Mamdani works to win NYC’s Black voters and move past accusations that he’s on ‘Team Gentrification’

By Gloria Pazmino, Arit John, Mark Morales, CNN

New York (CNN) — During a recent canvassing call for New Yorkers with Caribbean ties, one of the city’s most prominent Black leaders tried to dispel rumors about Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist and Democratic nominee for mayor.

“I just want to make clear nobody around Zohran is trying to take Black people’s homes,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said on the Zoom call, which was attended by approximately 90 people. “Quite the opposite. He wants to make sure that we’re able to stay in our homes.”

Mamdani, virtually unknown to most New Yorkers when he entered the June Democratic primary, beat Andrew Cuomo even as he lost in majority-Black neighborhoods across the city. His campaign has long been accused of relying on younger, wealthier residents who are pricing out longstanding residents – a critique summarized by an adviser to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who referred to Mamdani’s backers as “Team Gentrification.”

Ahead of a November election where he will face Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams as independents, Mamdani is working to make inroads with Black voters by emphasizing his commitment to homeownership and lowering costs for people trying to stay in neighborhoods that are getting more expensive.

There is still some skepticism of Mamdani’s credentials and his proposals, giving an opening to Adams, the second Black mayor in the city’s history, and Cuomo, who has long counted on Black voters in his runs for governor. Cuomo’s allies are pushing Adams to end his reelection bid, hoping that will help Cuomo consolidate Black voter support against Mamdani.

“Right now, the decisive vote could be the Black vote,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader. “If two-thirds of the Black vote goes against you, it’d be very difficult to win in November.”

A recent round of polls from Quinnipiac University and The New York Times showed Mamdani is ahead among Black voters. And while Jeffries has withheld his endorsement, other Black leaders have backed Mamdani, notably New York Attorney General Letitia James, US Rep. Yvette Clarke, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte.

Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, said he was impressed with Mamdani but hadn’t decided on whom to endorse.

Rev. Malcolm Byrd, pastor of Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem, which has hosted Mamdani at their Sunday service, said he has watched for years as his congregation changes rapidly.

“There is a constant cycling of new people and in Black communities, the Black church is the one place where if you unite your messaging, you can get a message across to Black America,” Byrd told CNN.

Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president, previously represented parts of southeast Queens that are home to a large middle-class Black community where many residents own their homes. Mamdani lost the area in the primary, but not by large margins. Now, as Mamdani adjusts his message to include a focus on homeowners, Richards says Mamdani is reaching out to older communities with the help of established Black leaders like him who have endorsed him.

Some of the city’s Black leaders including Richards have cautioned Mamdani that his rent freeze proposal for rent-stabilized apartments may alienate some Black voters, including some small landlords who rely on rental income.

Mamdani has responded by highlighting his campaign proposal to tackle the city’s onerous property tax system. The notoriously complex system has gone without reform for decades, resulting in an antiquated structure that taxes homeowners in more affluent neighborhoods at much lower rates than those in poorer areas. Mamdani has also said he would end a city policy to sell tax liens when homeowners fall behind on their property taxes. The policy has been found to disproportionally affect Black and brown homeowners, resulting in the loss of their homes to foreclosure.

While Byrd also hasn’t endorsed a candidate, he said Mamdani had “won a lot of people over” the Sunday he addressed the congregation and warned against candidates who assume that if the Black churches have with them before, they will be with them again.

Mamdani is a constant on the Sunday church circuit, visiting over a dozen churches in the last month, he has gathered with young black entrepreneurs, visited small businesses in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean neighborhood and recently made an appearance at the West Indian Day Parade – a political right of passage for all political candidates where lack of rhythm could temporarily make or break support.

“I’ve always said that a good leader is a good listener, so before you ask me to wine, I need to see a good example,” Mamdani told a crowd of parade revelers referencing the Jamaican dance. The crowd obliged and Mamdani followed, swinging his hips from side to side encouraging the crowd to join in the dance.

During a recent meeting with young Black and Latino entrepreneurs in the Bronx Mamdani listened as the crowd discussed access to capital, education, business investments and the cost of living.

Some of the entrepreneurs were wary of his ties to democratic socialism and worry that their chance to make money in a system that has historically disadvantaged them could slip away.

For years, progressives have struggled to gain traction with older and more moderate Black voters, even as they’ve been able to appeal to a diverse base of young people. That dynamic was on display during the 2016 and 2020 presidential primaries, in which Black voters in South Carolina rejected independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in favor of the party’s eventual nominees, Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden.

Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist who advises Reps. Jim Clyburn and Hakeem Jeffries, said progressives still have work to do.

“What no voter wants, in particular Black voters, is someone showing up telling you what’s good for you, instead of listening to what your needs, concerns, fears, hopes and aspirations are.”

A former backer of Cuomo and Adams, Shirley Fearon, 80, said she first met Mamdani during a community barbecue after her youngest daughter and grandchildren had mentioned him in their conversations. Slowly she came around, concluding that the other two candidates in the race “were tainted,” she said.

“For sure, they’re a little suspicious,” Fearon said of neighbors and friends in church who have told her they’re still not sure whether they will vote for Mamdani. “The older folks, we sort of go with what we know.”

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