In the moments leading up to Zohran Mamdani's victory speech on Tuesday night, the floor of the Brooklyn Paramount was a surreal melange of triumphant, if-you-know-you-know New York City politicos and internationally known celebrities.
There was Lindsey Boylan, the former state employee who was the first woman to come forward to accuse Andrew Cuomo of sexual misconduct, talking with Adam Friedland, the YouTube talk show host who has been billed as "the millennial Jon Stewart," who then stopped to chat with Hasan Piker, the wildly successful Twitch streamer from California whose comments about 9/11 became tied to Mamdani in the final weeks of the campaign and who was featured in a racist pro-Cuomo ad. Hotel and gaming union boss Rich Maroko strode to the front of the stage for a better view, while Ramy Youssef and Emily Ratajkowski reportedly looked down from the mezzanine.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, sporting a T-shirt that read "GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE" written in the Mamdani campaign's signature font, was in good spirits, despite his reported falling-out with the mayor-elect, grinning and hugging his fellow Mamdani supporters, while former MSNBC host and Zeteo News chief Mehdi Hasan spoke with a beaming Mahmoud Khalil. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez entered with a ring of security guards to deafening cheers, gave Democracy Now's Amy Goodman a few minutes of her time, then disappeared backstage.
When Mamdani's victory speech was over, the floor cleared a bit, allowing campaign staff and volunteers to fully savor their victory—taxi workers holding signs and people in red DSA sweatshirts threw back flutes of champagne, wept for joy, and danced to the pop music blaring over the PA.
Amidst this dreamy scrum was Ana María Archila, the codirector of the New York Working Families Party. After years of teetering dangerously close to irrelevance, 2025 was huge for the WFP. They didn't just ignore their own polling to pick Mamdani and help him consolidate the Democratic primary vote—WFP-backed candidates also won mayoral races in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany.
We had three questions for Archila—about billionaires, Governor Kathy Hochul, and NYC-DSA.
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