
About this episode
Suzi speaks with Jacobin writers Alex Press and Luke Savage about Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent — and successful — New York City mayoral campaign.
Alex Press takes us out after dark in Queens with the democratic socialist mayor-elect, meeting taxi drivers at LaGuardia, nurses and residents at Elmhurst Hospital, delivery workers on the night shift — the people who keep New York running while the city sleeps.
Luke Savage analyzes the bipartisan meltdown that Mamdani’s campaign provoked among billionaires, media moguls, and the Democratic Party establishment — all united to stop a democratic socialist from gaining power.
We talk about Mamdani’s agenda: free public transit and childcare, a $20 minimum wage, regulation of gig companies and labor rights for delivery drivers, freezing rents, and more. And we discuss why the working-class movement behind him has elites so terrified.
Read Alex’s report on Mamdani and late-night New York: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/mamdani-night-shift-nyc-mayoral-election
Read Luke’s report on the establishment meltdown: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/socialism-barbarism-mamdani-cuomo-trump
Support for this episode comes from Revol Press: revolpress.com
Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Jacobin Radio publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Jacobin Radio

Long Reads: The Class Politics of Central Banking w/ Martijn Konings
Jacobin Radio

The Dig: Mailbag! w/ Ben Mabie
Jacobin Radio

Behind the News: Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Grab w/ Alejandro Velasco
Jacobin Radio

Confronting Capitalism: Labor Needs Socialists and Socialists Need Labor
Jacobin Radio