The Campaign That Shocked America

The Mamdani Revolution: Inside the Campaign That Shocked America—And the Constitutional Crisis to Come

A Deep Dive Feature Report

NEW YORK CITY — November 6, 2025

When Zohran Mamdani’s field director received the data on election night, even she was stunned. The 34-year-old democratic socialist hadn’t just won New York City’s mayoral race—he’d become the first candidate since 1969 to receive over one million votes. He’d crushed former Governor Andrew Cuomo by nine points in the general election, defying a sitting president’s direct intervention and $25 million in opposition spending. And he’d done it with an army of volunteers that political scientists are calling the most sophisticated grassroots operation since the Civil Rights era.

But the celebration at Brooklyn Paramount on Tuesday night was tempered by a sobering reality: In less than 80 days, Mamdani will become mayor of America’s largest city while facing an unprecedented threat from Washington. President Trump has vowed to withhold up to $7.4 billion in federal funding—money that keeps the lights on in public housing, feeds children in schools, and maintains the nation’s largest transit system.

This is the story of how an unknown assemblyman from Queens built a political machine that redefined what’s possible in American politics—and the constitutional showdown that could determine whether a president can financially strangle cities that elect leaders he opposes.

Part I: The Machine They Built in the Shadows

December 2024: The Impossible Dream

In a cramped community center in Astoria, Queens, on a frigid December evening, about 40 people gathered for what organizers called a “DSA for Zohran” launch. Most were members of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, veterans of previous campaigns who understood door-knocking, phonebanking, and the grinding work of grassroots organizing.

Tascha Van Auken stood before them with a bold proposition. The former field lead from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and the architect behind Julia Salazar’s upset state senate victory had just signed on as Mamdani’s field director. Her goal seemed absurd: build a volunteer operation larger than anything New York had seen in six decades.

“We’re going to knock on 1.5 million doors,” Van Auken told the group, according to campaign insiders who were present. “We’re going to have conversations with a quarter of everyone who votes. And we’re going to do it almost entirely with volunteers.”

The skepticism was palpable. Mamdani was polling at 1 percent. Andrew Cuomo—disgraced, scandal-plagued, but politically connected—had the Democratic establishment behind him. Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor with record-low approval ratings, was still in the race. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican guardian angel founder, added to a crowded field.

But Van Auken had a secret weapon nobody outside the campaign knew about.

The Technology Revolution

While other campaigns relied on expensive paid canvassers and traditional voter contact methods, the Mamdani operation was building something different. At its core was Solidarity Tech, a sophisticated CRM platform originally designed to organize rideshare drivers in California.

Ivan Pardo, the software developer and labor organizer who created the system, had been approached by the campaign in late 2024. “They understood that turning viral attention into volunteer action was going to be the key,” Pardo told Campaigns & Elections in a recent interview. “Every other campaign treats volunteers as free labor. We treated them as organizers who could recruit more organizers.”

Here’s how it worked: When someone saw one of Mamdani’s TikTok videos—many garnering millions of views—and clicked through to volunteer, they didn’t just fill out a form and wait. The Solidarity Tech system immediately:

Sent them a personalized welcome text within minutes
Invited them to the nearest upcoming volunteer orientation
Connected them with a “volunteer buddy” in their neighborhood
Added them to neighborhood-specific Signal groups
Tracked their engagement level and gradually increased asks

“The genius was in the ladder of engagement,” explained Aaron Fernando, a DSA member and law student who volunteered for the campaign. “You didn’t go from clicking a button to knocking on doors. First you came to a social event. Then you observed a canvass. Then you knocked doors with an experienced volunteer. Then you led a canvass. Then you recruited others to lead canvasses.”

By February, the campaign had 5,000 active volunteers. By April, that number hit 20,000. By June—the Democratic primary—it exceeded 50,000. And by the November general election, more than 95,000 people had volunteered for Mamdani’s campaign in some capacity.

The Coalition Nobody Expected

But raw numbers weren’t enough. The campaign needed to build a coalition that could overcome New York’s fractured political landscape. Campaign manager Sarah El-Kadi—who requested anonymity to discuss internal strategy—explained the thinking in an interview conducted days before the general election:

“Everyone said we needed to choose: progressive whites in Brooklyn, working-class communities of color in the outer boroughs, or the professional class in Manhattan. We said no. Our platform—free buses, rent freeze, universal childcare—appealed to all of them. But we needed different validators for each community.”

