Democratic Socialist Mamdani Wants Democratic Party to Move Further Left Ahead of 2028

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a Brooklyn rally that Democrats will lose the White House in 2028 unless the party changes course.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (R) gestures onstage with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), during a get out the vote rally ahead of New York's primary election in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on June 18, 2026. Ryan Murphy/AP Photo

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, on the night of June 18 issued one of his sharpest rebukes of the Democratic leadership, saying that the party will lose the White House in 2028 if it does not fundamentally change course.

“For far too long, our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people,” Mamdani told a crowd of thousands of people at Kings Theatre in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where he and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) headlined a get out the vote rally for three progressive congressional candidates ahead of New York’s June 23 primaries.

“That old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday,” he said.

“And frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire,” the Democrat said, referring to the two early primary states in the presidential nominating process. “It will fall short of 270 electoral votes. The Democratic Party must change.”

The 34-year-old is backing Darializa Avila Chevalier against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) in New York’s 13th Congressional District, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in the 10th, and state Assembly Member Claire Valdez in the open Seventh Congressional District. Early voting is underway through June 21.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has endorsed Espaillat, telling Fox 5 New York on June 15 that he and Mamdani had “agreed to strongly disagree” over the race. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also endorsed Espaillat and campaigned alongside Goldman.

Mamdani described the primaries as the opening act of a longer national fight.

“When does the race for 2028 begin?” he said. “It starts now. It starts on Tuesday.”

He called on the party to offer “an affirmative agenda without apology” and to be “not just willing to stand up but also to stand for something”—drawing a contrast with what he called a politics that asks “working people to lower their expectations” and that has “seen its job as explaining why we cannot instead of showing how we can.”

Sanders, who introduced Mamdani at the rally, echoed the critique.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a get out the vote rally ahead of New York's primary election in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on June 18, 2026. AP Photo/Ryan Murphy

“The politics and the policies of the democratic establishment are no longer good enough,” he said. “In this dangerous and unprecedented moment in American history, tinkering around the edges just won’t work.”

The Vermont independent has been traveling the country rallying voters for progressive candidates ahead of the midterms, pointing to a string of recent primary wins from New Jersey to Ohio to Maine—as has ally and progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), appearing on CNN on the morning of June 19 and responding to a clip of Mamdani’s remarks, did not push back on his critique.

“Right now, the Democratic Party needs to be far less concerned about the Democratic Party and far more concerned with what people are struggling with,” Booker said, calling for “big, bold solutions” and a coalition built around issues rather than party identity.

The Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

The June 23 primary will test how far Mamdani’s agenda extends beyond his own electoral coalition. Two of his three endorsed candidates—Avila Chevalier and Lander—are challenging sitting incumbents.