Mamdani pays hefty sum to radical socialist group in collusion with mayoral campaign

FIRST ON FOX: Newly released campaign finance records reveal that New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign gave more than $28,000 last month to New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America, a radical group that has boasted about the level of influence it would have if Mamdani were elected mayor.

The Mamdani campaign made a payment of $28,677.57 to the New York chapter of DSA on September 15 and filled in the subject line indicating the funds were for “Other: Shipping/SMS.”

Mamdani’s campaign has already made numerous small payments totaling about $3,000 to DSA for “fundraising/fundraising emails,” but the September donation represents by far the largest contribution to the group since his campaign launched. NYC-DSA has received 36 paymentstotaling more than $33,000 from Mamdani’s campaign since the start of 2025.

This donation comes as DSA publicly boasts of having massive influence over Mamdani’s platform.

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Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, speaks to volunteers at a poll launch in Brooklyn on September 28, 2025. (Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

During a panel discussion in July, Fox News Digital previously reported how DSA members explained how they worked closely with Mamdani and how he positioned the organization to “seize state power.”

DSA organizer Daniel Goulden claimed the organization had been intimately involved with Mamdani’s campaign, even helping to draft parts of his platform.

“With Zohran, we’re basically in the best possible position to take power because, you know, that’s how we are,” Goulden said, pointing to the fact that the campaign and the organization are very close.

Goulden went on to suggest that “one of the things that has allowed Zohran to be really successful in rolling out his policy is relying specifically on DSAs.“.

“DSA has regular meetings with him, not to mention his team. His political director is my friend. I’ve worked with his campaign manager for over a year. You know? I have friends who are on his team,” he said.

He went on to say that the DSA had worked closely with Mamdani on his “trans rights” platform to use city resources to provide free transgender treatment to people across the country.

“We wrote the platform with him. The team was very happy to work with us on that,” he explained. “What we explicitly wanted to do was use the power of New York City to provide free gender-affirming care – and I say free in case the insurance companies decide to kick us out – free gender-affirming care, not just to people in New York, but across the country.”

“Our endorsed candidates are expected to follow the will of the members,” concluded section leader Darren Goldner.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani hold hands during the “Fighting the Oligarchy” town hall event at Brooklyn College on September 6, 2025. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Last week, The New York Post reported At a DSA event, the group’s leaders boasted of a “symbiotic” relationship with Mamdani that will last beyond the election if Mamdani wins.

Mamdani revealed in a 2021 interview that he was “very excited to be a member of the DSA, especially the New York chapter” and that the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement was a major issue pushed by the DSA in order to gain support, Fox News Digital previously reported.

“In the questionnaire that you submit to be considered as a candidate for the organization to support, you are asked what your views are on BDS and I think that has also introduced what is generally considered a separate issue into the sphere of local politics where we are creating a pool of candidates,” Mamdani said. “We do not legislate BDS on a daily basis, but it is clear that our commitment is wholehearted to justice.”

The national DSA organization and its chapters, including NYC-DSA, shared their views on several issues they have spoken out on, including their disdain for ICE and cracking down on “bad landlords” by calling on the city to take control of properties when a landlord refuses to make repairs or “demonstrates consistent neglect” of their tenants.

He also believes he can solve New York’s affordable housing crisis by immediately freezing rents for the more than two million New York residents who live in rent-stabilized apartments, part of DSA’s housing justice platform.

“Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani is here to bring New Yorkers back to the left. With a platform focused on the cost of living: from utility bills and grocery bills to bus fares, child care and rent, Zohran is the candidate who wants to make living in New York more affordable,” the NYC-DSA website says. “His platform focuses on the pillars of free child care, free rapid busing, and rent freezes for all rent-stabilized tenants.”

A Fox News Digital investigation found that several Mamdani campaign staffers are directly involved with DSA, including Tascha Van Auken, who was paid more than $100,000 by the campaign and is the campaign’s field director. In July 2025 profile pieceshe explained how the Mamdani campaign adopted the DSA canvassing model.

“So I would say the beginning of the campaign for us is building the leadership structure, building the infrastructure, really refining what we’re talking to voters about,” said Auken, who has been called NYC-DSA’s “field operations guru.” “Then, once the petition is complete, we move on to persuasion, which is basically talking lots and lots to voters that we’ve never talked to before, persuading them to vote for Zohran or just identifying whether they are Zohran supporters or not.”

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pose for a photo in Astoria, Queens, September 6, 2025. (@ZohranKMamdani via X)

Elliana Bisgaard-Church, who previously served as Mamdani’s campaign manager during the Democratic primary and is a member of his inner circle, is also a member of NYC-DSA and has worked closely with key leaders of the DSA chapter. Mamdani and Bisgaard-Church, who earned a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met weekly with NYC-DSA co-presidents Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, according to The Nation.

“Toward the end of the race, in a final get-out-the-vote campaign, Mausser recalled a meeting in which Bisgaard-Church asked for help in ensuring participation by as many young people as possible. NYC-DSA responded at all times with a text and phone banking effort from the organization’s youth wing, as well as an extensive drop-off operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood in the Queens,” The Nation reported.

“So I would say the beginning of the campaign for us is building the leadership structure, building the infrastructure, really refining what we’re talking to voters about,” said Auken, who has been called NYC-DSA’s “field operations guru.” “Then, once the petition is complete, we move on to persuasion, which is basically talking lots and lots to voters that we’ve never talked to before, persuading them to vote for Zohran or just identifying whether they are Zohran supporters or not.”

Elliana Bisgaard-Church, who previously served as Mamdani’s campaign manager in the Democratic primary and is a member of his inner circle, is also associated with NYC-DSA and has worked closely with key DSA chapter leaders. Mamdani and Bisgaard-Church, who earned a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met weekly with NYC-DSA co-presidents Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, according to The Nation.

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Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, speaks to supporters during a campaign kickoff event in Prospect Park on August 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)

“Toward the end of the race, in a final get-out-the-vote campaign, Mausser recalled a meeting in which Bisgaard-Church asked for help in ensuring the participation of as many young people as possible. NYC-DSA responded at all times with a text and phone banking effort from the organization’s youth wing, as well as an extensive drop-off operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood in the Queens,” The Nation reported.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, NYC-DSA Co-Chair Grace Mausser said, “NYC-DSA is committed to supporting Zohran Mamdani by reaching out to our members to encourage them to volunteer for his campaign and vote for him.

“The services we use to text and email our members cost money, and in order to comply with New York City campaign finance law, the campaign pays for these coordinated communications. The communications include a clear disclaimer to this effect.”

Peter Pinedo of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.