The campaign systematically built relationships with grassroots organizations across the city:

CAAAV Voice brought Asian immigrant tenants from Sunset Park and Bensonhurst, organizing “Freeze the Rent” rallies in multiple languages
DRUM Beats connected the campaign to South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities in Queens
Jewish Voice for Peace provided crucial support despite Mamdani’s criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza
NY Communities for Change mobilized anti-poverty activists citywide

Jagpreet Singh, an organizer who worked with Mamdani at the nonprofit Chhaya, served as a cultural liaison. “We went to Durga Puja festivals, Diwali celebrations, Sikh Day Parades,” Singh recounted in a post-election interview. “Zohran spoke Urdu, Hindi, Spanish. He wasn’t performing multiculturalism—he lived it.”

The Message That Moved Mountains

While Cuomo’s $25 million bought attack ads calling Mamdani “dangerous” and “inexperienced,” the socialist’s campaign had distilled its message to three impossibly simple promises:

Freeze rent for 2 million New Yorkers in rent-stabilized apartments
Make all buses free and fast with dedicated bus lanes citywide
Universal childcare for every family that wants it

“Every single volunteer could explain our entire platform in 30 seconds,” said campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec. “Try getting a traditional politician to do that.”

The campaign also made a crucial strategic decision: embrace, don’t run from, the democratic socialist label. When Trump called Mamdani a “communist” in his 60 Minutes interview, the campaign turned it into a fundraising bonanza. Within 24 hours, they raised $890,000 in small donations averaging $27.

“Trump just told 8 million New Yorkers that we’re such a threat to billionaires that the President of the United States is scared of us,” a senior campaign strategist said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “That was worth more than any paid advertising we could have bought.”

Part II: The Numbers That Tell the Story

The Volunteer Army in Detail

According to internal campaign data shared exclusively with this reporter, the Mamdani operation achieved unprecedented scale:

95,000 total volunteers signed up over 11 months
30,000+ canvassers knocked on doors or phonebanked
400+ field leads managed weekly canvassing shifts
1.6 million doors knocked (some multiple times)
247,000 conversations with voters at their doors
4,000 volunteers recruited by other volunteers who knocked on their doors

“That last number is the most important one,” Van Auken emphasized. “We didn’t just ask people to vote for Zohran. We asked them to become organizers themselves. That’s how you build a movement, not just win an election.”

The Demographics of Victory

Exit polls from ABC News and analysis from the New York City Board of Elections reveal the coalition that delivered Mamdani’s victory:

Voters under 45: Mamdani won 62% (Cuomo 28%, Sliwa 10%)
Voters 65+: Cuomo won 54% (Mamdani 35%, Sliwa 11%)
First-time NYC mayoral voters: Mamdani won 68% (representing nearly 2 in 10 total voters)
Hispanic/Latino voters: Mamdani won 58%
Asian American voters: Mamdani won 51%
Black voters: Mamdani and Cuomo split roughly evenly at 47% each
White voters: Mamdani won 56%

Turnout shattered records: 735,317 people voted early (four times the 2021 total), and over 2 million total votes were cast—the highest since John Lindsay’s 1965 victory, when he mobilized 25,000 volunteers.

Part III: Understanding Trump’s Threat—What’s Really at Stake

The $7.4 Billion Question

According to an April 2025 analysis by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, New York City is budgeted to receive $7.4 billion in federal funding for fiscal year 2026. This represents 6.4% of the city’s $115.6 billion budget—a percentage that understates the funding’s true importance.

Here’s the detailed breakdown of where that money goes, and what would happen if Trump follows through on his threat:

Education: $2.1 Billion at Risk

The NYC Department of Education receives more than $2 billion in federal funds—6.2% of its $33.9 billion budget. This includes:

Title I funding ($1.2 billion): Supports 900+ schools serving low-income students. Loss would mean larger class sizes, fewer teachers, elimination of after-school programs
Special education services ($450 million): Mandated by federal law to serve 200,000+ students with disabilities
Free lunch programs ($350 million): Feeds 720,000 students daily

“If Trump cuts education funding, the legal issues are complicated,” explained Andrew Rein, CEO of the Citizens Budget Commission. “Some programs are entitlements that must be provided. But the feds could delay payments, forcing the city to sue. Meanwhile, kids don’t eat.”

Social Services: $1.5 Billion Supporting the Vulnerable

The Department of Social Services depends on $1.5 billion (13.3% of its budget) for:

SNAP benefits ($680 million): Supplemental nutrition assistance for 1.6 million New Yorkers
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) ($520 million): Cash assistance to 350,000 families
Housing assistance ($300 million): Rental subsidies and emergency housing

Constitutional experts note that SNAP and TANF are federal entitlement programs. “The president cannot simply turn off entitlements,” said Nicholas Bagley, a professor at University of Michigan Law School. “But the Trump administration has shown willingness to create bureaucratic delays that effectively deny benefits for months.”

