The Democratic Socialists of America expect Zohran Mamdani to be a party apparatchik who will strictly adhere to their radical agenda, power-hungry members of its NYC chapter declared at a meeting attended by The Post this week.
The standing-room-only event, “NYC DSA 101,” at the chapter’s tiny outpost on the Lower East Side, offered a rare glimpse of NYC DSA’s tight grip on its candidates, with leaders boasting of a “symbiotic” relationship that continues long after election night.
“Our endorsed candidates are expected to follow the will of the membership,” said Darren Goldner, a chapter leader who hosted the session.
“We work very closely with Zohran,” he said. “A lot of Zohran staff are DSA members and leaders.”
DSA’s army of volunteers were crucial to Mamdani’s meteoric rise from dark-horse mayoral candidate to landslide Democratic nominee – and the pivotal support means the DSA will guide his policy decisions if he’s elected, leaders indicated.
“Zohran running for mayor would not have happened without the DSA,” said Goldner. “He planned and built his run as a DSA campaign. And he was not going to run without the DSA.”
“We weren’t even planning to run someone for mayor,” he added, answering a question whether it was Mamdani who came to the DSA seeking an endorsement – or the other way around.
One leader at the meeting trumpeted the endorsement as “one of the most important moves in modern American history.”
In fact, power-mad party leaders gloated about their newfound influence.
“We’re getting more power!” exalted Goldner. “People are asking us what we want for things – that doesn’t happen all the time, and that’s really important. There are lots of other left organizations, they aren’t necessarily building power in the same way.”
The NYC chapter – the DSA’s largest and fastest growing – has ballooned to nearly 11,000 dues-paying members from 8,000 earlier this year, mostly Brooklyn-living Gen Zs and Millennials, and the occasional Boomer – with Mamdani’s campaign fueling the surge in recruits. Mamdani himself proudly announced the 10,000th member in July.
The meeting, in a small and dingy ground-floor room on Jefferson Street where walls were painted communist red, started with distribution of nametags that included pronouns, featured references to Karl Marx — the “OG communist,” and ended with new recruits given “Zohran for mayor NYC DSA” buttons if they scanned a QR code to join the party.
Around 50 people showed up, which was all the room could handle. The “101” meetings are held several times a month, and leaders noted how they’ve outgrown the space and are looking for a new HQ.
It was revealed at the gathering that Mamdani will be expected to meet weekly with party elders if he’s elected.
Through what it calls its “Socialists in Office Committee,” the NYC DSA regulalry meets endorsed lawmakers to “coordinate on what the DSA elected officials should be doing and how they should vote,” according to documents handed out at Wednesday night’s gathering.
The weekly directives have been given to Mamdani in his capacity as a Queens state assembly member since 2021.
As a state politician he has pushed their extreme agenda. He’s personally introduced several bills featured on the NYC DSA legislative platform, like Cecila’s act, a bill to decriminalize prostitution; legislation to shut down ICE facilities in the state, and a bill to authorized more “supervised injection” sites.
The speakers on Wednesday blasted the Democratic Party for being out of touch, admitting to using the Democratic line on the ballot only as a means to an end, the only way to get a socialist elected.
“In New York State, it’s very difficult to get a party line that is not the Democratic Party,” Goldner said, answering a question about the DSA’s position on running candidates as independents instead of Democrats.
“It’s just not something that’s feasible for us in New York at this time,” he added, calling running as a Democrat “favorable.”
He pointed to the DSA’s failed attempt at electing Jabari Brisport to the City Council in 2017 as a Green Party candidate and then endorsing his 2021 comeback for state Senate as a Democrat.
It’s been a contentious point for the left’s growing socialist base, with Long Island Dem Rep. Tom Suozzi recently saying they should leave the Democratic Party to create their own.
Many attendees Wednesday made it clear they didn’t necessarily see themselves as Democrats.
“For me, why I left the Democratic Party to come to the DSA, is this insistence on a class-based analysis of everything first – which I think is missing from the Democratic Party,” said one comrade.
“I’m here because I come from a very Democratic family, and I guess I’ve had a growing sense of disillusionment with the establishment Democrats and was very inspired by Zohran’s campaign,” added another new DSA member.
Members blasted the Dems for “throwing their trans and immigrant comrades under the bus” to please the more moderate elements of the party – and blamed Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bid on a campaign based on what they called “imagery” rather than “material issues.”
The NYC DSA and Mamdani’s campaign did not return The Post’s request for comment.
