NEW YORK CITY—New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Nov. 4 that the wave of Democratic victories across the nation, from House and Senate wins in South Carolina and Kansas to upsets in governors’ races in Texas and Iowa, is exciting.
“It means that we can go from being on the defensive to being on the offensive,” Mamdani said from outside City Hall. “It’s a new dawn in America, a new day in America.”
He said that Democrats’ wins across the nation are a sign that putting working people first is a winning strategy, “whether we are speaking of Austin or Ann Arbor or Astoria.”
Two members of the Democratic Socialists of America—Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier—and a left-wing progressive—Brad Lander of the Working Families Party—won their New York congressional races and were endorsed by Mamdani, who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Valdez and Chevalier will join Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to double the number of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members in Congress to four.
Asked what specifically he would like to see them do, Mamdani said Democrats need to use their power to “deliver change that Americans can feel in their wallets.” He urged quick action to relieve financial pressures on working Americans, without specifying what those actions could be. Mamdani suggested Democrats should put their “foot on the gas” to deliver for working people as soon as possible.
He noted that Vice President JD Vance had asked Americans to give him two more years.
“Americans cannot afford two more years when their rent is due on the first of the month,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani said he wants to see changes for food stamp programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“SNAP policy changes have robbed 26,500 New Yorkers of SNAP benefits, making it literally harder for them to afford food,” Mamdani said.
SNAP work requirements established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect in 2026, making thousands of New Yorkers ineligible for the federally funded food subsidy program if they were not working by June 1.
Mamdani said he wouldn’t call the election a referendum on President Donald Trump. He said it was a referendum on “politicians telling working people that their needs were unrealistic.”
Mamdani took it as a signal that the socialist priorities of the DSA are a winning platform across the nation.
“I hear often that the politics that we’re fighting for here in New York City are not possible outside of city limits,” Mamdani said. “Last night shows us that it’s possible to do so all across the country.”
In New York’s District 7, Valdez beat candidates Melvin Rivera and Priscilla Ghaznavi for the seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a Democrat. In District 13, Chevalier beat Republican candidate Manual Williams to ultimately take the seat of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, whom she beat in the Democratic primary.
Lander, in District 10, ousted incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.).
Lander is a former City Council member and New York City comptroller. Lander was a longtime DSA member until Oct. 8, 2023, when he left the party after the DSA hosted an “All out for Palestine” rally in Times Square the day after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Lander said during an NY1 debate with Goldman that he thought the rally was “heinous.”
Lander has condemned Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and called for an end to U.S. arms sales to Israel. He will represent the newly redrawn 10th congressional district, which includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Goldman first represented the new district after winning the election in 2022.
The DSA platform aims to abolish the Electoral College and make Congress the single powerhouse branch of government authority, with the judiciary and the executive subordinate to Congress. The DSA would also do away with the U.S. Senate.
“Some of these demands may be won under our current system, but we know complete victory will require building a new society from the ground up,” its website says.
