by Amy Goodman
DermocracyNow
November 05, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/5/headlines
Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani Wins New York City Mayoral Race
Nov 05, 2025
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected New York’s mayor Tuesday, becoming the first person of South Asian descent and first Muslim — and the youngest in over a century — to hold the position. The election was marked by record voter turnout. Mamdani got more than a million votes, more than any mayor since the 1960s. President Trump had threatened to withhold funding from New York City if Mamdani won. On Election Day, Trump even posted that any Jewish person who votes for Mamdani is “stupid.” Last night at his victory party in Brooklyn, Mamdani directly addressed Donald Trump.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani: “This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up. … New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
Democrats Dominate First Major Elections of Trump’s Second Term
Nov 05, 2025
Mamdani’s victory comes as Democrats posted big wins across the country on Election Day. In California, voters approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats pick up five additional seats in Congress, in a move to counter Texas’s redistricting effort to gain five House seats. In New Jersey, Democratic Congressmember Mikie Sherrill won the governor’s race. In Virginia, Democrats reclaimed full control of the state’s executive branch as Abigail Spanberger flipped the governorship, becoming the state’s first female governor, and voters also chose Ghazala Hashmi to be Virginia’s lieutenant governor-elect, making her the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office anywhere in the U.S. Meanwhile, Democrat Jay Jones defeated Virginia’s incumbent Republican attorney general. In Pennsylvania, Democrats retained control of the state’s Supreme Court after three Democratic justices won their races. In Minneapolis, Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey led democratic socialist challenger Omar Fateh, but neither got more than half the vote, so the race moved to a second round of ranked-choice voting. We’ll have more on last night’s election results after the headlines.
Federal Shutdown Becomes Longest in U.S. History
Nov 05, 2025
The federal government shutdown has entered its 36th day, becoming the longest shutdown in U.S. history. On Tuesday, the Senate rejected a House-passed funding bill for the 14th time, as Democrats demand an extension to health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. A recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that allowing the subsidies to expire would more than double the average enrollee’s out-of-pocket premium payments, with some people seeing even larger increases of over 500%.
On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned the U.S. could be forced to close vast swaths of U.S. airspace due to severe shortages of air traffic controllers, about 11,000 of whom have gone without pay throughout the shutdown. Duffy cautioned of “mass chaos” at airports if the shutdown continues for another week. Mere hours after Duffy’s comments, a UPS freight plane crashed at a Louisville, Kentucky, airport, killing at least nine people and leaving 11 others injured.
'Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly “handed” to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT
Nov 04, 2025, 8:06 AM
Meanwhile, President Trump on Tuesday appeared to defy federal court orders in a social media post in which he proclaimed that SNAP food assistance benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” That’s despite orders from two separate federal judges mandating that the administration keep funding SNAP, which helps some 42 million people purchase groceries each month. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later walked back Trump’s threat, saying the administration is following court orders to fund SNAP using a contingency fund. The White House says it’s only partially funding SNAP. On Tuesday, lawyers for cities and nonprofits returned to court seeking an order forcing the Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits rapidly and in full. This is Daletia Chung, a SNAP recipient in Maryland who predicted any further delays could lead to civil unrest.
Daletia Chung: “They’re asking for trouble, because people got children to feed, you know, and people know, people will go off on that. Now, I don’t know if anybody is trying to declare martial law under stuff like that, but you can set off a lot of huge problems. People have to eat.”
Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire
Nov 05, 2025
In the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military is targeting eastern areas of Khan Younis and Gaza City with intense artillery fire, despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that took effect nearly a month ago. The shelling is targeting farms, homes and other civilian areas. It comes as a U.N. official warned aid groups are in a “race against time” to get food and other necessities into Gaza. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Israeli authorities have rejected 23 requests from nine aid groups to bring in millions of urgently needed non-food items that remain stuck in Jordan, Egypt and Israel awaiting approval. That includes some 4,000 pallets of shelter supplies such as tents, bedding and blankets. This is Manal Salem, a Palestinian mother of seven whose family is displaced and living in a tattered tent in Khan Younis.
Manal Salem: “Winter, we do not want to talk about winter, because the fears are very big. Our tents are completely worn out. We are unable; we do not know what to do. It is not just me. Most of the tents at the school are worn out. We just say, 'God have mercy on us for the winter.' As much as we used to pray for rain to come, now we pray that rain does not come, so that we do not struggle.”
Earlier today, Israel handed over the remains of 15 Palestinians, a day after Hamas returned the body of an Israeli American soldier. That brings the total number of Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza as part of the ceasefire to 285 — just a fraction of the bodies held by Israel.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution seeking a mandate of at least two years for an international stabilization force to be deployed in Gaza. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned in response that any such force must have “full international legitimacy.”
