“Trump’s worst nightmare”: Bernie Sanders rallies New Yorkers to unite against the oligarchy - VIDEO
With less than two weeks until Election Day, Zohran Mamdani drew a crowd of more than 13,000 supporters to Forest Hills Stadium on Tuesday night, where Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) publicly endorsed his bid to become New York City’s next mayor.
The rally — billed as “New York Is Not for Sale” — showcased Mamdani’s growing political momentum and the consolidation of progressive energy behind his campaign, which has surged from relative obscurity to national attention in just one year, News.Az reports, citing PoliticsJOE.
Opening the event, Ocasio-Cortez reflected on her longtime alliance with Mamdani, recalling their 2021 hunger strike to secure $450 million in debt relief for taxi drivers.
“She was there with us on the picket line, on the phone, and in the primary,” Mamdani told the roaring crowd. “That’s because she’s there for working people.”
The congresswoman lauded Mamdani’s campaign as a movement rooted in economic justice and solidarity, describing his candidacy as a moral challenge to corporate and political elites.
“They want us to think we are crazy,” Mamdani said. “To demand affordable housing, fair wages, and health care for all is not radical — it is basic humanity.”
When Bernie Sanders took the stage, the stadium erupted into chants of “Not for Sale!”
“A victory here in New York will give hope and inspiration to people throughout our country and throughout the world. That is what this election is about. And that is why Donald Trump is paying attention to this election.
Ordinary people, working class people, black and white and Latino, Asian, gay and straight, coming together to take on the oligarchy, that is Trump's worst nightmare. And would Trump and his oligarchic friends know that if New Yorkers come together and elect Zoran, we can do that from California to Maine. We can defeat the oligarchy."
The Vermont senator drew parallels between Mamdani’s campaign and his own presidential runs, portraying the 34-year-old as part of a broader movement to reclaim political power for ordinary Americans.
In a fiery 10-minute address, Mamdani thanked Sanders for “daring to stand alone” and credited him for shaping his own democratic socialist vision.
“Looking out at more than 13,000 of you, it’s tempting to believe this moment was destined,” Mamdani said. “But when we launched this campaign a year ago, there wasn’t a single television camera there to cover it.”
He recalled being dismissed as “a punchline in the halls of power,” polling at just 1% in February. “Yet we knew then what we know now,” he said. “New York is not for sale.”
As the November 4 election approaches, Mamdani urged his supporters to stay mobilized in the campaign’s final stretch.
“I know you are tired,” he said. “And still, I ask for more. Knock more doors. Make more calls. Give more. That is the only way we win a future of more.”
Thousands of attendees illuminated the night sky with their phone flashlights as Mamdani rallied them to “make a light bright enough to banish any darkness.”
Mamdani ended his speech by quoting Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1936 spoke of confronting “the forces of selfishness and lust for power.”
“I should like to have it said of our campaign that in it, these forces met their match,” Mamdani declared. “And I should like to have it said of our City Hall that in it, these forces met their master.”
As chants of “Zohran! Zohran!” echoed through the stadium, Mamdani closed with a promise:
“New York, our work has only just begun. On November 4th, we set ourselves free.”
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