All Eyes on Mamdani’s 2028 Moves

Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images In June, Mayor Zohran Mamdani flexed his political muscle by helping elect a slate of congressional candidates who are set to join the House and grow the chamber’s progressive bloc. He’s now reportedly looking to build upon the extensive gains made by Democrats in the midterms with an eye toward 2028.

It’s safe to assume that Mamdani, with his historic mayoral win and high popularity, would be at the center of 2028 presidential speculation had he not been born in Uganda and thus ineligible to run. Instead, the chatter centers on how Mamdani could boost a Democratic contender. On Wednesday at Gracie Mansion, the mayor met with United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain, a prominent progressive labor figure who has been floated as a potential candidate. In a statement to Politico, a mayoral spokesman said Mamdani and Fain had a “productive conversation about the power of organized labor in building a political movement rooted in people.”

“They also discussed their shared commitment to strengthening the labor movement and carrying the momentum of last Tuesday’s election victories in 2027 and beyond,” the statement read.

The sit-down with Fain follows an Axios report published Sunday that detailed recent meetings Mamdani has had with other labor leaders, including Jimmy Williams Jr., president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants–CWA. Sources familiar with the conversations told the outlet Mamdani has been emphasizing the importance of a left-wing or labor-aligned candidate making a run for the presidency in 2028 in the wake of last Tuesday’s blue wave, which saw Democrats make gains in Republican strongholds such as Texas, Kansas, and Mississippi.

The New York Times confirmed Axios’ reporting, adding that Mamdani sought to learn how Williams’s and Nelson’s members are thinking about the 2028 cycle as well as their unions’ process for issuing endorsements.

During a press conference on Monday, Mamdani confirmed the meetings had taken place: “I had sought and continue to meet with labor leaders precisely because they have been on the front lines of delivering for those working people and the importance of ensuring that the crises that affect working people are at the centerpiece of any of the politics that come from now until 2028.”

Given a tantalizing 2028 map for Democrats, even with Texas’s 40 electoral votes in play, there should be no shortage of contenders, including progressives like California representative Ro Khanna, who is expected to run. Late last month, the mayor met with Khanna at Gracie Mansion. Mamdani noted Monday that he had met with the congressman before as an assemblymember but gave no indication whether the latest meeting was related to Khanna’s suspected presidential aspirations.

Then there’s Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Mamdani ally who is mulling either a Senate or White House bid. While Ocasio-Cortez has yet to signal where she’s leaning, Mamdani was clear this week that he believes she would be successful.

“When it pertains to the congresswoman, what I’ve said in private meetings is exactly what I said in public, which is that I think that she would make an amazing whatever it is that she wants to run for,” he said. “I know that the congresswoman makes her determinations on the basis of the most amount of good she can do for the largest number of working people, and I think that is continuing to be a compass, not just for her but for many.”

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