U.N. Secretary-General Warns Sudan’s Civil War Is “Spiraling Out of Control”
Nov 05, 2025
The United Nations’ top official has warned Sudan’s civil war is spiraling out of control after the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group seized control of the city of El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur region. On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that hundreds of thousands of civilians remained trapped by fighting, with large numbers dying of malnutrition, disease and violence. Guterres cited reports of war crimes and human rights abuses, including summary executions and sexual assaults. Survivors who fled El Fasher reported mass killings following the RSF’s advance.
Abdallah Hassaballah: “Once you leave the gates, the bodies start. The bodies continue all the way to Garri. Some were killed by thirst, some by exhaustion, some by their injuries, the bleeding. Some were injured by the rockets in El Fasher. They hurt more than gunshots, the shrapnel. They get into your body. They cause your legs to swell, stop your blood flow. It exhausts you. It impacts you within two or three hours.”
Pentagon Announces Another Deadly Strike on Alleged Drug Boat
Nov 05, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. has bombed another boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean. On Tuesday, Hegseth claimed, without evidence, that the latest attack targeted a boat ferrying drugs, killing two people on board. If the Pentagon’s claims are accurate, that would bring the number of vessels attacked to 16 and the death toll to at least 67. This comes as the Pentagon is deploying its largest warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, to join a buildup of U.S. forces in the Caribbean.
NBC News: Trump Admin Looking into Possible U.S. Military Mission Inside Mexico
Nov 05, 2025
The Trump administration has drafted plans to deploy U.S. troops and intelligence officers to Mexico to attack drug labs and narcotrafficking leaders. That’s according to NBC News, citing current and former U.S. officials. On Tuesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum denied the reports, declaring “it’s not going to happen.”
President Claudia Sheinbaum: “First of all, it would be a violation of our sovereignty and our independence. And second, we can collaborate. We can coordinate. But it’s not about the United States coming to say or to intervene or to have their agents, because that didn’t work, either. And it’s not about coming to use war techniques in Mexico.”
U.N.: World Likely to Surpass 1.5 Degrees Celsius Climate Goal
Nov 05, 2025
A new U.N. environment report warns nations have made very little progress in the fight against climate change, putting the world on track toward dangerous global warming as greenhouse gas emissions remain too high. The U.N.'s annual emissions gap report suggests countries will not be able to prevent global warming from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is the main goal of the Paris Agreement that was brokered a decade ago. U.N. experts say warming is likely to reach between 2.3 and 2.5 degrees Celsius, with the possibility of even higher temperatures if countries don't fulfill their current climate pledges. This is interim director of the U.N. Environment Programme Anne Olhoff.
Anne Olhoff: “Well, it’s a guarantee that unless we do things very differently from what we have been doing in the past many years, we will not see an overshoot of 1.5 degrees, we’ll see a permanent breach of 1.5 degrees. So it’s really about making as stringent and as quick cuts as possible overall.”
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Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani Wins Historic NYC Mayoral Race: “The Future Is in Our Hands”
by Amy Goodman
DermocracyNow
November 05, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/5/ ... transcript
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. A year ago, Mamdani was polling at just 1%, but on Tuesday he became the first New York mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since the 1960s. Mamdani won despite being vastly outspent by Cuomo, who was backed by a group of billionaires. We play part of Mamdani’s victory speech to supporters at the Brooklyn Paramount, in which he vows to stand up to President Trump and acknowledges his unlikely path to Gracie Mansion: “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, Democrats won major victories across the United States, including in California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and here in New York, in what’s widely being seen as a repudiation of President Trump’s agenda.
In the most closely watched race, Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. The 34-year-old democratic socialist state assemblymember will become the first Muslim and first South Asian to serve as New York mayor. In June, he shocked the political establishment when he beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Cuomo went on to run in the general election as an independent, but on Tuesday, Mamdani defeated him again. A year ago, Mamdani was polling at just 1%, but he built a historic grassroots coalition to fuel what Senator Bernie Sanders has called, quote, “one of the great political upsets in modern American history,” unquote.
On Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani became the first New York mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since the 1960s — more than Rudy Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg ever received. Mamdani has received 50.4% of the votes counted so far. Cuomo is at 41.6%. Republican Curtis Sliwa is at 7.1%.
Mamdani won even though many prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the New York senator, refused to endorse him. Mamdani was also vastly outspent by Cuomo, who’s backed by a group of billionaires. President Trump endorsed Cuomo and repeatedly threatened to cut off federal funds to New York if Mamdani won.
On Tuesday night, Zohran Mamdani addressed supporters who packed into the Brooklyn Paramount. He began his speech by quoting the late labor leader and socialist Eugene Debs.
MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI: The sun may have set over our city this evening, but, as Eugene Debs once said, I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.
For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands. Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, palms calloused from delivery bike handle bars, knuckles scarred with kitchen burns, these are not hands that have been allowed to hold power.
And yet, over the last 12 months, you have dared to reach for something greater. Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.
I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I utter his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.
New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.
On January 1st, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York City. And that is because of you. So, before I say anything else, I must say this: thank you. Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refuse to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past. You showed that when politics speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a new era of leadership. We will fight for you because we are you, or, as we say on Steinway, ana minkum wa alaikum.
Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties — yes, aunties. To every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point, know this: This city is your city, and this democracy is yours, too.
This campaign is about people like Wesley, an 1199 organizer I met outside of Elmhurst Hospital on Thursday night, a New Yorker who lives elsewhere, who commutes two hours each way from Pennsylvania because rent is too expensive in this city. It’s about people like the woman I met on the Bx33 years ago, who said to me, “I used to love New York, but now it’s just where I live.” And it’s about people like Richard, the taxi driver I went on a 15-day hunger strike with outside of City Hall, who still has to drive his cab seven days a week. My brother, we are in City Hall now. …
Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: “A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.” Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.
So let us speak now with clarity and conviction that cannot be misunderstood about what this new age will deliver and for whom. This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt.
Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiorello La Guardia, an agenda that will freeze the rents for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants. …
Together, we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.
This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.
We will hold bad landlords to account, because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks. We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections, because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.
New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
So, hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.
When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them. A great New Yorker once said that while you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose. If that must be true, let the prose we write still rhyme, and let us build a shining city for all.
And we must chart a new path, as bold as the one we have already traveled. After all, the conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.
AMY GOODMAN: Zohran Mamdani speaking at his victory party Tuesday night at the Brooklyn Paramount after he won the New York City mayoral race, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. After his speech, he was joined on stage by his wife, Rama Duwaji, and his parents, the filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani.
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The Movement Behind Mamdani: Organizers & Supporters Celebrate Stunning Victory & Repudiation of Trump
by Amy Goodman
DermocracyNow
November 05, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/5/ ... transcript
Democracy Now! spoke with supporters celebrating Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral race Tuesday night. Volunteers with the Democratic Socialists and other campaign organizers at the Brooklyn Paramount victory party described the night as “surreal” and vowed to fight back against President Trump’s agenda. Sumaya Awad, a NYC-DSA member, describes Zohran as a politician “that doesn’t put the platform and the mission at the expense of anyone.”
“When people’s needs aren’t being met, they need an alternative, and so far, only the far right was providing an alternative in the form of authoritarianism, in the form of fascism, in the form of hate, turning against immigrants, against queer people, against Muslims,” says Fahd Ahmed, director of DRUM Beats. “What this campaign and our movement was able to do was offer a left alternative.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
We’re continuing our coverage of Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in the New York mayoral race over former Governor Andrew Cuomo. On Tuesday night, Democracy Now! was at Mamdani’s victory party at the historic Brooklyn Paramount. More than a thousand people packed in. We spoke to just a few of his supporters.
SUMAYA AWAD: My name is Sumaya Awad, and I’m a member of New York City DSA. And I am — to say I’m excited and ecstatic and relieved is an understatement. I mean, we have fought so hard for this, right before the primary, and then now, in the last couple of months and last couple weeks and today. I’ve been canvassing since 9 a.m. And I feel exhausted, but it’s the best kind of exhausted, because it’s exhaustion from something that I believe in with every fiber of my body and that I know that the majority of New Yorkers believe in. And we haven’t felt that — I haven’t felt that in my lifetime.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us what it is you believe in.
SUMAYA AWAD: It’s a politician and an agenda that is truly for working-class people, and one that doesn’t put the platform and the mission at the expense of anyone. He has not left anyone out of what he is fighting for, and he’s made it clear. Whether you support him or not, he is fighting for us.
AMY GOODMAN: What did you say?
RUBY: NBC just called in for Zohran.
AMY GOODMAN: And what do you think?
RUBY: I’m so, so happy. I’ve been awake since 4:30 in the morning today, out canvassing in Park Slope and Prospect Heights. And we’ve been working towards this for a year, and I’m just so happy to win the New York City that we deserve.
AMY GOODMAN: What’s your name? Where are you from?
RUBY: My name is Ruby. I live in Crown Heights. Whoo!
AMY GOODMAN: Hi.
HARRISON: How’s it going?
AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell me your names? And what do you think?
HARRISON: I’m Harrison, and I’m thrilled. We’ve been canvassing since February, January, and it’s so happy to see all of our work pay off.
JANIE: It feels surreal that it’s actually here and that it’s happening, yeah. It’s so crazy.
