As the Left's Biggest Stars Unite Behind Mamdani, a Bigger Test Awaits

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : But he has never wavered from his embrace of the political message of Mr. Sanders, the most prominent democratic socialist in the country.
61% : His 2016 presidential run inspired Mr. Mamdani to formally join the Democratic Socialists of America.
57% : His four core policy proposals could cost nearly $7 billion every year, exceeding the Police Department's budget and representing a 6 percent increase in the city's nearly $116 billion budget.
56% : He has also distanced himself from specific policy goals of the democratic socialist movement, differentiating his platform from the group's national agenda.
52% : Mr. Sanders, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and their democratic socialist allies in elected office have crafted legislation, pushed Democratic policy to the left and periodically driven the national political conversation.
50% : "I am both a democratic socialist and I'm also a Democrat," he told The New York Times.
49% : " A decade ago, Mr. Sanders's come-from-behind presidential primary bid pushed democratic socialists from the fringes into the political mainstream.
48% : "The stakes are high for the movement and for democratic socialists in general," said Julia Salazar, a democratic socialist state senator in New York.
47% : And he has said he would be open to other sources of revenue for his plans, rather than raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations.
44% : "There are two tests: the basics of running the city day to day and then the socialist-plus promises that he's made a lot of which are not only unattainable and impossible but insane," said Representative Josh Gottheimer, a moderate Democrat who represents the city's New Jersey suburbs and opposes Mr. Mamdani's bid.
44% : "One is a description of my political ideology, the other is a description of the party that I belong to." But even as he stands on the precipice of running the nation's financial center, he is not shrinking from his roots in democratic socialist and left-wing organizing -- a point made obvious by his late-stage appearance with the biggest stars of the progressive left, both of whom are also democratic socialists.
38% : In other cities, democratic socialists have found their goals stymied by the same forces that impede many politicians, such as a finite budget, difficulty building alliances and government dysfunction.
33% : But his opponents, including some Democrats, believe that Mr. Mamdani can just as easily become an example of the failures of democratic socialism.
24% : He has proposed paying for his plans by raising income taxes on wealthy residents and corporate taxes on businesses, moves Gov. Kathy Hochul opposes.

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