Mamdani, 'Kingmaker' move in the US presidential election... Private meeting with progressive figures

New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani is taking steps as a 'kingmaker' for the progressive camp two years ahead of the 2028 US presidential election.

According to Axios, an American Internet media outlet, on the 8th (local time), Mayor Mamdani has recently held a series of private meetings with labor union leaders and is emphasizing the need for candidates in solidarity with labor or progressive figures to run for president.

Mayor Mamdani also plans to meet with Sean Payne, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), soon.

Mayor Mamdani is said to be of the position that the progressive camp should continue the political momentum it gained in this midterm election until the 2028 presidential election.

He was elected as the first Muslim mayor of New York City on promises such as free education and a rent freeze, and became a star politician in the American progressive camp, but he cannot directly run for president.

As a naturalized American born in Uganda, he does not have the right to run for president under the Constitution.

Instead, Axios' analysis suggests that Mayor Mamdani appears to be trying to exert influence in the presidential candidate selection process by uniting the progressive camp.

Mayor Mamdani's successive contacts with progressive figures are also known to be related to the future actions of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a star politician and political comrade of the progressive camp based in New York.

The story is that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez appears to have begun building a network in advance to find a candidate to represent the progressive camp if she does not run for president.

One source explained, “Mayor Mamdani hopes that the entire progressive camp will respond quickly and strategically if a moderate candidate emerges in the future Democratic Party primary.”

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is considering the options of running for president in 2028 and running for the U.S. Senate.

A movement to find an alternative candidate if Rep. Ocasio-Cortez does not run for president has already begun in some quarters of the progressive camp.

Some say Abdul El-Sayed, who was elected to the Michigan State Senate in this midterm election, or California Congressman Ro Khanna are being mentioned as alternatives.