AMY GOODMAN: What does it about Zohran Mamdani that led you to support him? And what is your name?
JANIE: I’m Janie. He just has inspired hope, I feel like, across the city in a way that no one has in a long time. Yeah, a lot of us didn’t want to vote for a Democrat who we felt like we had to, you know, choose over another person. So, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: As you can hear, they have just called it for Zohran Mamdani. And here we are in the Brooklyn Paramount. What’s your name? What are your thoughts?
BEN: My name is Ben. I couldn’t be more excited. I couldn’t be more excited.
AMY GOODMAN: What group are you with?
BEN: I’m an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace. We’ve worked really hard for this moment. I’m so excited to celebrate with everybody.
AMY GOODMAN: Did you think you’d see this day?
BEN: I was confident. I was confident. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you say about Donald Trump saying today that any Jew who votes for Zohran Mamdani is stupid?
BEN: It’s antisemitic nonsense. I mean, it’s bigotry, plain and simple. And we’re sick of antisemitism being weaponized against Palestinian people and against our own communities, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you want to see Zohran Mamdani do as mayor?
BEN: Making New York City a city for everybody, a city we can afford, a city where people can lead dignified lives.
ROULA HAJJAR: My name is Roula Hajjar. I really — I don’t know what to say. I mean, it’s been a very hard few years with the genocide, and this is the first good news that we’ve had, it feels like, like truly, truly good news, something to really look forward to and celebrate.
AMY GOODMAN: What about local issues here in New York? What most appeals to you about Mamdani?
ROULA HAJJAR: Well, I mean, I think that — so, I’m a social worker by training, and I think that the way that he is construing public safety issues as not — you know, not criminalizing mental health issues is very, very significant and, I think, will change how we think of safety and security in New York City, which is something that I know is on the minds of a lot of people.
JAGPREET SINGH: My name is Jagpreet Singh. I’m the political director at DRUM Beats. And I feel amazing. I feel ecstatic. I’m on top of the world. It’s going to be a couple of days until I come back down.
NABILA: Hi. My name is Nabila. I’m a youth organizer at DRUM Beats.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s well known that while young people are very enthusiastic, they’re the least likely to vote.
NABILA: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: What’s your response to that?
NABILA: I think this just goes to show when we have a candidate that actually cares about the popular issues that affect everyone, and someone who’s charismatic and who doesn’t talk down to youth, you finally have a youth that’s ready to show the energy they’ve always had. It’s just that they’ve been marginalized all this time.
KEANU ARPELS-JOSIAH: Hi. My name is Keanu Arpels-Josiah. I’m with Sunrise Movement New York City.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what are your feelings right now?
KEANU ARPELS-JOSIAH: I’m joyful. This is the beginning of a new future for New York City, a future where we have a politics that works for our generation, for affordability, fights the climate crisis, fights the billionaire class taking over our government, stands up to fascism and stands up for our issues. This is a moment where all of politics is changing. New York City is changing. New York City is standing up and demanding a different future for our world, for our country and for our city. I couldn’t be more excited.
AMY GOODMAN: How will it change what you do?
KEANU ARPELS-JOSIAH: It means the same for us in some ways, and it means everything is different in other ways. It means collaboration. It means a politics of working with those in office to deliver the agenda, but it also means a politics of accountability. We need to be with Zohran celebrating today, and we need to be talking with him tomorrow to make his agenda a reality. We need to be standing alongside. We can’t just be yelling at each other. But we have to have collaboration and accountability. And it means we need to fight Governor Hochul, who’s trying to build fossil fuel pipelines through New York City, that Mamdani opposes. We need to fight to tax the rich. And we need to fight Washington as it attacks our communities.
SIMONE ZIMMERMAN: My name is Simone Zimmerman. I’m a part of the Jews for Zohran campaign. I’m a board member of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice Action. And I’m over the moon. I don’t know. This is it.
Trump called the Jews who voted for Zohran stupid. But look, we’re in a moment right now where we have an administration that is using racism and fear and is sowing terror in cities around the country. And Jews are not different from any other Americans. We see the hatred and the racism that they’re spreading, and we’re terrified of it. And despite the fact that millions of dollars were poured into this race to scare the living daylights out of Jewish voters, I think we’re going to see so many people see in Zohran a vision of safety and belonging in the city that they want to be part of, despite the fact that over and over again they were told, “You don’t belong. You don’t belong.” Zohran worked so hard to go to synagogues, to reach out to Jewish communities across the city, Jewish communities of such ideological and religious diversity, and say, “You belong here.” And I think people believe him, and I think that tonight we’re seeing that.
FAHD AHMED: My name is Fahd Ahmed, and I’m the director of DRUM Beats. This campaign was successful because it had a movement behind it, and it was successful because it spoke to the material needs of people.
