Progressive Democrats praised New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as the party's future at a July 17 event hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.
The event, "Bold Ideas for a New Progressive Majority," was the second of IPS' symposiums this year.
With his unapologetic embrace of democratic socialism, he generated considerable controversy in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York.
In results that made headlines worldwide last month, state Assemblyman Mamdani defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic nomination.
At the event, numerous panelists said the assemblyman reflects Democrats' strategy for the 2026 midterm elections.
Panelist Faiz Shakir, former senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and executive director of the progressive news nonprofit More Perfect Union, promoted the candidate's idea of government-run grocery stores. He compared them to stores on military bases after expressing distaste for privately owned hospitals.
"You have Zohran [Mamdani] talking about municipally run grocery stores," Shakir said. "I think we have to challenge ownership this time."
Government-run grocery stores are common in communist states, leading critics, including President Donald Trump, to call him a communist.
Mayor Eric Adams, who is seeking reelection as an independent, called Zohran Mamdani a "silver spoon socialist."
This remark came after footage of the candidate in which he discussed relying on family wealth went viral.
"I worked until January, and then I took time away from my job and one of the major reasons I could do that was because I knew that if I ran out of my savings my family would be able to support me," he said in the video.
His mother, Mira Nair, is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker.
His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor at Columbia University who recently came under fire for sitting on the council of the Gaza Tribunal, an anti-Israel organization whose members were deported amid allegations of terrorist ties. His 2004 book seemingly sympathizes with suicide bombers.
"Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism," Mahmood Mamdaniwrote. "We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier."
Johanna Bozuwa, executive director of the Climate and Community Institute, progressive think tank, praised the younger Mamdani at the event's climate panel.
"Mamdani crushed in that primary," Bozuwa said, and it was "this incredible moment of saying, Oh, my goodness, things are actually possible. He was talking about a vision of what an affordable New York City looked like. … He connected affordability to the future that people actually want to live in."
Bozuwa declared: "This is the type of campaign that's emblematic of where we should be going and how we should be thinking about integrating climate into the type of power building that is necessary.
"This terrible time that we're in is also bringing our progressive values and policies into the mainstream in a new way. I was really proud to endorse Zohran Mamdani in New York City before the primary."
ISP stated that it would release a recording of the event in coming weeks.
Olivia D'Angelo is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Asheville and a summer intern with Mr. Gizzi.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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