New York socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—rumored to be eyeing a 2028 presidential run—attacked President Donald Trump when rallying for New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.
During a rally in New York City, AOC named Trump and suggested a Mamdani victory would have implications beyond just New York.
“The election of Zohran is as important as our cause today,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the rally. “Child care, buses, rent, and our rights, here in New York City — it is the jewel and the center of all that is possible in America.”
“And on Nov. 4,” she said, “we will prove it to the world, and we will prove it to the nation, and we will send a loud message to President Donald Trump that his authoritarianism is no good here.”
Ocasio-Cortez touched on the broader implications of the election and addressed Trump directly.
“This is America, New York City. Don’t let them tell you any different. Don’t let them tell you that we are the exception. We are the rule. We are the standard. We are the acceptance, and we set the bar for America,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I’m talking to you, Donald Trump.”
“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,” she continued.
Mamdani and Trump have clashed at various points throughout the general election campaign.
Late last month, the president warned that Mamdani, if elected mayor, “is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great city.”
“Self proclaimed New York City Communist, Zohran Mamdani, who is running for Mayor, will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party,” Trump said on Truth Social last month.
“Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his fake communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?”
An exposé published Monday lays out in detail how Zohran Mamdani, who is currently leading in the race for the mayor of New York City, got his start and rose to become the face of the left-wing socialist movement in the U.S.
Fox News notes that Mamdani’s rise has come “even while campaigning with radical imams, some of whom have supported terrorists and terrorist financiers,” and has been greatly assisted with millions in donations from groups associated with leftist billionaire George Soros and radical anti-Semite Linda Sarsour.
A database of 110 groups supporting New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani reveals a closely connected network of organizations that identify as Muslim or socialist, working alongside 76 Democratic Party affiliates, allied groups, and labor unions, Fox noted.
Two networks—activist Linda Sarsour’s MPower organizations and a coalition known as Emgage—play central roles in this political alliance.
According to tax filings, MPower and Emgage have received nearly $2.5 million in recent years from billionaire George Soros’ Open Society philanthropies.
“We fund a range of civil society organizations that work to deepen civic engagement through peaceful democratic participation, counter discrimination including against Muslim Americans and advance human rights,” a spokesperson for Open Society Foundations told Fox News Digital.
“The grants that you cite all occurred years before the mayoral race, and we are a nonpartisan organization that does not fund political candidates and their campaigns,” the spokesperson added.
MPower and Emgage are part of a close-knit coalition of roughly 30 ethnic and religious organizations that includes CAIR Action — the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — as well as the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Action Coalition, the Yemeni American Merchants Association, the Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group, and Desis Rising Up and Moving.
These groups have actively supported Mamdani’s campaign efforts through coordinated social media outreach, canvassing operations, and voter mobilization initiatives, Fox reported.
Collectively, the organizations have combined annual revenues of roughly $24 million and have supported Mamdani’s campaign through endorsements, fundraising, social media promotion, and voter outreach.
The administration of Donald Trump is reviewing a racial equity plan released by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with a senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice raising concerns about the proposal.
An assistant attorney general in the department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement that the DOJ could pursue enforcement action if warranted in response to the plan, which was unveiled Monday, the New York Post reported.
The proposal, described as a “preliminary citywide racial equity plan,” calls for involvement from multiple city agencies to “solve decades of neglect and discrimination” allegedly against black, Hispanic, and Latino residents. Measures outlined in the plan include “anti-racism” training initiatives and efforts to address pay equity among city employees.
“The Black Lives Matter movement has galvanized a new generation of activists, who continue to demand not only the end of police violence, but also the dismantling of all forms of systemic racism that pervade every aspect of life in New York City,” it states.
“This has all led us to the creation of this moment, right here, right now, to operationalize racial equity into every aspect of City life,” it adds.
Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon claimed Tuesday the plan “appears to be another example of divisive, race-based policymaking that the United States Supreme Court has routinely held to be unlawful.”
She added: “Racist and illegal DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] has no place in our society. The Civil Rights Division is reviewing the plan and will bring enforcement actions if necessary.”
The report was required by a voter referendum in 2022 and was released by City Hall concurrently with a separate study on the “True Cost of Living” in New York City.
The preliminary racial equity plan involved 45 agencies and over 200 city employees, aiming to “build a more equitable, inclusive, and just city.” This initiative was launched in response to the intense protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, as explained by Afua Atta-Mensah, Chief Equity Officer of Mamdani, on Monday.
Mamdani had pledged to make the plan public within his first 100 days in office. This commitment follows the delays by his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, who repeatedly postponed the report’s release and even faced a lawsuit for not meeting the 2024 deadline.
The report and recommendations come as the Trump administration targets diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in liberal areas like New York, The Post reported.
The document explicitly avoids using the terms for DEI but states, per The Post:
The plan also falsely claims, “New York’s history has been one of colonization, exploitation, and racial oppression.” That led Dhillon to post on X: “Sounds fishy/illegal. Will review!”
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said she was awaiting the DOJ’s review results. “The mayor made it clear that he was going to go after white communities during his campaign, and this seems like his first step toward making that goal a reality,” she told The Post.
During his campaign, Mamdani promised to shift the property tax burden from outer borough homeowners to “more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods.”
Councilman David Carr (R-Staten Island) said the report is a senseless waste of time and money.
“We didn’t need to waste more than three years and spend who knows how much taxpayer dollars on a useless report to ‘discover’ why black families, or any other families, are fleeing New York,” he said in a statement.
He noted further: “It’s because of the same disastrous Democratic policies the mayor wants to double down on, which have made this city so unaffordable.”