AMY GOODMAN: This is a very strong message to the entire country. It’s not only Republicans who were organized against Mayor Mamdani. It’s the Democratic Party, as well. What are your thoughts on that?
FAHD AHMED: Yeah. You know, in our work, we talk about that the — it is the policies of the centrists, whether they’re Democrats or some of the old Republicans, that created the conditions that caused the rise of the right. When people’s needs aren’t being met, they need an alternative, and so far, only the far right was providing an alternative in the form of authoritarianism, in the form of fascism, in the form of hate, turning against immigrants, against queer people, against Muslims. And what this campaign and our movement was able to do was offer a left alternative.
JAMES DAVIS: I’m James Davis. I’m the president of the Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, the CUNY faculty and staff union.
AMY GOODMAN: You were among the first unions to endorse Zohran Mamdani.
JAMES DAVIS: We were. I mean, we’ve known Zohran since his time in the Assembly. So we knew that even though he was a long-shot candidate, he would have tremendous message discipline. And in a time like now, when there’s Trumpism from the federal government, we also knew that his message was going to resonate among working New Yorkers.
We see what President Trump has done with the budget bill as a massive transfer of wealth to the already wealthiest. So, part of our agenda is making sure that there’s additional progressive taxation, so that the public services, including the City University of New York, can be properly funded, so we can have not just an affordable education, but a high-quality education that our students deserve.
JASMINE GRIPPER: Jasmine Gripper, co-director of the New York state Working Families Party. We are feeling proud of our success. We endorsed Zohran early. And tonight he got over 140,000 votes on the Working Families ballot line. He himself voted for himself on the Working Families ballot line. So, we’re ready to continue to build power to make his agenda a reality, to help all New Yorkers.
WALEED SHAHID: Waleed Shahid. I’m a political strategist. I’m South Asian. I’m Muslim. I think the campaign that Zohran started was based on the fact that so many Muslim Americans, South Asian Americans, Arab Americans felt left out of the Democratic Party because of the party’s support of Benjamin Netanyahu’s war crimes. And Zohran made an effort to include those people in the Democratic Party, in the Democratic primary process, in a way that so many politicians were unwilling to do. And I think you’re seeing the results of that tonight, is that not only was it Muslims and South Asians and Arabs, but young Jews, young people of all backgrounds, wanted to see a candidate who had conviction and courage, whether it was about opposing war and genocide or standing up to the real estate lobby in this city, that they want a candidate who is consistent. And I think Zohran represents that in many ways and is like the — represents the future of a lot of what American politics is going to look like.
SHAHANA HANIF: I’m Shahana Hanif, New York City councilmember representing the 39th District in Brooklyn, which includes Park Slope, Kensington. And I feel amazing.
AMY GOODMAN: So, how will the City Council operate differently now with Mayor Mamdani?
SHAHANA HANIF: Look, we’ll have a partner. We will have a partner who shares similar values and a progressive agenda, that has not been supported by Mayor Adams. You know, we had a mayor who consistently vetoed signature legislation that would transform New Yorkers’ lives. He vetoed ending solitary confinement in our city jails. He vetoed adding more accountability and transparency to our police force. He vetoed expanding vouchers for people who are in shelters, warehoused for years. This mayor, this new mayor, cares so deeply about the working people, the working-class people of New York City, and his agenda is more aligned with the current progressive — with the current progressive New York City Council.
KHALID LATIF: My name is Khalid Latif. I’m the director of the Islamic Center of New York City.
AMY GOODMAN: So, here you are. Zohran Mamdani is about to take the stage. He has won the race for mayor. He will be the first Muslim mayor. Did you ever think you’d see this day?
KHALID LATIF: Yeah, you know, it’s so remarkable. I’ve known Zohran for years, and everything you see him to be and he presents himself as is who he actually is — really sincere, deep conviction, a genuine love for people. And I think for us as Muslims in New York City, with so much of the rhetoric that we’ve seen over decades, but especially ramping up into this night, for him to come and win this so quickly, and so many people from so many walks of life being here behind him tonight, just is a testament to who it is he is. It’s really remarkable. Yeah, there we go.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you read that for me, what it says on the screen?
KHALID LATIF: Zohran right now has over 50% of the votes, 972,000 votes in total. And it’s just going to keep coming in. He’s a remarkable young man, and New York is behind him right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Did you think this was possible?
KHALID LATIF: You know, I think, early on, when he started, people probably didn’t know what to expect. But as things started to go, I was there the night of the primary, and just the hope that was in the room and the sheer shock that people had that he won so quickly, I think everybody knew we were going to get to this place right now. And it’s just the start of a lot of good things.
MAMDANI SUPPORTER: I!
MAMDANI SUPPORTERS: I!
