At Jackson Heights‘ Diversity Plaza late Thursday night, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani shifted his tactics in reaching out to the city’s working-class voters, this time focusing on the night shift workers who keep the “City That Never Sleeps” moving.
Mamdani, the frontrunner in the ongoing mayoral election despite some narrowing polls in recent days, brought his campaign to many of the workers who work the night shift, including healthcare workers and taxi drivers at LaGuardia Airport. The Queens Assembly Member spoke of how it is “nearly impossible” for such workers to participate in the political life of New York City.
Standing alongside healthcare workers and members of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) at Diversity Plaza at midnight, Mamdani pledged that his administration would “redefine what it means to be a nightlife mayor,” in an apparent broadside at Mayor Eric Adams — who previously referred to himself as a “nightlife mayor” for embracing after-hours life.
“Less Bond Zero,” Mamdani said in a reference to a private nightclub frequented by the mayor, “more (of) a mayor who visits nurses and hospitals after the sun is set.”
Mamdani pledged that he would not only visit nightshift workers in hospitals and taxi ranks but that he would “fight for them in the morning at City Hall.”
The Democratic nominee has had a close relationship with the NYTWA after taking part in a 15-day hunger strike in 2021, calling on the city to introduce relief for drivers crippled by debt brought about by predatory taxi medallion loans. The hunger strike helped pressure city officials and lenders into an agreement that erased $450 million worth of debt.
At Diversity Plaza on Oct. 30, Mamdani was joined by NYTWA member Richard Chow, who joined the 2021 hunger strike after his brother committed suicide when faced with overwhelming debt. Chow continues to work seven days a week to support his family even after securing debt relief, the candidate noted.
Mamdani touted his economic platform — a rent freeze for 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, free universal childcare, and city-run grocery stores selling cheaper groceries — as a tonic to help cure the affordability crisis facing nightshift workers. His platform, however, has been met with criticism and questions over whether Mamdani, if elected, can finance it without increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers — an idea which requires state approval and has already been ruled out by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“We can make groceries cheaper and public transit more affordable, and most of all, we can stand in solidarity with every New Yorker who works while we sleep,” Mamdani said early Friday morning.
