The Mechanics Behind "Miracles": How Base Building Led to Zohran Mamdani’s Victory

Last month, we saw a momentous electoral victory for working-class communities in New York City with Zohran Mamdani’s win of the Democratic Primary Election against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Zohran—a Democratic Socialist,  Muslim, and pro-Palestine advocate— won nearly 60% of the Asian votes and defeated a well-established opposing candidate. 

To many in and outside of NYC, this victory looks like an overnight miracle. But the truth is that Mamdani’s victory happened with the foundations of decades of patient, relentless organizing by groups like CAAAV and DRUM, who built the foundation for this victory neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block.

The 501(c)4 sibling organizations of CAAAV and DRUM, CAAAV Voice and DRUM Beats, helped launch Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for NYC mayor when he was polling at 0.5%. The c4 electoral organizing work of CAAAV Voice and DRUM Beats was built on top of decades of robust, non-electoral grassroots organizing done by DRUM and CAAAV. With CAAAV and DRUM’s long-standing and decades-long relationships with working-class people across the city, CAAAV Voice and DRUM Beats brought the campaign’s vision and demands to immigrant and Asian neighborhoods. 

Through learning and strategizing with the GAR network for many years, DRUM and CAAAV have sharpened their ability to organize working-class, pan-Asian bases. By investing deeply in base building, we are more positioned to win material changes for our working-class, pan-Asian communities! 

Here’s what Sasha, Executive Director of CAAAV, and Fahd, Executive Director of DRUM, shared with GAR membership: 

1. THE EVERYDAY WORK BEFORE THE WIN

Victory wasn’t sudden; it was built by organizers and community members over decades. When reporters frame wins like Mamdani’s as overnight successes, they erase the years of unglamorous labor that made it possible. 

Sasha shared how CAAAV was formed in 1986 to combat the rising anti-Asian violence, including the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982. After responding to crises in NYC for years, organizers developed a deeper analysis and made a strategic decision that CAAAV should make an intervention in the gentrification in NYC, which is at the root of why working-class people struggle to live their day-to-day lives.

With this clarity, CAAAV focused on building a strong membership base in Astoria, Queens, where working-class Bengali tenants are facing brutal rent hikes and gentrification. The demand to freeze rent came out of this membership, when they voted for a four-year rent freeze as CAAAV’s main campaign. When the election came, CAAAV had deep trust, a clear demand (rent freeze), and a base ready to be mobilized.

Real political power isn’t built in a campaign cycle. It’s built by showing up, year after year. 

2. BUILDING THE (NEIGHBORHOOD) BLOCK

Both CAAAV and DRUM focus on neighborhood-based organizing. Fahd described how DRUM, founded after 9/11 to fight deportations, shifted from crisis response to mass membership organizing to train everyday people to lead, whether protecting neighbors from ICE or turning out votes. 

They built relationships in mosques, temples, and tenant associations, so when it was time to mobilize, their reach extended far beyond the doors they could knock. Local businesses that had worked with them on worker safety campaigns later hosted canvass launches, donated food, and even funded outreach. DRUM’s cultivation of deep local roots allows their communities to move as a unified force when it's needed. 

When you organize people where they live—not just when you need their votes—they become a force that outlasts any single election.

3. CHANGE STARTS WITH MATERIAL DEMANDS

People mobilize for survival and for material changes that will make their everyday lives better. Rent freezes, public transit access, and childcare is what will move the masses. Offering concrete solutions, grounded in the material reality our bases are struggling in, is what moved people to trust CAAAV and DRUM. 

CAAAV’s members voted on their top demand (a four-year rent freeze) and CAAAV Voices made it non-negotiable for their involvement in Mamdani's campaign. DRUM’s members included many disillusioned voters, but organizers offered how elections were an important part of making material changes happen in their everyday lives. This is what can turn disillusioned voters into mobilized bases.