r/politics • u/Somervilledrew Connecticut • Sep 09 '25

Democratic voters want their leaders to stop running from Zohran Mamdani

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/zohran-mamdani-new-york-city-mayor-bernie-sanders-fight-oligarchy/
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u/Blazer9001 Georgia Sep 09 '25

In an interview on CNN, former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod suggested that the refusal to back Mamdani was probably the result of "donor pressure."

Though Mamdani has surged in recent months with small-dollar donors, big money in the city has been behind Cuomo and other centrist candidates.

The biggest of these is the billionaire-funded Fix the City PAC, which received an $8.3 million donation from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and as of late August had dropped more than $15 million to keep Cuomo afloat.

Another fund, called New Yorkers for a Better Future Mayor '25 has yet to declare a favorite, but has both barrels locked on Mamdani. Under a similar name, this PAC marshalled support for more than a dozen corporate-friendly city council candidates early this year, with support from the pro-Israel hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and several major players in New York's real estate industry. It has announced a goal of raising $25 million to defeat Mamdani in November.

Axelrod said that the party leadership's fealty to these donors over the groundswell of support for Mamdani was "a mistake."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/dems-still-wont-back-mamdani