Mamdani’s Machine More than just trying to knock off moderates, the mayor is building a base of power.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI WAS scheduled to show up to campaign with Brad Lander across the once punk-rock, now ultraprivileged, precincts around Tompkins Square Park one Sunday last month.

- The City Politic: David Freedlander

But the mayor was missing, waylaid by other commitments, so Lander, the former city comptroller who ran against Mamdani before providing him with a crucial endorsement, knocked on doors alone in his bid to unseat Representative Dan Goldman.

A wealthy heir to the Levi Strauss denim empire, Goldman didn’t endorse Mamdani last year. He didn’t even vote for him in the general election—when most Democratic politicians fell in line—citing what he believed to be the socialist’s cavalier attitude toward antisemitism. Mamdani and his coterie were furious. The mayor endorsed Lander on the day he announced his campaign. “This is a district that voted overwhelmingly for Zohran over Andrew Cuomo, and the fact that our Democratic congressman could not vote for the Democratic nominee for mayor against Andrew fucking Cuomo pisses people off,’ Lander tells me as he greets voters on Avenue A. “Obviously the mayor's race did not go how I mapped it out, right? My goal was to win the mayor's race. But the cross-endorsement did more than just defeat Cuomo. It opened up a sense of politics as a team sport.”

That spirit of camaraderie has defined Mamdani’s first months in office. He has mostly offered an outstretched hand to those who once opposed him—CEOs, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Albany Establishment, even President Trump. But during this year’s midterm races, Mamdani has shown where he is willing to flex his power, even if it makes some who backed him uncomfortable.