raised. It’s no longer a novel insight, but it bears repeating that this is one of the decisive differences between this campaign and other efforts from Democrats — one that Mamdani mentioned in his 20-minute-long address at the end of the rally.
“And to those who doubt, who cannot quite believe, who share our vision but fear allowing themselves to hope, I ask you: When has dignity ever been given?
“The same questions asked of us were asked of organized labor, were asked of the civil rights movement, were asked of any who had the nerve to demand a future they could not yet see: Could they not wait? Could they not see that they were asking too much?
“They knew that we do not get to determine the scale of the crisis that we face. We only get to decide how we respond. We know that every great victory must be won because it will never be given.
“When organized labor won the weekend so that working people would have time to rest — that was power won, not given. When those who came before us marched for voting rights and civil rights, they triumphed because they dared to dream, not because they were given permission by a political establishment content with the status quo.”
Before the primary, Zohran’s campaign inspired more than 50,000 people to sign up to do the hard work of politics — to demand that our uncertain future take a shape that serves us, the working people of New York City. With an affordability crisis rampaging the city, a fascist in the White House, and our only real stopgap measure a bunch of establishment Dems busy kowtowing to their donors, victory won’t so much be hard-won as wrested from under the fingernails of the powerful.
Three weeks out from the general election, the latest Quinnipiac poll shows Zohran leading at 46% — his closest rival, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is lagging behind at just 33%. And it’s worth remarking that were these numbers reversed — with Cuomo leading Zohran by 13% (or even 1 or 2%) — the establishment would be more than happy to just call it a day.
While the race feels like a foregone conclusion — barring some cataclysmic Cuomo-level scandal — Soresi joked during the rally that the last time he felt so confident that a Democrat was going to win was 2016.
Soresi is right to comment. This isn’t a time for a preemptive celebration — the working people of New York City (and I would say the left writ large) deserve more than a moral victory, as Zohran remarked earlier in the campaign. But we have one advantage that Hillary never had: genuine enthusiasm. Enthusiasm enough to inspire a growing army of working people to knock on doors and call up strangers.
This willing engagement isn’t just for Zohran or his social media game; it’s for his policies. Fast and free buses, affordable housing, universal child care, city-owned grocery stores, and the feeling that more is possible — these things will never be given. If we really want our time to be now, we need to keep up the fight through November; then the real (harder) work to see these policies come to fruition can start.
(Jacobin published Mamdani’s full speech here.)
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