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How Zohran Won w/ NYC DSA (Jacobin Digpodcast) (thedigradio.com)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I am listening to the Jacobin Dig podcast and they actually have a really interesting interview. Basically these 2 people are representing themselves as having been part of the inner cadre who planned this whole mayor thing from the start. Like obviously with other people, but this isn't an interview with 2 rando members of DSA.

(It would be very bold to be taking credit for this if they were full of shit. But I would like if anyone with direct knowledge can confirm.)

Link: How Zohran Won w/ NYC DSA 01 Jul 2025 mp3

They have no transcript and only this short summary:

Featuring NYC DSA co-chairs Gustavo Gordillo and Grace Mausser on how Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary. NYC DSA spent years building an electoral juggernaut that has now made history and offers a model for the left everywhere across the United States. A behind-the-scenes look at how NYC DSA and the Zohran campaign did it!

But they are talking about questions I asked in an earlier thread which I'll just kind of summarize below so you will know if you are interested in the same things. It is 2hrs long at 1x speed so this isn't comprehensive.

To what extent was he "sent" by DSA?
How responsible was DSA for these 40k canvassers?
Is there any mechanism of accountability to DSA in place here?
Does he plan to consult them when he's in power?
Will they have any influence?
If Mamdani is elected mayor and he does something totally contrary to the DSA, what do they do about it?
Is DSA recruiting from the 40k canvassers?
Are new people showing up to their meetings?

Not yet discussed:

What's it like to be in the NY DSA right now?
how many of new recruits are spies sent by Bill Ackman?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

As I understand DSA was in the core coalition of the campaign that recruited those volunteers. The most meaningful mechanism to hold him accountable would be to pull that core of volunteers from any reelection campaign.

The local chapter can expell him by vote too but that would really just be a cherry on top. Pulling volunteers is the critical one.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago

In this interview they mentioned that he wouldn't be able to act as mayor without their support. Then much later at the end they said they were going to continue building the 40k volunteers because it will be needed to enforce his policies. Which was not elaborated upon but quite intriguing.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

There are so many premature victory laps for Mamdani right now. Cuomo still got 44% of the vote (ranked choice style). I think they can absolutely still get a win for Eric Adams.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've seen it asked but not answered. Is the mayoral election also ranked choice?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago

No I think only the Democratic Party primary is ranked choice.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago

Very close to the beginning they said something to the effect that Mamdani winning the primary is the most important thing to happen in the American left for 100 years. (from my memory) He isn't even the mayor!! 6 months is a long way off.

Probably if I was in their position I'd be absolutely buzzing right now too. Mood surrounding would be nervous anticipation at worst. I was surprised they were willing to describe their victory at such great length when it's not even in the bag. Seems asking for a comeuppance. Although maybe by hiding it in a 2 hour podcast they've made it less likely because who has the time.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

For real. I don't think electoral wins mean a lot in the grand scheme of things but even if they did it's still an uphill battle from here for Mamdani. Some of these people are acting like it's impossible for a Republican to win the office when only twenty years ago Bloomberg won with a supermajority and Adams is barely even a Democrat (and was a Republican at one point) and he won too.

DSA (and these people on the podcast in particular) are kind of good at winning Democratic primaries. After that everything falls apart though.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago

DSA (and these people on the podcast in particular) are kind of good at winning Democratic primaries. After that everything falls apart though.

Time for them the dig in and level up and win the whole thing. They did pull through for AOC tbf.

The harder they fight, the more they learn, even if the lesson is "we need to stop focusing so hard on electoralism".

I think there's a certain amount of hopelessness in our community that comes from historical knowledge of how these things tend to go. The thing for me is that I do hope we can just vote socialism in, even though I know it doesn't work that way. I think that gets lost sometimes that it would still be a good thing if Americans could just vote Lenin 2.0 to be the president of the United States.