Polls are notoriously fickle things, but recent ones in the New York City mayoral race have been fairly consistent: socialist candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, after ten rounds of ranked-choice voting simulation, is within ten points of front-runner former governor Andrew Cuomo.
Mamdani entered the race in low single digits, a little-known and relatively new assemblyman from Queens. Out of nearly a dozen candidates who are running, it’s now essentially a two-person race between Mamdani and Cuomo, the most famous politician in New York State.
There are many reasons why Mamdani has taken off, including his unflagging focus on affordability in a city amid a crushing cost-of-living crisis. But one of the most important is the campaign’s army of thousands of volunteers.
In the midst of a rising authoritarian federal government in the United States, the Mamdani campaign is feeding a hunger for participation through old-school campaign practices of talking with and persuading neighbors. If part of the remedy for rising authoritarianism is more small-d democratic engagement, Mamdani is delivering it.
One week in late May, from Monday through Sunday, the campaign knocked on 95,321 doors, up from about 40,000 per week throughout April. As of late last week, the campaign had knocked on 644,755 doors and called 261,051 people. A single canvass in Bedford-Stuyvesant this weekend knocked on more than 9,000 doors. A joint canvass with socialist city councilor Alexa Avilés on Sunday in Sunset Park knocked on more than 3,800 doors. Canvasses have also been impressive not only in politically active Brooklyn and Mamdani’s home turf of Queens, but in the Bronx and on Staten Island.
All this is possible because 26,425 New Yorkers have signed up to volunteer. An astounding 4,000 signed up because another volunteer…
Auteur: Liza Featherstone