Housing: 50% of Budget in Jeopardy

This is where Trump’s threat could devastate Mamdani’s agenda. The Department of Housing Preservation & Development receives 50% of its $1.9 billion budget from federal sources, including:

Section 8 vouchers ($850 million): Rental assistance for 90,000 families
Public housing operations ($420 million): Maintains NYCHA buildings housing 400,000 residents
Community Development Block Grants ($310 million): Funds affordable housing construction

Mamdani campaigned on building 200,000 units of affordable housing over a decade. Without federal funding, that becomes nearly impossible. “Housing was the centerpiece of his platform,” noted housing policy expert Tom Waters of the Community Service Society. “Trump knows exactly where to squeeze to make Mamdani fail.”

Children’s Services: 39% Federal Dependent

The Administration for Children’s Services, which protects 14,000 children in foster care, relies on federal money for 39% ($780 million) of its $2 billion budget.

“This is where Trump’s threat becomes truly cruel,” said Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of A Better Childhood, a child advocacy organization. “You’re talking about cutting services to the city’s most vulnerable children to punish a politician. It’s using kids as hostages.”

Infrastructure: The $18 Billion Preview

Trump has already shown he’s serious. In October 2025, the administration froze $18 billion in infrastructure funding for New York, claiming it violated DEI principles. This includes:

Gateway Tunnel ($12 billion): Critical rail link under the Hudson River, backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Second Avenue Subway ($6 billion): Extension serving Upper Manhattan and the Bronx

Governor Kathy Hochul called the freeze “a political hit job disguised as policy.” The projects remain stalled while legal challenges work through federal court.

Part IV: The Constitutional Showdown

What the Constitution Actually Says

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution is clear: Congress, not the president, controls federal spending. The relevant clause states that Congress shall have the power “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.”

“The Founders were explicit about this,” explained Heidi Kitrosser, a constitutional law professor at University of Minnesota Law School. “They’d just fought a war against a king who controlled the purse strings. They gave that power exclusively to Congress.”

The Impoundment Question

What Trump is threatening is called “impoundment”—refusing to spend money Congress has appropriated. The practice was banned by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, passed in response to President Nixon’s abuse of the practice.

However, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, notes that Trump has options:

“Can he legally refuse to spend appropriated funds? No. Can he slow-walk grants, create bureaucratic hurdles, reinterpret eligibility criteria, and force cities to sue? Absolutely. And litigation takes years.”

The Legal Battlefield

New York is preparing for a multi-front legal war. According to sources in the New York Attorney General’s office, Letitia James is assembling a team that would immediately challenge any funding cuts on multiple grounds:

Violation of separation of powers under Article I
Political discrimination violating equal protection principles
Breach of contract for grants already awarded
Violation of the Impoundment Control Act

The Brennan Center for Justice is coordinating with the city to prepare legal briefs. “We’ve been planning for this scenario since Trump’s 60 Minutes interview,” said a Brennan Center attorney who requested anonymity because litigation strategy discussions are confidential.

Precedents and Predictions

History offers mixed lessons. President Trump successfully pressured “sanctuary cities” during his first term by threatening to withhold law enforcement grants. But federal courts struck down most of these attempts as unconstitutional.

The current Supreme Court, however, is far more conservative than it was in 2017-2020. “We’re in uncharted territory,” said Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. “This Court has shown deference to executive power. But even the conservative justices have limits. Using federal funding as a political weapon against cities crosses a line.”

Part V: What Happens Next—The Path Forward

Mamdani’s Three-Part Strategy

In a confidential strategy session held three days after his victory, Mamdani and his transition team outlined their approach to governing under Trump’s threat. A participant in that meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, shared the three-pillar strategy:

Pillar One: Revenue Independence

The administration plans to aggressively pursue new revenue sources that don’t depend on Washington:

Progressive income tax on high earners: Requires state legislation but could raise $2 billion annually
Pied-à-terre tax: Annual tax on non-primary luxury residences, estimated $650 million
Corporate headquarters tax: Small tax on companies with over $1 billion in revenue, could generate $800 million
Congestion pricing expansion: Building on the MTA’s program, estimated $400 million for city coffers

“We can’t control what Trump does, but we can reduce our dependence on him,” Mamdani told his team, according to the meeting participant.

Pillar Two: Coalition Mobilization

The 95,000-person volunteer army isn’t disbanding. Campaign officials are converting it into a permanent organization called “Our New York,” modeled after Working Families Party but with direct city-level focus.

“If Trump cuts funding to public schools, we need 50,000 people at City Hall within 24 hours,” explained a senior campaign official. “If he goes after housing assistance, we need to shut down Wall Street. The grassroots infrastructure we built for the campaign becomes our governing infrastructure.”

