Mamdani gives hefty payment to radical socialist group colluding with mayoral campaign

First on Fox: Newly released campaign finance records reveal a candidate for mayor of New York City Zahran Mamdani The campaign gave more than $28,000 last month to the Democratic Socialists of America in New York City, an extremist group that has boasted about the level of influence it would have if Mamdani is elected mayor.

Mamdani’s campaign paid $28,677.57 to DSA’s New York City chapter on September 15 and filled out the purpose field that the funds were for “Other: Package/Text Messages.”

Mamdani’s campaign has previously made several smaller payments totaling about $3,000 to DSA for “fundraising/fundraising emails,” but the September donation represents by far the group’s largest contribution since launching his campaign. NYC-DSA has 36 payments receivedWith a total value of more than $33,000 from the Mamdani campaign since early 2025.

The donation comes amid public boasts from DSA that they exert enormous influence on Mamdani’s platform.

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Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zahran Mamdani speaks to volunteers at a campaign launch event in Brooklyn on September 28, 2025. (Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

During a panel discussion in July, Fox News Digital I mentioned previously How DSA members discussed how they collaborated closely with Mamdani and how he put the organization in a position to “seize state power.”

DSA organizer Daniel Golden claimed that the organization was closely involved in Mamdani’s campaign, even helping to write parts of his platform.

“With Zahran, we’re in the best possible position to seize state power that we can be because, you know, that’s how we are,” Golden said, pointing with his fingers that the campaign and organization are very close together.

Golden went on to suggest that “one of the things that made Zahran really successful in spreading his politics was relying specifically on the digital dynamism of the Internet.”“.

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

He went on to say that DSA worked particularly closely with Mamdani on his “Transgender Rights” platform to use city resources to provide free transgender treatments to people across the country.

“We wrote the platform with him. The team was very happy to work with us on this,” he explained. “What we clearly 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 kick us out — free gender-affirming care, not just to people in New York City, but across the country.”

“Our approved candidates are expected to follow the will of the members,” chapter President Darren Goldner concluded.

Senator Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani hold hands during a “Fight Oligarchy” event at City Hall at Brooklyn College on September 6, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

last week, The New York Post reported From a DSA event in which the group’s leaders boasted of a “symbiotic” relationship with Mamdani that would continue after the elections if Mamdani wins.

Mamdani revealed during a 2021 interview that he is “very passionate about being a member of DSA, specifically the New York City chapter” and that the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement was a major issue that DSA pushed for an endorsement, Fox News Digital I mentioned previously.

“In the questionnaire, when you apply to be considered as a candidate for the organization to endorse, you are asked about your views on the BDS movement, and I think that has also brought what is usually thought of as a separate issue into the realm of local politics where we are creating a pool of candidates,” Mamdani said. He added: “We are not legislating the boycott on a daily basis, but it is clear that our commitment to justice is unashamed.”

The national DSA organization and its chapters, including NYC-DSA, shared views on many of the issues they have been vocal about, including their disdain for ICE and cracking down on “bad landlords” by having the city seize properties when a landlord refuses to make repairs or “demonstrates persistent neglect” of tenants.

He also believes he can solve New York City’s affordable housing crisis by immediately freezing rents for more than 2 million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments, which are part of DSA’s housing justice platform.

“Assemblywoman Zahran Mamdani is here to bring New Yorkers back to the left. And with a platform focused on the cost of living: from utility bills to grocery bills to bus fares to rent-free child care, Zahran is the candidate who wants to make life in New York City less expensive,” the NYC-DSA website says. “His platform focuses on the pillars of free childcare, free express busing, and a rent freeze for all rent-stabilized tenants.”

A Fox News Digital review found that several Mamdani campaign staffers are directly involved with DSA, including Tasha Van Auken, who received more than $100,000 from the campaign and is the campaign’s field director. In July 2025 Profile pieceShe explained how Mamdani’s campaign adopted the DSA model of canvassing.

“So I would say the beginning of the campaign for us is building the leadership structure, building the infrastructure, and really focusing on what we’re talking about with voters,” said O’Kane, who was described as a “field operations expert” at NYC-DSA. “Then once the petition is done, we do our best persuasion, which is basically just lots and lots of talking to voters that we haven’t talked to before, convincing them to vote for Zahran or just determining whether they are a Zahran supporter or not.”

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

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

“Near the end of the race, in a last-ditch effort to get out the vote, Mouser recalled a meeting in which Bisgard Church asked for help to secure as much youth turnout as possible. NYC-DSA responded at a moment’s notice with text and phone banking efforts by the organization’s youth wing, as well as a large-scale operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens,” the newspaper reported. Nation.

“So I would say the beginning of the campaign for us is building the leadership structure, building the infrastructure, and really focusing on what we’re talking about with voters,” said O’Kane, who was described as a “field operations expert” at NYC-DSA. “Then once the petition is done, we do our best persuasion, which is basically just lots and lots of talking to voters that we haven’t talked to before, convincing them to vote for Zahran or just determining whether they are a Zahran supporter or not.”

Ileana Bisgaard-Church, who previously served as Mamdani’s campaign manager during the Democratic primaries and is a member of his inner circle, is also associated with NYC-DSA and has worked closely with senior DSA chapter leaders. Mamdani and Bisgaard Church, who earned a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met weekly with NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mouser and Gustavo Gordillo. According to The Nation.

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New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zahran Mamdani speaks to supporters at a campaign launch in Prospect Park on August 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)

“Near the end of the race, in a last-ditch effort to get out the vote, Mouser recalled a meeting in which Bisgard Church asked for help to secure as much youth turnout as possible. NYC-DSA responded at a moment’s notice with text and phone banking efforts by the organization’s youth wing, as well as a large-scale operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens,” the newspaper reported. Nation.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mamdani campaign and NYC-DSA for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.