Suzi speaks with Jacobin writers Alex Press and Luke Savage about Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent — and successful — New York City mayoral campaign.

Alex Press takes us out after dark in Queens with the democratic socialist mayor-elect, meeting taxi drivers at LaGuardia, nurses and residents at Elmhurst Hospital, delivery workers on the night shift — the people who keep New York running while the city sleeps.

Luke Savage analyzes the bipartisan meltdown that Mamdani’s campaign provoked among billionaires, media moguls, and the Democratic Party establishment — all united to stop a democratic socialist from gaining power.

We talk about Mamdani’s agenda: free public transit and childcare, a $20 minimum wage, regulation of gig companies and labor rights for delivery drivers, freezing rents, and more. And we discuss why the working-class movement behind him has elites so terrified.

Read Alex’s report on Mamdani and late-night New York: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/mamdani-night-shift-nyc-mayoral-election

Read Luke’s report on the establishment meltdown: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/socialism-barbarism-mamdani-cuomo-trump

Support for this episode comes from Revol Press: revolpress.com

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

What We Will

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 0 episodes

The AI-powered Podcast Player