MAMDANI SUPPORTER: I believe!
MAMDANI SUPPORTERS: I believe!
MAMDANI SUPPORTER: I believe that we!
MAMDANI SUPPORTERS: I believe that we!
MAMDANI SUPPORTER: I believe that we have won!
MAMDANI SUPPORTERS: I believe that we have won! I believe that we have won! I believe that we have won!
AMY GOODMAN: Some of the many supporters and organizers at Zohran Mamdani’s victory party Tuesday night at the Brooklyn Paramount. Mamdani thanked the more than 104,000 volunteers who propelled him to victory in the New York mayoral race. Special thanks to Democracy Now!’s Hany Massoud and Anjali Kamat.
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This Is How to Fight Fascism: Naomi Klein, AOC & Brad Lander on Mamdani Victory
by Amy Goodman
DermocracyNow
November 05, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/5/ ... transcript
At Zohran Mamdani’s victory party at the Brooklyn Paramount on Tuesday night, Democracy Now! spoke with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We’re not going to be intimidated,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We’re going to fight for working families. We’re going to stand with immigrants. We’re going to stand with the diversity of this city.”
Brad Lander, former mayoral candidate who cross-endorsed with Mandani in the Democratic primary, commented on the power of having a “Muslim New Yorker and a Jewish New Yorker say we are not going to allow Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams or Donald Trump or Elon Musk or Stephen Miller to weaponize fear and pit us against each other.”
“This is such an incredible proof of concept of how to fight fascism,” added the Canadian journalist, author and activist Naomi Klein.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: At the celebration, I had a chance to briefly speak with Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
AMY GOODMAN: The new mayor of New York City, the first Muslim mayor of New York. Your thoughts?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I mean, Zohran Mamdani, of course, a historic candidate, a tremendous moment for the people of New York. We showed that we’re not going to be bullied. We’re not going to be intimidated. We’re going to fight for working families. We’re going to stand with immigrants. We’re going to stand with the diversity of this city. And we’re also going to make sure that, first and foremost, that this is a city that working people will not be displaced out of.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you say to President Trump, who says he’ll withhold billions of dollars from New York, make it impossible for Zohran Mamdani to govern?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, you know, I think — I think that President Trump was born in New York City, and he knows that if you mess with New York, you mess with the whole country. And so, you know, I think this isn’t a city that doesn’t fight back.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Zohran Mamdani’s victory party. I also spoke with the Canadian journalist, author and activist and professor, Naomi Klein.
AMY GOODMAN: Start off by saying your name and your feelings right now.
NAOMI KLEIN: My name is Naomi Klein. And I’m levitating. This is such an incredible proof of concept of how to fight fascism. You know, Zohran, immediately after Trump’s election, went out and talked to Trump voters, people who had never voted for Trump before, Black and Brown people in working-class neighborhoods, didn’t vilify them, just listened to them.
I talked to Zohran for the first time a week after Trump’s election. And what he said to me was everything is broken for people. Like, the elevator in their public housing hasn’t been fixed for 10 months. Nothing is working. So it’s so easy for someone like Trump to come along and be like, “Blame the immigrant. Blame the unhoused person.” And his entire campaign was about proving that if you actually meet people’s real needs and raise the floor and say, “OK, let’s freeze the red. Let’s have free and fast buses. Let’s have universal child care. Let’s address that sense of scarcity and insecurity at its root,” that it can pull people back from the fascist abyss. And he won tonight. He proved that that is — that works. That message works.
This movement, this is anti-fascism, and it is also the antithesis of fascism, because fascists want everybody to be the same. They celebrate conformity, uniformity, sameness, hierarchy. Look in — New York is the most unruly city. The entire campaign was a love letter to the diversity, linguistic, faith, cultural diversity of the city, at a time when the Republicans never stop pouring hate onto cities and make people afraid of each other, right?
AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, speaking last night at Zohran Mamdani’s victory party in Brooklyn. I also spoke to a New York official who also ran for mayor in the Democratic primary.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you identify yourself and your position and what you did with Zohran Mamdani?
BRAD LANDER: Yeah, I’m New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. You know, I was a candidate for mayor. I cross-endorsed with Zohran in the primary, as it was clear that he was the candidate with the best chance to win. We took Andrew Cuomo on together in the second mayoral debate in the primary.
AMY GOODMAN: The ranked-choice voting was so significant.
BRAD LANDER: Ranked-choice voting made a huge difference for us to build a slate of — a team of people committed to a more affordable and a more humane city, and who said he can’t be — Andrew Cuomo can’t be anywhere near City Hall. And then I worked really hard in the general election, obviously, you know, to have a Muslim New Yorker and a Jewish New Yorker say we are not going to allow Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams or Donald Trump or Elon Musk or Stephen Miller to weaponize fear and pit us against each other. The only way that we’ll be safe is if we’re all safe.
