Hundreds of Canvassers Make Final Pitch for Mamdani

[justaprogressive]

For Nour A., New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani represents the promise of upending politics as usual.

“It makes me hopeful that things don’t have to go the way they have,” she said, standing in Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side before starting on her list of voters to canvass.

For Jonah Pfeifer, Mamdani’s populist message not only drew him in, but his least politically active friend as well. “My friend who doesn’t vote at all, he just texted me out of the blue and said this is the first time he’s seen a real man of the people” run for office.

Other volunteers gave Mamdani similar plaudits. They liked his platform of free city buses, universal free child care, and freezing rent on rent-stabilized apartments. They liked his hopeful message and his habit of speaking to voters like fellow adults, rather than scolding them like children. It’s refreshing when Mamdani goes on the attack, they said, because political bullies these days get away with ugly behavior and punishing policies. Several recounted the debate moment when Mamdani scorched billionaire-backed Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, by simply listing Cuomo’s recent biography of sexual harassment and a COVID-death cover-up.

Sophie Morrison, who was volunteering for the third time, said voters she’s encountered overwhelmingly shared the same outlook.

“People are generally very receptive,” especially those she’s talked to who live in rent-stabilized apartments. But everyone is “generally angry about the current political situation” and wants a positive change, Morrison said as she prepared to head to her turf.

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-06-23-canvassers-make-final-pitch-mamdani-new-york-mayor-election/

[Celerity]

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