New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani speaks to volunteers at a canvass launch in Brooklyn on Sept. 28, 2025. (Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
During a July panel discussion, Fox News Digital previously reported how DSA members discussed how they have been closely collaborating with Mamdani and how he has the organization positioned to "seize state power."
DSA organizer Daniel Goulden claimed the organization has been intimately involved in Mamdani’s campaign, even helping to write portions of his platform.
"With Zohran, we're in basically the best possible position to seize state power that we can be in because, you know, we're like this," Goulden said, indicating with his fingers that the campaign and organization are very close.
Goulden went on to suggest that "one of the things that made Zohran really successful with his policy rollouts is specifically relying on DSA."
"DSA has regular meetings with him, let alone his team. His policy director is my friend. I've been working with his campaign manager for well over a year. You know? I have friends who are his staff," he said.
He went on to say the DSA worked especially closely with Mamdani on his "trans rights" platform to use city resources to give free transgender treatments to people across the country.
"We wrote the platform with him. The team was so happy to work with us on this," 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 insurance companies decide to boot us off – free gender-affirming care, not just to people in New York City, but across the country."
"Our endorsed candidates are expected to follow the will of the membership," chapter leader Darren Goldner concluded.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pose for a photo in Astoria, Queens, Sept. 6, 2025. (@ZohranKMamdani via X)
Elliana Bisgaard-Church, who previously served as Mamdani's campaign manager during the Democratic primary and is member of his inner circle, is also a member of the NYC-DSA and worked closely with top leaders of the DSA chapter. Mamdani and Bisgaard-Church, who raked in a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met on a weekly basis with NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, according to The Nation.
"Toward the end of the race, in a final get-out-the-vote push, Mausser recalled a meeting in which Bisgaard-Church requested help to secure as much youth turnout as possible. NYC-DSA responded at a moment’s notice with a text- and phone-banking effort by the organization’s youth wing, as well as an extensive tabling operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens," The Nation reported.
"So I would say that the beginning of the campaign for us is building up the leadership structure, building up the infrastructure, really honing in on what we're talking to voters about," Auken, who has been branded as the NYC-DSA's "field operations guru," said. "Then once petitioning is over, we go full force into persuasion, which is basically just lots and lots of talking to voters that we haven't talked to before, persuading them to vote for Zohran or just identifying that they are Zohran supporters or not."
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 associated with NYC-DSA and worked closely with top leaders of the DSA chapter. Mamdani and Bisgaard-Church, who raked in a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met on a weekly basis with NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, according to The Nation.
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New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani spoke to supporters at a canvass launch event in Prospect Park on Aug. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
"Toward the end of the race, in a final get-out-the-vote push, Mausser recalled a meeting in which Bisgaard-Church requested help to secure as much youth turnout as possible. NYC-DSA responded at a moment’s notice with a text- and phone-banking effort by the organization’s youth wing, as well as an extensive tabling operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens," The Nation reported.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's campaign and NYC-DSA for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mamdani-funnels-big-money-radical-allies-plotting-control-city-hall-seize-state-power