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FIRST ON FOX: Newly released campaign finance records reveal New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign gave over $28,000 last month to the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, a radical group that has boasted about the level of influence it will have if Mamdani is elected mayor.
The Mamdani campaign made a payment of $28,677.57 to DSA’s NYC chapter on Sept. 15 and filled in the purpose field that the funds were for “Other: explntion / Texting.”
Mamdani’s campaign has previously given numerous smaller payments totaling roughly $3,000 to DSA for “Fundraising / Fundraising Emails” but the September donation represents by far the largest contribution to the group since his campaign was launched. NYC-DSA has received 36 payments, totaling over $33,000 from Mamdani’s campaign since early 2025.
The donation comes amid public boasting from DSA that they wield massive influence on Mamdani’s platform.
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During a July panel discussion, Fox News Digital previously reported how DSA members discussed how they have been closely collaborating with Mamdani and how he has the organization positioned to “seize state power.”
DSA organizer Daniel Goulden claimed the organization has been intimately involved in Mamdani’s campaign, even helping to write portions of his platform.
“With Zohran, we’re in basically the best possible position to seize state power that we can be in because, you know, we’re like this,” Goulden said, indicating with his fingers that the campaign and organization are very close.
Goulden went on to suggest that “one of the things that made Zohran really successful with his policy rollouts is specifically relying on DSA.”
“DSA has regular meetings with him, let alone his team. His policy director is my friend. I’ve been working with his campaign manager for well over a year. You know? I have friends who are his staff,” he said.
He went on to say the DSA worked especially closely with Mamdani on his “trans rights” platform to use city resources to give free transgender treatments to people across the country.
“We wrote the platform with him. The team was so happy to work with us on this,” he explained. “What we explicitly 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 boot us off – free gender-affirming care, not just to people in New York City, but across the country.”
“Our endorsed candidates are expected to follow the will of the membership,” chapter leader Darren Goldner concluded.
Last week, New York Post reported from a DSA event that group leaders boasted about a “symbiotic” relationship with Mamdani that will last past the election if Mamdani wins.
Mamdani revealed during a 2021 interview that he was “very excited 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 pushed by DSA in order to get endorsements, Fox News Digital previously reported.
“Within the questionnaire when you submit to be considered a candidate to be endorsed by the organization, you’re asked what your views are on BDS and I think that has also brought what it is typically thought of as a separate issue into the sphere of local politics where we create a bench of candidates,” Mamdani said. “We’re not legislating on BDS on a daily basis, but it’s clear that our commitment is unabashed to justice.”
The national DSA organization and its chapters, including the NYC-DSA, have shared views on several issues that they have been vocal about, including their disdain for ICE and cracking down on on “bad landlords” by having the city take control of properties when a landlord refuses to make repairs or “demonstrates consistent neglect” of their tenants.
He also believes he can fix New York City’s affordable housing crisis by immediately freezing the rents of the over two million New York residents who live in rent-stabilized apartments, which is part of DSA’s housing justice platform.
“Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is here to bring New Yorkers back to the left. With a platform focused on cost of living: from utility bills to grocery bills to bus fares to childcare to rent, Zohran is the candidate who wants to make life in New York City more affordable,” NYC-DSA’s website says. “His platform focuses on the pillars of free childcare, fast and free buses, and freezing rent for all rent-stabilized tenants.”
A Fox News Digital review found that multiple staff members of Mamdani’s campaign are directly involved with DSA, including Tascha Van Auken, who has been paid over $100K by the campaign and is the campaign’s field director. In a July 2025 profile piece, she explained how the Mamdani campaign adopted the DSA’s model of canvassing.
“So I would say that the beginning of the campaign for us is building up the leadership structure, building up the infrastructure, really honing in on what we’re talking to voters about,” Auken, who has been branded as the NYC-DSA’s “field operations guru,” said. “Then once petitioning is over, we go full force into persuasion, which is basically just lots and lots of talking to voters that we haven’t talked to before, persuading them to vote for Zohran or just identifying that they are Zohran supporters or not.”
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Elliana Bisgaard-Church, who previously served as Mamdani’s campaign manager during the Democratic primary and is member of his inner circle, is also a member of the NYC-DSA and worked closely with top leaders of the DSA chapter. Mamdani and Bisgaard-Church, who raked in a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met on a weekly basis with NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, according to The Nation.
“Toward the end of the race, in a final get-out-the-vote push, Mausser recalled a meeting in which Bisgaard-Church requested help to secure as much youth turnout as possible. NYC-DSA responded at a moment’s notice with a text- and phone-banking effort by the organization’s youth wing, as well as an extensive tabling operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens,” The Nation reported.
“So I would say that the beginning of the campaign for us is building up the leadership structure, building up the infrastructure, really honing in on what we’re talking to voters about,” Auken, who has been branded as the NYC-DSA’s “field operations guru,” said. “Then once petitioning is over, we go full force into persuasion, which is basically just lots and lots of talking to voters that we haven’t talked to before, persuading them to vote for Zohran or just identifying that they are Zohran supporters or not.”
Elliana Bisgaard-Church, who previously served as Mamdani’s campaign manager during the Democratic primary and is a member of his inner circle, is also associated with NYC-DSA and worked closely with top leaders of the DSA chapter. Mamdani and Bisgaard-Church, who raked in a six-figure salary working for Mamdani, met on a weekly basis with NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, according to The Nation.
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“Toward the end of the race, in a final get-out-the-vote push, Mausser recalled a meeting in which Bisgaard-Church requested help to secure as much youth turnout as possible. NYC-DSA responded at a moment’s notice with a text- and phone-banking effort by the organization’s youth wing, as well as an extensive tabling operation at several nightclubs in Bushwick and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens,” The Nation reported.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, NYC-DSA Co-Chair Grace Mausser said, “NYC-DSA is committed to supporting Zohran Mamdani by contacting our members to encourage them to volunteer for his campaign and to vote for him.”
“The services that we use to text and email our members cost money, and in order to comply with New York City campaign finance law, the campaign is paying for these coordinated communications. The communications include a clear disclaimer to that effect.”
Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
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