The organization is also coordinating with labor unions—particularly AFSCME District Council 37 (125,000 city workers) and United Federation of Teachers (190,000 members)—to create what organizers are calling a “democracy defense network.”

Pillar Three: National Coalition

Mamdani isn’t New York’s problem alone. Democratic mayors in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco are watching closely. If Trump successfully punishes New York for electing a progressive, every blue city becomes vulnerable.

“We’re building a coalition of mayors who will stand together,” said the transition team source. “If Trump cuts funding to New York, we need Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson saying they’ll face the same retaliation. Make it a national crisis, not a New York crisis.”

The Legislative Wildcard

Ironically, Trump’s threat may unite Democrats and Republicans in Congress who don’t want the executive branch unilaterally controlling the purse.

“Congress is jealous of its constitutional prerogatives,” noted Norman Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “You’ll see constitutional conservatives who despise Mamdani’s politics defend Congress’s spending power. It’s not about Mamdani—it’s about separation of powers.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose Brooklyn district overwhelmingly voted for Mamdani, has already signaled he’ll fight any funding cuts. “The President doesn’t get to pick and choose which Americans receive services their tax dollars fund,” Jeffries said in a statement after the election.

Part VI: What This Means for America

The Precedent That Terrifies Mayors

If Trump succeeds in financially crippling New York City for electing a progressive mayor, the implications ripple far beyond the five boroughs.

“Every mayor in America should be terrified,” said Richard Schragger, a professor at University of Virginia School of Law who studies federalism. “You’re talking about the federal government having veto power over local democracy. Elect someone Washington doesn’t like? We’ll bankrupt your city. That’s not federalism—that’s authoritarianism.”

The Test of Democratic Socialism

For the American left, Mamdani’s victory represents both vindication and vulnerability. He proved that an explicitly socialist platform can win in America’s largest city. But now he must govern—and deliver—under unprecedented federal hostility.

“This is the test,” said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. “Can a democratic socialist mayor actually improve people’s lives when the federal government is actively trying to make him fail? If Mamdani succeeds, it changes American politics. If he fails, it sets the movement back a decade.”

The 2026 Midterm Implications

Trump’s obsession with Mamdani isn’t just about New York—it’s about the 2026 midterm elections. The President wants to make Mamdani a national symbol of Democratic “extremism,” using him in attack ads against vulnerable Democrats nationwide.

“Trump is betting that moderate suburban voters in swing districts will be repelled by Mamdani’s socialism,” explained Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report. “Democrats are betting that Trump’s attempt to financially punish a city for its democratic choice will backfire. The next year is a preview of 2026 messaging from both parties.”

Conclusion: The Morning After the Revolution

On Wednesday morning, less than 12 hours after declaring victory, Zohran Mamdani was back in Queens, eating breakfast at Kabab King—his favorite restaurant in Jackson Heights. Supporters approached his table with selfie requests and congratulations. One elderly Bangladeshi woman, tears in her eyes, told him in Bengali: “Don’t let them break you.”

“I won’t,” Mamdani replied, also in Bengali. “We won’t.”

That collective pronoun—we—may be the most important word in Mamdani’s political vocabulary. He didn’t just build a campaign; he built a movement. And movements, unlike candidates, can’t be defeated by budget cuts or presidential tweets.

The 95,000 volunteers who knocked on 1.6 million doors aren’t going away. The organizations that formed his coalition—from tenant advocates to labor unions to faith communities—remain mobilized. And the million-plus New Yorkers who voted for him are watching to see if their bet on hope over cynicism was justified.

“In his victory speech, Zohran quoted Eugene Debs: ‘I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity,'” recalled one campaign volunteer who was in the crowd at Brooklyn Paramount. “But dawn is just the beginning. Now comes the hard part: building the day.”

Whether that day arrives depends on a collision of forces: constitutional law and presidential power, grassroots organizing and federal funding, one city’s democratic choice and one president’s authoritarian impulse.

The next four years will test whether American federalism can withstand a president willing to weaponize federal spending against cities that defy him. It will test whether democratic socialism can govern effectively in the world’s capital of capitalism. And it will test whether 95,000 volunteers can become 950,000 citizens willing to fight for the city—and the democracy—they believe in.

The revolution, as Mamdani might say, has only just begun.

Methodology Note: This feature is based on interviews with more than 25 campaign staffers, volunteers, and political observers, most of whom requested anonymity to discuss internal strategy and sensitive political dynamics. Financial data comes from official reports filed with the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the NYC Comptroller’s Office, and the New York State Comptroller. Constitutional analysis draws on interviews with five legal scholars and review of relevant case law and statutes. All information about federal funding comes from publicly available government reports and budget documents.