AMY GOODMAN: And your response to President Trump saying any Jew who votes for Zohran is stupid?
BRAD LANDER: Well, what I did today was to quote Ethics of the Fathers, or Pirkei Avot, which says, you know, “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone. And who’s a fool? He who can’t learn a damn thing.” So, Donald Trump doesn’t get to tell us how to be Jewish. He sure can’t tell smart from stupid. And I’ll tell you this: Like, if he comes for New York City, it’s not going to be Donald Trump versus Zohran Mamdani. It’s going to be Donald Trump versus New York City. And I think when they write the history books, maybe they’ll say when Trump started to lose was when he came for New York after we elected Zohran. And just like we said good [bleep] riddance to Andrew Cuomo, we’ll do the same to Donald Trump.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you’re the city comptroller. You know what it means for President Trump to say he would pull billions from the city.
BRAD LANDER: Yeah, look, I mean, Elon Musk stole $80 million from New York in February, and Eric Adams couldn’t say a damn word about it. So, having a mayor who’s going to stand up and fight on our behalf, bring us together, organize us to help stand up, that’s how we win. That’s our money. It’s not Donald Trump’s money, however much he might think it is.
AMY GOODMAN: So, this is certainly a message to all of the United States, not only the Republican Party, but the Democratic Party, as well, which is clearly fighting back. I mean, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Senator Schumer, never even endorsed the Democratic candidate for mayor, Zohran Mamdani. What do you say to him? What do you say to the party?
BRAD LANDER: Well, yeah, but let’s be clear. In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Stephen Miller endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Elon Musk endorsed Andrew Cuomo. So, Democrats who couldn’t stand up and say, “We’re with Zohran in a fight against that MAGA, you know, cabal,” like, we need a party that is broad. It’s got to include moderates. Of course it does. And when they win primaries in the right seats where they’re representing their constituents, then, of course, we’ll go support them. But when progressive candidates like Zohran win, then moderates have got to support them, as well. That’s the only way we can build a popular front that’s going to be sufficient to stand up to this authoritarian president.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s New York City Comptroller Brad Lander at Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory party at the Brooklyn Paramount.
When we come back, we’ll look at how Democrats scored major victories across the country, including in California, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in what’s been described as a repudiation of the Trump agenda. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Qais Essar and Sonny Singh, here on Democracy Now!, democarcynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
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“Epic Night for Democrats”: Party Wins Races Across the U.S. in Voter Rebuke to Trump
by Amy Goodman
DermocracyNow
November 05, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/5/ ... transcript
We get an overview of how Democrats won big across the United States in Tuesday’s elections, with Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts. Democratic Congressmember Mikie Sherrill won New Jersey’s governor’s race, and Abigail Spanberger flipped Virginia’s governorship. In California, voters approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats pick up five additional congressional seats in a move to counter Texas’s redistricting plan. Local races across the countries also saw widespread Democratic wins. Nichanian says he has “never really quite seen this level of systematic win for pretty much anything that there was [for Democrats] to win.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Tuesday’s general elections saw Democrats post big wins across the United States.
In California, voters passed Proposition 50, approving a new congressional map that could help Democrats pick up five additional congressional seats in the move to counter Texas’s redistricting effort to help Republicans gain five House seats.
In New Jersey, Democratic Congressmember Mikie Sherrill won the governor’s race, defeating Jack Ciattarelli.
In Virginia, Democrats reclaimed full control of the state’s executive branch, as Abigail Spanberger flipped the governorship, becoming Virginia’s first female governor. Virginia voters also chose Ghazala Hashmi to be Virginia’s lieutenant governor, making her the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office anywhere in the United States. Meanwhile, Democrat Jay Jones defeated Virginia’s incumbent Republican attorney general.
In Minneapolis, Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey led democratic socialist challenger Omar Fateh, but neither got more than 50% of the votes, so the race moves to a second round of ranked-choice voting.
And in Pennsylvania, Democrats retained control of the state Supreme Court, after three justices won their races.
For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts, who covered the general election closely.
We welcome you back to Democracy Now! Daniel Nichanian, start off by just talking about the national picture.
DANIEL NICHANIAN: Well, thank you for having me.
And, you know, it was really — there’s no other way to put it — an epic night for Democrats last night. I’ve been following election nights for a long time, and I’ve never really quite seen this level of systematic win for pretty much anything that there was to win between the parties for a Democratic candidate. You already named a lot of the big picture races, but it was — pretty much anywhere that there was an election yesterday, there was just a small earthquake or a big earthquake in favor of Democrats.
