❓WHAT HAPPENED: The far-left political institutions backing socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat nominee for New York City Mayor, are heavily funded by radical billionaire George Soros and his dark money network, data shows.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Zohran Mamdani, George Soros, former President Barack Obama, and Patrick Gaspard.
📍WHEN & WHERE: October 2025.
🎯IMPACT: Mamdani’s candidacy highlights tensions within the Democratic Party and raises questions about his ties to wealthy donors like George Soros.
The far-left political institutions backing socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat nominee for New York City Mayor, are heavily funded by radical billionaire George Soros and his dark money network. Despite Mamdani publicly excoriating dark money in politics, data shows his campaign has benefited both directly and indirectly from Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) and other wealthy Democratic donors.
Since 2016, the OSF has funneled an estimated $37 million into New York State’s Working Families Party and other far-left organizations that have worked to boost increasingly radical and progressive candidates in the Democratic Party. The Working Families Party, ostensibly a minor progressive third party, uses New York’s electoral fusion laws to influence Democratic Party politics, with the aim of elevating candidates like Mamdani.
The dark money operation behind the Mamdani campaign hasn’t gone unnoticed by the 34-year-old assemblyman’s critics. New York Mayor Eric Adams has stated, “While Zohran Mamdani attacks job creators and rails against wealth, the truth is he’s benefiting from millions in support from billionaires and the very non-profit network he pretends to stand apart from.” Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa echoed these sentiments, accusing Mamdani of targeting only billionaires who do not support his agenda.
Mamdani’s connections extend beyond Soros. His campaign has received support from former President Barack Obama and key Democratic figures like Patrick Gaspard, who previously led OSF and served as Obama’s national political director. Obama personally congratulated Mamdani after his primary win, offering advice and encouragement. David Axelrod, a senior Obama advisor, also praised Mamdani’s idealism and urged Democrats to embrace his approach.
The National Pulse reported in July that during the Democratic Party’s New York City mayoral primary, Mamdani’s campaign was bolstered even more by over $2 million in PAC spending, which an investigation by forensic accountant Sam Antar revealed came mostly from Silicon Valley billionaires and a cadre of elite Democratic Party donors.
Finance records show that the Working Families Party National PAC served as the Mamdani campaign’s primary attack vehicle, spending $539,616 of its $701,792 expenditure on attacks against Mamdani’s primary opponent, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D). Similarly, New Yorkers for Lower Costs—an independent expenditure PAC—which raised money off of Mamdadni’s message and image—served as a key positive messaging vehicle behind the socialist candidate. In total, the PAC spent $893,877 of its $1,320,446 expendire promoting Mamdani, with the remainder used to attack Cuomo.
Image by IMF Staff Photographer/Michael Spilotro.
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