So, let me give you just one big picture example, that there were 13 statewide races yesterday for statewide office. There was the ones you mentioned. There was one in Jersey, three in Virginia, two in Georgia, as well as seven in Pennsylvania, all judges. And Democrats won all 13 of these races, and they won them by comfortable margins, ranging from six points to 24 points. That’s right. In Georgia, Democrats won two seats by 24 points. And what’s super interesting is that Democrats had never won a statewide race for a race that isn’t federal, for a state government, in 20 years, almost 20 years, and they won them by 24 points last night.
And if you move down-ballot to county-level races, to city races, you are seeing the same thing over and over again, of Democrats winning counties or offices that they hadn’t won for a long time. The Democrats broke the supermajority, the Republican supermajority, in the Mississippi upper chamber. Democrats won the most seats they have in the Virginia House since the ’80s. Democrats flipped Erie County, Pennsylvania. Democrats flipped Onondaga County in New York for the first time since the ’70s.
And I could go on and on, and I’m not going to do that. But also to — I think maybe another last place to look at is, even if you go all the way down to school board races, you know, that was really the center of the conservative ideological takeover in 2021, 2022, a lot of — a lot of conservative takeovers at the school board level. Even there, we’re seeing a lot of conservatives lose their seats, in Colorado, in Pennsylvania, in Texas. So, that, I think, really gives you an idea of the sort of night that we’re speaking about.
AMY GOODMAN: So, in California, Prop 50, very quickly, your response?
DANIEL NICHANIAN: Right. So, Prop 50 is a very — was a very important part of this war that is happening right now on the — for the U.S. House next year. In California, Democrats responded to efforts by Republicans elsewhere to draw maps in their favor. And that, itself, is going to shift five seats in favor of Democrats.
I think a big takeaway yesterday of the type of swings that I was just describing, as well — again, we’re talking about a 24-point win in Virginia, large wins in Virginia, Jersey — is that Republicans could get a little spooked, a little scared, about the type of maps that they’re drawing, that are not necessarily equipped to withstand the type of wave that we saw last night, so that that’s also something to watch, whether Republicans continue now to try and draw the maps in their favor, as they’ve been planning to, in places like Florida or Indiana.
AMY GOODMAN: The significance of the three liberal judges in Pennsylvania keeping their seats?
DANIEL NICHANIAN: Right. I mean, there’s so much to talk about. There were three races for the state court, for the state’s highest court in Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state in the nation. And Republicans were really hopeful to take back the court in advance of the 2028 presidential election, because this is a state where President Trump kept suing to try and overturn the 2020 result, and kept losing at the state’s highest court. And yesterday was the Republican opportunity to erase the majority that Democrats enjoy there. Democrats won those races very easily. They are now very likely to hold that court until 2029.
AMY GOODMAN: And in Minneapolis, now the — neither candidate, the mayor, Frey, or Omar Fateh, got 50%. So, explain what happens right now between Jacob Frey and Omar Fateh. It’s ranked-choice voting.
DANIEL NICHANIAN: Right. So, that is one of the main mayoral races we were watching, as a companion of what’s happening in New York that you’ve covered during the show, where there was a more centrist incumbent mayor running against a progressive challenger. In the first round of voting, there’s about a 9 percentage point gap, something like that, between Frey, who’s ahead, and Fateh, who’s second. But now we move to ranked-choice voting, their third, fourth candidate that got a large share of the vote, and a lot of them are aligned more with the left and with Omar Fateh’s campaign. So we could see a very tight election when the ranked choice is run at some point, I think, in this afternoon.
AMY GOODMAN: And the significance — he is called, Omar Fateh, the “Mamdani of the Midwest” — but of Mamdani himself, and President Trump saying, overall, he wrote, ”TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT”? He refers to himself in the third person. The shutdown and that he himself wasn’t on the ballot.
DANIEL NICHANIAN: I mean, I just heard the excerpts from his speech earlier in the program and when he said, you know —
AMY GOODMAN: Mamdani.
DANIEL NICHANIAN: — “I am an immigrant,” and that’s such an important part of his win, of his victory. And that was very striking, first because of the Islamophobic campaign that really was ran against him in the final weeks of the campaign, also because, as you mentioned a few minutes ago, there was the first Muslim woman to win a statewide office anywhere in the country, that really stands in parallel — as a companion result, given that context, but also because we saw the topic of immigration and ICE, and obviously Trump’s agenda around those issues, be very important around the country. Just as one example, the Republican —
AMY GOODMAN: We have five seconds.
DANIEL NICHANIAN: — nominee for governor — OK, well, there were a lot of races where immigration was on the ballot and the big issue, and that’s what I was going to end with.
AMY GOODMAN: Daniel Nichanian, you got a lot in there, editor-in-chief of Bolts. We’ll link to your coverage of the elections at democracynow.org.